Ruth Prior, 30, a primary school teacher, was married to James Holloway, 37, a doctor, on April 16 at All Saints Church in Cawthorne near Barnsley

Even the boldest bride would want to try on her wedding dress before she bought it. Not so Ruth. When she and James got engaged in July 2009, the couple decided to stick to a budget. They created their own invitations, Ruth arranged the bridesmaids’ flowers, a family member baked the cake and a friend offered to make the wedding dress. “That was until she saw the one I had in mind,” says Ruth. “It was too complicated — I was so upset.” They found a similar design on the internet, but the dressmaker was in China.

Ruth bravely ordered her dress, after sending an e-mail to a dressmaker she would never meet with a description of what she wanted and her measurements. It arrived “scrunched up in a jiffy bag” weeks later, but after some adjustments “it was perfect”.

The couple had met at a medics ball at the University of Sheffield. He was a mature student, having worked as an accountant before deciding to read medicine. She was training to become a teacher in London and was visiting a friend.

“As soon as I met him, I liked him,” says Ruth, but James was with a girlfriend. They bumped into each other during subsequent visits and his friends discovered his feelings for Ruth while they were on a walking holiday some months later. “They made me get in touch with her,” he says. “So I sent her a text, out of the blue.”

Ruth says: “He said he would be in London and asked me if I wanted to go for a drink.” They met a few days later and have never looked back.

James proposed to Ruth in Yellowstone Park, and the couple were married at their village church before going to their local cricket club for their reception. “Our lives have changed completely from the start of our relationship to now. Our wedding signals the start of a new part of our lives.”