REAL WEDDING - Ed & Kya's Intimate Eco-Friendly Spring Elopement At Nantwen In Pembrokeshire, Captured By O&C Photography

4th November 2019


An Eco Friendly Elopement at Nantwen in Pembrokeshire, Captured by O&C Photography - coastal couple portraitNantwen is located near the glorious coastline of Pembrokeshire in Southwest Wales and brimming with eco-credentials. Local photographers O&C Photography, who also have an admirably eco-conscious ethic, kindly submitted this beautiful elopement wedding, held at Nantwen in the Spring. The bride and groom, Kya and Ed, opted for a wedding day of simplicity and intimacy, guided by many eco-friendly choices and filled with handmade touches. They were accompanied by just a few close family members, barely outnumbering their trusty photographers! Kya kindly answered the following questions about their eco wedding day...

Why did you decide to hold such a small and intimate wedding?

An Eco Friendly Elopement at Nantwen in Pembrokeshire, Captured by O&C Photography - confetti shotBoth of us are quite modest people and a big wedding wouldn't have suited who we are. The most important thing to us was getting married. We didn't want to wait years to save for one day in many together. To quote Ed, quoting When Harry Met Sally, "when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible". We wanted the day to be about the most important thing - our love. We also didn't want to put our friends under financial pressure - we really didn't want anybody feeling like they had to travel all the way to Wales to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights, buy a new outfit, buy us a gift etc. If we had opted for a wedding in England, that would have ruled out Umpa and Nan coming as they're too ill to travel too far. Unfortunately, nan was too ill to make it on the day, but she did get a fresh bouquet of flowers that evening. The best option for us was to have a small intimate wedding in Wales, which was really just about us and our love and commitment to each other, followed by a party in London where we could honour our friends, share pics of the day, put on some food and relax with them. 

Why did you choose Nantwen?

An Eco Friendly Elopement at Nantwen in Pembrokeshire, Captured by O&C PhotographyLooking back, there were so many reasons why it stood out. As we thought more about wanting an intimate wedding over a bigger wedding, we kept coming back to Nantwen. Although we had never visited Jemma and Dan, we had both holidayed near there a year before. I was brought up in Wales, and Ed went to Uni in Wales, spending a lot of time climbing, hiking and surfing around our beautiful country. We fell in love with the area as a haven away from the bustle of London - somewhere that offered complete silence, and in the night complete darkness to clearly see the stars - it's nature we miss most about living where we do.  We decided to get married without any music playing to honour the quiet of where we were. I should also mention that Jemma (as Slade Fine Jewellery) also made our rings - that was a beautiful touch. 

Eco ethical wedding ring by Slate Fine Jewellery

Where were your flowers from?

Our flowers were from Linda at The Woodland Farm. We chose them because of their eco-credentials - they don't import any flowers, so we can feel a little less guilty about our carbon footprint. We ordered my bouquet, a couple of buttonholes for Ed and Umpa (my Grandad) and a couple of corsages - one for each of our mums. 

An Eco Friendly Elopement at Nantwen in Pembrokeshire, Captured by O&C Photography - flowers by The Woodland FarmFinally, Linda made me a beautiful flower crown. I wish I could say that there was some greater symbolism at work - a nod to Apollo and Daphne in Ovid's Metamorphoses - but I'm not a literary genius like Umpa (whose speech we're still trying to understand!!), it was really just the boho hippy vibe I wanted. With no decorative flowers in situ, Dan, Jemma and their beautiful children picked daffodils to put in the hall. It was really kind of them, a lovely gesture.

Where was your dress from?

An Eco Friendly Elopement at Nantwen in Pembrokeshire, Captured by O&C Photography - wedding dress separates by BHLDNFor somebody who didn't want a traditional wedding, I really agonised over the dress! I hoped to find a chic second hand dress or a skirt and top combo that I could wear again, so I could feel good about how eco friendly we were. I had it in my mind that with Ed's mum's help (also a very talented Linda), I could could revamp something so I spent a lot of mornings scrolling through websites selling second hand dresses. Unfortunately, everything I liked was too expensive for me to justify buying for only a few hours' wear. When nothing I loved popped up, I took to the high street. After a bit of research I realised that Anthropologie (a really beautiful high street shop with a bohemian vibe) have a bridal arm in the US called BHLDN where I found a skirt and flowing top in the sale. Ed was heading to Seattle for a wedding in December so I got the items sent ahead to where he was staying, and he brought them back (wrapped and unseen, to preserve all the luck!). I felt a little less guilty about the air miles as he was going there anyway, plus I get to wear each of them again - the top is in my wardrobe, ready to wear with jeans in the Summer. 


My thanks to all for sharing this wonderful eco elopement with GREEN UNION; I love that their guests got into the spirit of the day and gave handmade gifts! There are so many inspirational aspects encapsulated in this intimate wedding day, including:

  • minimal guest numbers
  • minimising travel for guests
  • choosing an environmentally-conscious wedding venue
  • everyone staying on site
  • working with local photographers
  • using locally-grown, seasonal flowers
  • commisioning ethical wedding bands from a (very!) local eco jeweller
  • minimising extraneous décor
  • reusing wedding day attire 

Exquisite!

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