'I thought my fiancé had gone for a quick walk on our wedding day. Then I received a phone call.'

"I'll be the one in white," Kayley told her fiancé as they said their goodbyes the night before the wedding. "I love you, can't wait to see you."

She and her bridal party then settled in for a fun night.

"We were so excited, we were all in our pyjamas, having champagne," Kayley told Mamamia.

"I even went around the table telling the girls why they were my bridesmaids. It was just the perfect night before the wedding."

The next morning, around half past seven, Kayley's maid of honour received a call from her husband, who was one of the groomsmen.

"He said that Kallum (Kayley's fiancé) had gone and slept at his mum's that night because he wanted to get a good night's sleep. But he'd gone for a drive, or a walk, and nobody could get in touch with him."

Unbeknownst to Kayley, whose phone was with her bridesmaids, she also had multiple missed calls from Kallum's mum.

"My bridesmaids wanted to be the ones to tell me, not his mum, because they didn't want to panic me or anything like that," said the now-29-year-old.

"They said, 'Kallum's gone, we don't know where he is,'" Kayley recalled.

The news, however, didn't alarm her at all.

"I was honestly absolutely fine. I thought he might have just gone for a walk, cleared his head. And everyone was like, 'Okay, perfect, fine. Let's carry on.'"

Kayley asked her bridal party not to tell her parents about Kallum's absence, because she didn't want them "to think ill of him".

"I wanted to make sure that he was okay; that was my priority."

Kayley's groom left on her wedding day. She stayed and partied with loved ones. Image: Instagram/@kayleystead2206/@neiljonesphotography

Then, at around half past 11, with still no word from her groom, Kayley called Kallum's dad.

"I said, 'Look, can you be the only one to ring him? Because I don't need 20-odd people ringing him. He doesn't need to be hounded.'"

"And then his dad said, 'You mind going into a room? Because everything was busy. I was like, 'Yeah, of course'. I went to the room, and he told me that Kallum was four hours away from where I was, and we were supposed to get married in an hour-and-a-half's time."

"He told me that he's definitely not coming."

"He said he doesn't want to speak to anybody. He's got a new SIM. That's why nobody can get in touch with him."

Letting the words sink in, Kayley tried texting Kallum to ask if he was okay.

"I was distraught," she said. "I found out in a utility room with the girls. And then I sobbed; all the girls were sobbing."

As a way to reclaim the situation, the women decided to re-do Kayley's makeup. That was when she confided in her bridesmaids that, amongst everything else, she was "gutted she wasn't going to see [her] friends and family".

"I was embarrassed. I didn't know what to do. I said, 'There's a part of me that still wants to party'."

Her sister then relayed a conversation she'd had earlier with the videographer.

"They said they knew how much I'd paid for them, let alone everything else, so why doesn't she carry on?"

"And I was like, 'Well, if they're thinking it, let's do it.'"

The decision was made: the wedding would go on without the groom.

"I was distraught… and then I sobbed; all the girls were sobbing." Image: Instagram/@kayleystead2206/@neiljonesphotography

As Kayley prepared to face her loved ones, her bridesmaids went to break the news to the guests. 

"A few of them already knew something was up, because Kallum wasn't there to greet people. And then I was half an hour late," Kayley told us.

The guests were escorted into the venue, and then the bridesmaids walked down the aisle.

"Unfortunately, the wedding's not going to go ahead today. But Kayley does want you all to stay and join her partying tonight," they said.

Kayley was "nervous as hell" as she walked out to confront her loved ones.

"I didn't know what to expect. They were all outside. They all gave me the sympathetic smile that people do."

Trying to break the tension, Kayley let out a "woo" of celebration.

"I was the one who controlled the mood," she said. "Obviously, they didn't talk to me about what was going on. They were just like, 'I'm sorry this has happened to you, but I'm here for you, let's just do this'. They knew then that I needed a distraction, that I needed a drink."

So that's exactly what they did. They shared drinks, dances, and cake. While Kallum's family left, all the groomsmen except the best man stayed for the celebrations, as did friends who had travelled four hours from Kallum's hometown.

Guests even rewrote their cards so they were addressed solely to Kayley.

Watch: Kayley Stead carries on with her wedding after being left at the altar. Post continues after video.

The night was pure elation.

"I loved walking in with my bridesmaids and groomsmen to Lizzo's song Good As Hell. I loved cutting the cake with my girls. I loved sitting on the top table with my bridesmaids; who gets to do that?"

Kayley also shared a dance with her dad, who is usually shy about that sort of thing.

"My dad isn't the dancing type. He's happy sitting at the table with his drink and watching," she said. "He never would have danced with me if I had gotten married, but when he found out what happened, he went, 'Oh, go on, I'll go dance with you this time'. And he did, and that's something I'll forever be grateful for."

It wasn't until the morning after that reality sunk in.

"The day after the wedding was probably the worst."

"We sat in the courtyard for breakfast. I was crying, and obviously they were just there for me."

The jilted bride didn't hear from Kallum until a few days later. Even then, it was just one message.

"The text was like, 'I'm sorry for what I did. I've sent you a letter about why, what was going on.'"

Then he asked for a favour.

"My brother had [Kallum's] work uniforms here, and he wouldn't give it to Kallum's friends or anyone until Kallum had rung him directly. Because Kallum got his aunty, his uncle, and every other Tom, Dick and Harry to ring my brother.

"And my brother was like, 'I can't believe he won't give me the satisfaction of just talking to him, I can't physically hurt him, but he hasn't even got the balls to ring me'."

Realising his should-be brother-in-law wouldn't budge until he heard from him directly, Kallum tried to go through his ex-fiancée to get what he wanted.

"He put in the text saying, 'If you can get your brother to do the right thing and give me my work uniform back'. And then used his dead grandfather as emotional blackmail."

Kayley never received a letter. The text was the last time she heard from Kallum.

"When my mum passed away, I messaged his best friend to say, 'Please let him know'. Because he lived with my mum for nearly four years. The friend didn't contact me or anything, but they sent flowers to my dad."

Now, almost three years on, Kayley is in love with a new man named Richard.

Kayley is with a new partner, Richard. Image: Instagram/@kayleystead2206

"I've known my partner since 2013. He asked me out in the first year of uni, and I asked him out in the third year; we both said no to each other. It was the third time was lucky."

Despite the way her first wedding day ended, Kayley said she "100 per cent" wants to get married.

"But I would want to make sure," she explained. "I would probably do a lot more — not that I didn't — but a lot more check ins with my partner.

"I'd obviously be anxious and nervous as hell. But I do want to get married.

"It's not just the wedding, it's the marriage for me."

For any woman in a similar situation to Kayley, at an altar or otherwise, she reminds them: "You deserve to be loved."

"You're probably going to question, 'Why do I deserve this? What have I done?' All of that is going to go through your mind. But I promise you, nobody deserves that."

Feature Image: Instagram/@kayleystead2206/@neiljonesphotography