Jilted bride decides to carry on with her wedding without her groom after he failed to turn up

A jilted bride decided to carry on with her wedding without her groom when he failed to turn up. Kayley Stead, 27, discovered she wasn't going to marry her partner of almost four years the morning of her do. Despite the heartbreak, Kayley decided to go ahead with the big day, surrounded with her loved ones around her, on September 15 at Oxwich Bay Hotel in Gower, Swansea, Wales. Kayley went ahead with her wedding entrance, meal, speeches, dances and even posed for professional photos without her groom. She entered the party singing along to Lizzo's 'Good as Hell' with her bridal party. Brave Kayley punched off the top tier of her wedding cake, and spent her first dance with the groomsmen, her brothers, and dad Brian, 71. Now living alone, with her honeymoon cancelled, Kayley is pleased she still had the party - so money and effort didn't go to waste. Her friends have rallied around her, barely leaving her side and setting up a GoFundMe page to try and recoup some costs. Insurance clerk Kayley, who lives in Portmead, Swansea, Wales, said: "I saw the groom at around 4pm the day before the wedding and I haven't heard from him since. "We've tried to reach out to him, but I've had no response from him, no reason why. I've had no explanation - not that I want one now, because it's too far along the line. "It was an absolute shock, I had no indication he was going to do this but seeing my girls distraught as well made me want to turn the day around. "I didn't want to remember the day as complete sadness. "The whole day, we were saying it felt like an episode of Hollyoaks or EastEnders. It didn't feel like a real life situation. "There were so many special moments, like my wedding entrance, the sparkler walk, the first dance and punching the wedding cake - so there was still happiness in the day. "I'd spent all this money, I'd been looking forward to the food, a dance with my dad, spending time with my family, so why not?" Kayley and her ex started dating in December 2018 and got engaged when he proposed in August 2020. The night before the wedding, Kayley stayed in an AirBnB celebrating with her bridesmaids while the groom and his groomsmen stayed in a caravan near the venue. Kayley said: "The groom and I had already agreed not to speak the night before the wedding anyway, so I didn't know what was happening on his end, I didn't have a clue. "I was in complete bliss - unknown bliss." The groomsmen contacted the bridal party to tell them he'd left, she claims. Kayley said: "We woke up at quarter past six when the make-up artist arrived, had breakfast together and then started getting ready. "One of the groomsmen contacted my best friend to say the groom was gone, and the bridal party hid my phone so they could decide what was the best way to tell me and I wouldn't find out from someone else. "They wanted to make sure he was definitely gone before panicking me. "I found my phone and saw I had a missed call from his mum. I called her back and she was crying and told me he had gone for a drive in the early hours of the morning, and he was gone. "At that point, I wasn't nervous, I was still quite hopeful, as throughout our relationship, he had sometimes gone for a walk or a drive to clear his head when he was nervous. "For a couple of hours, I was saying he was going to be there, and I was reassuring the girls. I honestly believed, hand on heart, that he was going to be there. "I asked the girls, his family and the groomsmen to continue getting ready, because I honestly believed he was going to be there." At around 11am, Kayley had just sat to have her hair done with her make-up all finished when she spoke to the groom's dad on the phone. She claims he told her that her partner would not be attending the wedding. Kayley said: "At that point, I was gone. I was sobbing. "Once I told my parents, the hairdresser and the videographer, that's when I had to tell myself that it wasn't going to happen. "As a joke, the videographer said: 'Why don't you carry on, girls? You've spent all this money, you're not getting it back, all your guests are there, why don't you just go?' "My sister was redoing my make-up, because at that point it was all just gone, and she said: 'Why don't you do it, Kayley?' "That's when I was like, I'm going to do it. I'd spent all this money, I'd been looking forward to the food, a dance with my dad, spending time with my family, so why not?" The two wedding parties headed into the ceremony room together and told the guests what had happened before asking them to head out to the garden to meet Kayley instead. Kayley said: "I didn't want to see the ceremony room - I've never seen how that looked. "When my sister and my best friend were explaining what had gone on to the guests, everybody was crying because they had been looking forward to that day. "I asked for 10 minutes to myself before I saw my guests, and then rather than walking down the aisle, I walked round the c