Princess Diana's Bridesmaid India Hicks Marries Partner of 25 Years

The entrepreneur and model wed David Flint Wood in a ceremony in front of family and close friends

Photo: David Loftus

More than 40 years ago, she was a bridesmaid to Princess Diana as she wed Prince Charles. Now, India Hicks herself is married — and to her partner of 25 years, no less.

Hicks had postponed her wedding to former advertising executive David Flint Wood twice since she announced last November they would be getting hitched this year.

The ceremony took place at the Brightwell Baldwin Parish Church in Oxfordshire and was followed by a reception at the Lord Nelson pub, with outdoor tents set up for guest seating.

"It was a magical day full of joy and happiness," a source close to Hicks tells PEOPLE, adding that the bride looked "stunning" in a classic ivory lace gown designed by Emilia Wickstead. "Everyone was thrilled to see India and David walk down the aisle together after so many years together, not least their five children and India's mother Lady Pamela Hicks."

David Loftus

The source adds, "The ceremony took place at the Oxfordshire chapel where India was christened and her father David is buried, so it was very emotional for her to finally marry at the family Church."

The service, the source says, was followed by a party with guests celebrating "into the small hours."

The entrepreneur, writer, model and mother of five is the granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was close to both Queen Elizabeth and her late husband, Prince Philip. She is a goddaughter of Prince Charles.

India Hicks and at Charles and Diana's wedding. OFF/AFP/Getty; inset: Dave M. Benett/Getty

The couple live in the Bahamas, where Hicks has been working for Global Empowerment Mission, which runs disaster relief throughout the Caribbean in addition to working as a style writer and running a homewares business.

She and Flint Wood first announced she was getting married via Instagram, writing, "Five children and twenty five years later! We quietly decided [to get married] a few months ago."

The following month, she announced the wedding had to be postponed, writing, "We will wait a little while longer, which is OK because we've already waited 25 years."

More recently, she revealed last weekend that she and Flint Wood would finally wed, and several of her Instragram Stories since then have outlined the plans for her big day.

India isn't the only family member with royal bridesmaid duties in her roster — her mother Lady Pamela Hicks was a bridesmaid to the then-Princess Elizabeth and Philip in 1947. And when Prince Philip died in April, India captured some of the romance of that period for PEOPLE.

"When they married they were a star couple," she told PEOPLE at the time. "But within that he was also able to carve out a sense of his own person. He was able to create a life for himself."

She continued, "I love the idea of when they were standing on the palace balcony when they had got married and everybody in the crowd started singing 'all the nice girls love a sailor.' It is just so fantastic. It was like the most romantic film that had been created."

Now she can treasure her own special memories from an intimate ceremony two and a half decades in the making.