Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her husband, Michael, on their wedding day. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears our Celestina style, a colourful ballgown wedding gown.

Michael and I live in the same town and met through a mutual friend. We were on holiday and walking along Seminyak Beach in Bali, when he stopped to get a drink out of his bag, I turned round and he was down on one knee!

We managed to visit 2 or 3 wedding fairs to get ideas and inspiration just before covid hit, but I mainly used Instagram and Pinterest for ideas, rather than magazines.

Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her husband, Michael, holding hands on a bridge on their wedding day. Rebecca has curly blonde hair and wears Celestina, a blush coloured ballgown wedding dress style with bold floral appliques.

I didn’t really have much of an idea of what I wanted to wear, but I knew I wanted something princessy. I only tried on 3 wedding dresses actually. I tried on the Celestina gown (style 69426) in the first shop I went to and was told no one had ever actually bought it from them before. I visited a couple more stores, but nothing compared to that dress so I found a shop nearby that sold it and went to buy it. I fell in love as soon as I saw it! It’s a bit of me and my mum, so she obviously fell in love with it too. Nothing compared to that dress after I had tried it, so I knew it had to be the one.

 Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, in her Celestina wedding dress, a blush ballgown with colourful floral appliques.  A rear profile photo of our Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, in her Celestina wedding dress, a blush ballgown with colourful floral appliques.

To accessorise I wore my beautiful late Nan’s pearls around my neck, a bracelet borrowed from my Mother-in-Law, and some cute pearl earrings from ASOS. I had my hair in a wavy up do with added pearls. The men wore pink rose buttonholes to compliment my gown.

Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and two female guests standing by a lake. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears Celestina, our colourful ballgown wedding dress with claret, navy and green floral appliques.

I love the rustic theme for weddings so tried to base it around that, but the venue was so stunning itself it didn’t need much to look amazing. Our wedding was cut down drastically because of Covid restrictions so it cost a lot less than it was originally going to, but I would say my top tip is DIY! We made most items ourselves from the chair sashes, post-box, cake, bridal and bridesmaid’s bouquets, buttonholes, donut wall etc! We had a small reception after the ceremony back at our house which we decorated ourselves too – gin bar, grazing table, we even made our own neon light sign!

Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her husband, Michael, holding hands and walking outside on their wedding day. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears our Celestina ballgown wedding dress, a colourful ballgown with coloured floral appliques.

I absolutely loved all of it! I loved how intimate and small it was with only 15 of our closest friends and family there. The funniest part has to be when Mike forgot his words our 2-year-old nephew laughed and shouted, ‘Silly Mikey’.

Thank you for sharing your story with us Rebecca. We think you looked absolutely stunning! We wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her husband, Michael, holding hands while saying their vows in front of the registrar. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears our blush coloured Celestina ballgown wedding dress. Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her husband, Michael, kissing after saying their vows. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears our blush Celestina ballgown wedding dress with claret, navy and green floral appliques.

Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her three bridesmaids standing by a lake. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears Celestina, our colourful ballgown wedding dress with bold floral appliques. Her bridesmaids wear long pink dresses.  Ronald Joyce real bride, Rebecca, and her mum standing by a lake. Rebecca has curled blonde hair and wears Celestina, our colourful ballgown wedding dress with bold floral appliques. Her mum wears a long navy dress with a lace bodice and ¾ sleeves.

Photography by Imogen Eve.