When Claire and Dafydd Rees were planning their wedding, in 2007, they were astounded by the national average cost of a wedding, in terms of both the financial and environmental impact. Claire and Dafydd did not want to jump on the consumption bandwagon and were determined that their wedding would be simply a celebration of their love and friendship together with all their family and friends. They wanted everything for their wedding to be as meaningful as possible.

Being within the beautiful Pembrokeshire National Park region, the environmental impact of their day was especially important to Claire and Dafydd and they ensured that any waste was kept to an absolute minimum, wherever possible. Claire, who runs an outdoor adventure business - Preseli Venture , has always been very aware of the need to conserve the Earth's resources. With family and friends helping out, the couple managed to arrange the most amazing celebration with a sense of community, love and friendship. To begin the wedding preparations, Claire and Dafydd's wedding stationery was all handmade using recycled card and paper. They decided against having favours as they felt that this would be an unnecessary item for their special day. They also decided against having a gift list, as they quite simply didn't need anything.

When it came to arranging the flowers, Claire originally enquired at several flower shops to see if they could source some locally grown flowers. Unfortunately, this request was to prove quite difficult to fulfill at the time - eventually Claire's friends came to the rescue by hand tying a gorgeous bridal bouquet from flowers grown in local gardens. Their venue, at a friend's local farm, was decorated with more locally grown flowers as well as pieces of driftwood, shells and whatever else could be found in the locality.

Claire walked down the aisle in a beautiful wedding gown and tiara (both second-hand) and Dafydd looked striking in his kilted outfit which was made within the UK. They exchanged wedding rings which were crafted by a local jeweller and, after the ceremony, the guests showered the couple with biodegradable dried petals confetti. Claire's friends made the most beautiful wedding cake; using locally sourced and organic ingredients. In fact most of the catering, arranged by friends and family, incorporated as many locally produced and organic products as possible, including a fabulous Pembrokeshire hog roast. Dafydd and his friends were also able to contribute to the meal in an unusual way - they went fishing for his stag do and, after having smoked the fish at home, their prize catches were included in the wedding feast.

They also decided to use eco-friendly, compostable plates and cutlery from Vegware for the celebrations and (very conveniently having a local Composting Officer amongst their guests) they were able to have plenty of recycling bins placed around the venue to ensure no waste or mess was left at the end of the festivities. Even the kids weren't left out of the wedding plans. They had homemade elderflower cordial and, rather than buying in bottled water for the tables, the couple decided to collect loads of nice wine bottles and filled them with the refreshingly pure Welsh water on tap. The wine bottles were decorated with specially handmade labels. The celebrations were enhanced with a delightful ceilidh band who kept the guests on their toes for the evening's entertainment.

Claire and Dafydd were able to entertain 70 guests during the day and 250 in the evening. 150 of the guests were even able to stay throughout the night and continue with the celebration the next day - the couple had a yurt for themselves and the guests were able to stay in a collection of yurts, tipi style tents and their own camper vans or tents. A fantastic time was had by all, 'I just wish I could do it all again,' says Claire. The guests had a wonderful time and were blown away by this very special gathering in celebration of Claire and Dafydds union.