Maria and Kyle's engagement pictures

Hi, Let me start off by saying that I love your blog, I came across your blog a little before I knew I was going to be proposed to... I know it sounds silly but Fiance and I had been dating for about 6 months and I knew that he was the man for me! :) Kyle and i met through mutal friends, we live in the DFW area, I live in Arlington, he lives in Venus, TX (about 30 min away from ea other.) He proposed on the 30th of November 2009! We will be getting married (God willing) Oct 23, 2010

As any plus size gal i alway knew that when my time came I would deal with the issue of finding the right dress, and SIZE! I would go online and always see skinny women in bridal gowns and think how would this look in a size 22???

I have so much to say and comment, I have tried on so many dresses its unbelievable!!! I knew that when I set off to find "my" dress I wanted something with lace, but somehow everything I came acreoss was well...for petite slim women, which I was NOT...LOL so my mission was to find a dress that was flattering for me and had lace. (And of course, not too pricy) I even considered renting... So viola'! Through my lovely cousin I found this place in Mansfield TX (about 3 minutes from where I work) called Classy Concepts. You can buy or rent formal gowns AND WEDDING GOWNS!!! I found my dress!!! I will be renting it. I got a great bargin, I have yet to get alterations so no pics yet... :( Once I do I will send you pictures!!!!

For now I would love to share our Engagement pictures!!! These were taken by our wonderful photographer and friend Lisa Hause http://wwwlisahause.com She will be doing all the photography at our wedding!
Enjoy and Thank your so much for this wonderful site of yours!!! :D

Maria Torres


Maria!

I am so excited to share your engagement pictures! I kinda held off an extra day or so to post them on your wedding day! I hope the storm blows through fast and that you two are RANGERS FANS! LOL
Have a beautiful wedding day and I can't wait to share your wedding pictures!

Carla

FREE IS GOOD!

Well....almost. We had to buy 2 new tires since the old ones were shot. Here are some more pictures.

I will be posting a reader's engagement tomorrow.

A question from a reader....

I received this email a while ago but now that I am back I thought it would be a good one to share to see what kind of advice you had for her as well.

Hello,
I hope you don't mind me emailing you. I got your email address as i was searching on the net for pictures for Pics of real plus size brides and came across your blog site which was very helpful and helped inspire my confidence about being a plus size bride.
The reason why i have contacted you was to say all of those you listed on your introduction about why you made the site i.e What are some poses that I could have had my photographer take that would have been more flattering? How big does my bouquet need to be so it looks proportional? are all exactly the questions i have at the moment and also just generally how to forget about your inhabitions enough to enjoy the day as i am very unconfident about myself and do give myself a really hard time!! I hear people who would read this and say why doesn't she do something about it then but i have tried i done weight watchers last year and lost just over a stone in 8 months but it was a really bad struggle not to stick to the diet as i found that easy and good to understand, but to get the weight to shift as i have high hormone levels and severe pco's so it all works against me!!!!!
If you would be so kind as to be able to give me some good confidence boosting tips and advice on all you can think of i would really appreciate it.
P.s no the size of the bouquet thing is exactly the question i would ask too!!
Thanks Janine x

Janine,

I am so sorry to have taken so long to respond to your email. Oh and I think I found that stone you lost! LOL...

Even though I LOVE taking photographs of other people I alway feel like I look terrible in pictures. I freeze up and look all stiff and uncomfortable in most pictures. What worked a little for me was to have a stiff drink. It definately took the edge off my nerves. I still think I looked stiff and uncomfortable but it was better than usual.

I think if I had it to do over I would have treated myself to a mani and pedi the day of the portrait shoot (and also the day of the wedding!) and had a nice bottle of wine or champagne to celebrate (or in my case...loosen up with). I did have a couple of drinks beforehand and it definately relaxed me but I still looked a little stiff in the beginning. I finally decided just to be OK with it because, after all, that IS what I look like. So after about 5 minutes it seemed a lot less painful to have my picture being taken. LOL

Some of the ways that they pose you will seem silly and feel a little weird but just trust that the photographer knows what they are doing. As the shoot went on I did loosen up and get used to being on the other side of the camera. But I have to say....the best picture they took of us was the one we were laughing at ourselves. Totally spur of the moment.

