A bride lost almost half her body weight so she had the confidence to walk down the aisle on her wedding day.
Claire Williams, née Young, said she felt miserable and embarrassed to go out in public when her to almost 20st.
But after joining her local slimming group and taking up exercising she dropped to 10st in time to tie the knot to husband Matthew Williams.
"When I was at my heaviest, I never would have had the confidence to walk down the aisle," she admitted.
"But my weight loss has totally transformed me. I'm now far more energetic - and I couldn't be happier."
Claire, 44, said she had battled with her weight since her 20s and began to suffer with mobility problems.
"Any food I could find I'd put in my mouth," she admitted.
"I would eat a stupid amount of bread. I'd have it with every meal of the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner.
"My confidence was at rock bottom. I was even put on a confidence building course by the Job Centre, but that just made things worse as it just highlighted all the flaws I had about myself."
Claire, from Aberdare , said she met hubby Matthew for the first time in 2013 and they instantly hit it off.
"He was running a taxi business, and he picked me up to take me to one of the Job Centre courses. He just flirted with me the whole journey," she joked.
"I was probably close to my biggest at that time. When we first got together I was embarrassed to walk around in public with him as he's quite a small guy.
"Whenever we had photos taken I'd ask for them to only be from the neck up."
Despite admitting to being "petrified" - and weighing just shy of 18st at the time - Claire plucked up the courage to join Slimming World in Cwmdare in 2014. Before long she stuck religiously to their diet plan - which limits users to having certain amounts foods which are classed as "syns".
"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be," she said.
"I decided not to eat any of the syns at all, but instead treat myself to a few drinks on the weekend.
"It has become a way of life for me."
Ahead of her wedding at Llechwen Hall Hotel, Nelson, on Saturday, September 14, Claire's weight had fallen to just under 10st.
"I got so close to my Slimming World consultant Lauren that I made her one of my bridesmaids. She's like my best friend now," she beamed.
"And Matthew has been unbelievably supportive. He exercises with me, comes on walks with me and cooks some of the recipes."
Claire even claims losing the weight helped her spot a non-cancerous tumour in her stomach, which she's since had surgically removed.
"Who knows, losing the weight could have saved my life too," she added.
Claire, who has won awards for her dramatic weight loss, bought her wedding dress from Belle Mariee Bridal in Porth, Rhondda.
Her husband Matthew, 50, added: "She has always been beautiful to me, even when she was bigger - but now she's simply stunning and everyone else can see it too. I'm super proud to call her my wife."
