Kayley Stead Gets Engaged 4 Years After £12,000 Solo Wedding

Q: From a £12,000 party for one to a 2028 wedding, what is she planning differently this time?

She says the biggest change is that this time she is planning a wedding with a partner she fully trusts. Stead has described Richard Perrott as making her feel safe and able to be herself, a sharp contrast with the 2022 ceremony that turned into a £12,000 party after her fiancé failed to appear. The 2028 wedding is also being designed more deliberately around who she is now. She has said she wants a dress that reflects her greater confidence and even joked that practicality matters too, including choosing one that is easier to use the bathroom in. The celebration itself is expected to be larger. She has indicated that more than 150 guests are already on the list, making venue size one of the main planning challenges. Rather than simply salvaging a day, she is planning what she calls a “big party” from the outset. One detail from the abandoned 2022 wedding will definitely return: the nacho bar. But this time she wants it “grander” and “bigger,” with the nacho bar serving as the centerpiece of the reception. She has also made light of her past experience by joking about putting AirTags on Perrott so she always knows where he is. Beneath the humor, the message is clear: the new wedding is being planned around trust, confidence and a relationship she says feels like “true love.”

2 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 11

Kayley Stead, 30, has become engaged to Richard Perrott, 31, four years after she went ahead alone with her 2022 wedding when her groom failed to appear.
Perrott reconnected after hearing about that day, reviving a university friendship that turned into a relationship two years ago before he proposed on a return visit to their old campus in Carmarthen.
Stead said she carried on with the original ceremony because guests had traveled from Ireland and Scotland and she had spent just shy of £12,000, later swapping a planned Turkey honeymoon for a trip to New York.
Her solo-wedding video drew more than 800,000 views online, and she says the experience made her more confident as the couple now plan an April 2028 wedding with a bigger nacho bar.