There are always going to be people that think we should be thinner. Whatever. It is what it is. Don't beat yourself up about it so much. If losing weight is important to you then keep working at it. You can alway have some pictures taken later on your anniversary, on a birthday or just because you are having a good hair day.

A few of things that I wish I had done........

1.) have my eyebrows groomed professionally (I can never get mine even), it really does make your eyes look their best. And then

2.) a manicure. Even if you don't like to wear polish they can do a nice buff on your nails. Everyone will be looking at your hands and they will be in A LOT of pictures!

3.) I also wished I had worn some lip gloss in some of the pictures because my lips looked kinda dry. Oh well.

I still worry sometimes that my bouquet was a little small....

Relax and Enjoy!

How do you....

I've been obsessing a lot lately over the whole (lack of) pregnancy thing to the point that nothing else really mattered. Which is NOT GOOD.

I realized it was kind of the same way when I was planning our wedding. I was obsessed with the dress and the dishes and a million little details (even though my wedding was really low key it felt like there was a million things I didnt' get done) And that got me wondering....

How do you stay in touch with your relationship? Do you have a project you work on together? Do you just veg out on the couch together? Does your significant other understand what you are stressed out about? Mine is fairly good at getting it once I explain what I'm thinking/feeling but sometimes I want him to read my mind. That never works and we just get a little frustrated with each other until I realize...DUH....COMMUNICATION!!!!!

My darling husband and I have started working on a new project together.

It's been a lot of fun because I like to play with power tools and this gives us a good excuse to buy more of them! It's been a great way to refocus on us and what we as a couple are all about. We are deciding together how we want to handle each decision. Good thing we think a lot alike! LOL

Yikes! I don't think the ventilation is supposed to be THERE!

It's fun to tear something up just to bring it back to life. My husband knows I love the demolition phase so he stood back and filled the trash bags with all the stuff I pulled off.

We are like two kids in a candy store these days and it's just like when we first started dating. We are learning all about each other again.

So what are you guys doing for non wedding related fun?

I'm still here....

It's been a rollercoster ride since I was last here.

I'm up to my 4th miscarriage but trying not to let the losses and the IF struggle take over my life. I am slowly getting back to the things that matter to me the most, one of which is y'all. So I'm making a pledge to myself to post the times I think about posting or at least once a week.

One of the things that I've been doing lately is taking LOTS of pictures, learning how to really use my camera and I've been helping my neighbors photograph at a few WEDDINGS! I even shot one by myself....wow! Talk about stressful! I made some mistakes and missed a couple of shots that would have been great but it was for free so I am trying not to beat myself up too bad.

SNOW!

We are getting LOTS OF SNOW in DFW! I can't wait to get off work to go take some pictures of it. I took these pictures with my cell phone. The first picture was taken...while driving...with my arm stuck out the window...just praying I got the shot.

Vintage wedding...

My best friend posted this to her facebook the other day and I was torn between cracking up and cringing. And no, I'm not the bride but I'm next to her...did you find me yet?

It was January 1986 and I have to admit we did a dang fine job on the wedding for as little as we all had to spend back then. The dresses were made by Sabrina's (the chick to the right of the bride) grandmother. We wore them in her wedding too. Ann and I spent several evening gathering up the skirt and adding little floral accents to them so they wouldn't be "exactly" the same (in our minds) and then to change the look a little more we wore the sleeves pushed up. Ahh the 80's At least we didn't have "mall bangs"!

I remember sitting in Ann's living room the morning of her wedding sewing her veil. It was down to the wire ladies! But we managed to pull it off! I don't remember much about the wedding. It was held at her family's church in our tiny hometown and the reception was at City Hall. We decorated it with crepe paper and ate off of paper plates. No fancy schmancy catered event, just a "hometown weddin".

Ann and Robert just celebrated 24 years of marriage in January and not a single person could tell you what their cake tasted like, what designer they wore (none) or who caught the bouquet, but anyone that knows them knows they are still in love and they are a great team. THAT my friends is what matters. Happy Belated Anniversary Ann and Rob.

Oh yeah, And I guarantee you I never wore that dress again. We all hated them but it was what we could afford so we worked with it.