A mum with post-natal depression hanged herself the day before her soldier fiancé returned home from Afghanistan.
Linzi Mannion had told friends she was looking forward to marrying Lance Sergeant Robert Kopicki but the mother of two committed suicide and he discovered her body.
They had spoken on the phone the night before and he said she seemed in good spirits.
An inquest heard that Linzi had been diagnosed with post-natal depression after the birth of her second daughter Nancie on April 24, and was prescribed anti-depressants.
Sergeant Kopicki, 28, who serves with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, told the hearing: "After the birth Linzi began to suffer from depression.
"She had some anti-depressants from the GP which seemed to help her. In June she tried to harm herself but she was so upset and traumatised by that. She just couldn't cope."
Doctors had believed her condition was improving, and Sergeant Kopicki didn't suspect she was contemplating suicide.
He said: "We were looking forward to getting married. The house was getting decorated and I was coming home the following day. On the evening before I came home I spoke to her and we exchanged texts.
"She phoned me at 10.30pm when she was with all her friends. There was no warning of what was to happen.
"When I came home I found Linzi and she had died."
On the night of her death Linzi, who also had an elder daughter Maddalyn, had been decorating her home in Kearsley, near Bolton, with the help of her friend Lee Bleakley, who she had known since she was 18.
Mr Bleakley left around 9.30pm and Linzi went to visit another friend and drank some wine. Later the same night Linzi rang Mr Bleakley asking him to come back round to her home to finish off the decorating before Sergeant Kopicki returned the next morning.
Mr Bleakley told the inquest: "I said I would come round in the morning before Rob came back home to help with the decorating. She seemed all right when I spoke to her but a little bit drunk. We had been having a laugh and a joke that night and she was saying how happy she was with her kids.
"I have known her a long time so I would know if there was something wrong. She just seemed the normal Linzi to me."
Post-mortem examination results showed Linzi was at more than twice the drink-drive limit, Bolton coroner's court heard.
Coroner Jennifer Leeming, who recorded an open verdict, said there was nothing in Linzi's behaviour which could have indicated she was planning to take her own life.
She said: "Clearly it was impulsive. I suspect if she could, she would say that she didn't really mean it. Please accept my sincere sympathy for your loss."