Couple who spent £18k on wedding rekindle love after divorce and remarry at £3k budget wedding featuring Vinted dress

A couple who splurged £18,000 on their wedding later split up, then rekindled their relationship and held a £3,000 budget wedding featuring a Vinted dress and a caterpillar cake.

Louise Ellar, 52, who lives in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, Wales, met her husband, David, 52, a senior waste regulation officer, in 2000 at her sister’s wedding.

The pair married two years later and had a “big traditional” wedding, costing them £18,000. However, by 2017 their relationship deteriorated as Louise struggled with her health and weight.

Despite undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in the same year, she felt like she had a “breakdown” and the pair divorced in 2021.

They remained close while co-parenting their sons, Lewis, 23, Harley, 22, and Finley, 20, and got back together in 2023.

David proposed on Christmas Day 2024, using Louise’s original wedding rings, and they went on to remarry in September 2025 with a budget of £3,000. The day included a band, DJ, Temu decorations and a quirky cake.

Louise told PA Real Life: “You don’t have to turn into bridezilla – remember why you are getting married.

“The most important thing was that we were marrying each other, and it didn’t have to be about money – we would have got married in bin bags if we needed to!”

Louise met David at her sister’s wedding in 2000 – he was a friend of her dad’s, as they had both played petanque – also known as boule – for Wales.

Louise and David married two years later in front of around 140 guests.

They had a “big traditional” church wedding, followed by a hotel reception with a fireworks display.

Her dad was a photographer, so he took the photos, and her auntie was a baker, so she made the wedding cake, helping them save a few hundred pounds.

However, the wedding still cost around £18,000 in total, with Louise’s parents also contributing.

Louise said: “I think we just went a bit mad, we had a lovely day but I wish we didn’t spend all that money!”

Louise said she had put on weight over the years and continued to struggle with her mobility due to a horseback riding accident at age 15, in which her foot was severed and later surgically reattached.

In October 2017, she had a gastric sleeve and lost more than 10 stone in 18 months, going from 23 stone to 13 stone.

Louise explained: “I had a bit of a mental breakdown to be honest – I was a social butterfly, full of confidence, we’d always go out for meals, and with any celebration it was all about the food.

“I liked cooking and anything to do with food, but then after surgery and losing weight, body dysmorphia kicked in – I still thought my body was bigger.

“A lot of people would love going out buying new, smaller clothes but it just messed with my mental health.

“I could hardly eat anything because of the sleeve and I just felt miserable all the time – I felt like I lost the plot.”

Because of “the strain” this put on her and David’s relationship, they separated in 2019 and divorced in 2021.

Louise moved out of their home, but they still went to watch their sons play rugby every week.

She laughed: “Even though we divorced it felt like we were always together anyway!

“We were always going to be solid parents for our children – and then we started doing things like I’d get myself a coffee, and I’d get him one too.

“Then in 2023 we said shall we try again, and I moved back in – we took our time.

“In the summertime we were back together.”

She said their friends were “ecstatic” and their families were “very much stunned”, but added they “could also see it happening”.

On Christmas Day 2024, David proposed to Louise while they were with their sons, all wearing elf hats and having drinks.

Earlier in the day, Louise could not find the Christmas crackers, but in the evening David gave her one and asked her to pull it.

Inside was a box engraved with the words “Come what may, I will love you until my dying day”, along with her previous wedding rings.

She said: “The words are from Moulin Rouge – our favourite film, and we’ve written that in every card to each other over the years.

“I was just like ‘Oh my god, oh my god’ and was in tears.

“The kids were the same – they were thrilled because their mammy and daddy were back together.”

After getting engaged, the pair decided they wanted a budget wedding.

While they were separated, Louise even ran a second-hand clothes shop for prom dresses and wedding outfits.

She added: “I think it’s something that’s ingrained in me as I’ve gotten older – I don’t wear anything that is not pre-loved.”

In total, Louise and David spent £3,000 on their wedding.

This included a ceremony at the town hall and a reception at a local football club, with 20 at the ceremony, 80 guests during the day and 140 in the evening.

She paid £500 for a band and £140 for the DJ, as well as around £860 in total on food, including charcuterie boards.

Louise tried on a wedding dress that she “fell in love with” at a fashion show and later found the exact same dress on Vinted for £45, saving thousands of pounds.

She encouraged her bridesmaids to get their dresses second-hand too.

She said: “I wanted the colours to be autumn-themed, and one girl already had a yellow dress in her wardrobe, and the other two had dresses for £8, and the other two for £30.

“I said to them I wanted them to buy dresses they would wear again and I wanted them to feel comfortable.

“I didn’t see the dresses all together until the wedding day and they looked beautiful.”

One of Louise’s friends took the photographs with Louise’s late-dad’s camera and made the wedding cake.

“I just said I want it to be fun and cheap – and I said my kids loved the caterpillar cakes growing up, so she got some of those for me and put on orange bowties to match what my husband and sons were wearing,” Louise added.

She bought all her decorations from Temu, spending around £500.

This included artificial flowers, candles for the tables, signs and canvases of the couple.

Louise said: “We went to see Tom Jones in Cardiff as our last outing as an engaged couple so we had a caricature made from that photo from that night!

“We had welcome signs and flower arches.

“We might not have had fireworks like our first wedding but we had glow sticks, blow-up guitars and silly glasses!”

Louise did her own make-up and bought hair extensions from Temu, paying around £75 for a hairdresser to fit them and style her hair.

Having saved money on their wedding, they are now planning a honeymoon cruise to the Norwegian fjords, which they are “so excited” about.

Looking back on her wedding day, there is nothing she would have changed.

She said: “No one realised we did it on a budget, I just kept telling people my dress was only £45 and they couldn’t believe it!”

To brides currently planning their wedding, she said: “The money you’re spending could be a house deposit, and I wouldn’t want to spend loads of money and it damage our relationship afterwards because we might have to cut back on other things.

“The most important thing is you two.”