One of the hardest things is to talk about having low self confidence. Everyone assumes that when you get engaged you are on cloud nine and that you feel amazing about yourself and this is not always the case. Our Winter Bride Emma talks about learning to love yourself. This one got Maria and I right in the feels…….get the tissues ready……..sniff sniff…~ Kate
(In an absolutely non-stalker way I PROMISE!!)
Love you. Something we are fortunate enough to say ever so naturally every day. When we’re rushing to go to work- half of our breakfast in one hand, a coffee stain imminent and we give the quick kiss good bye- “Love you ok!” We love our children, our parents, our best friends, and our family.
“Love you, ok!”
No doubts.
Sometimes it falls from our mouths when we don’t realise, isn’t that lucky, a whole lot of effortless, scrumptious L.O.V.E!
But we never seem to consider ourselves amongst our list of loved ones, never treating ourselves as kindly as they do.
I certainly didn’t on my journey to marrying Nathan Jones (I should note that I do refer to Nathan Jones as Nathan Jones in full…that’s another story).
In fact, self-acceptance, self-love was the most foreign concept to me; to care for myself as much as he did, to accept myself as he had, to speak kindly of myself as he did me. All this anxiety in the blender of the impending most ‘perfect day of my life’ created a bridal-fear smoothie! This is in no way nourishing to the self-esteem! 
My Fear: Would I fight this anxiety and feel my most beautiful self on my wedding day? Would I truly smile at myself in the mirror that morning?
This is not a rare fear for brides. The most empowered and beautifully self-loving bride may be niggled by Madame Doubt, just before the war paint goes on. Our balanced selves recognises how irrational and negative we are being, our inspirational Instagram feeds instruct us to be thankful and unique, our true selves! 
My Realisation: Finding Nathan Jones was a big deal for me. Of course finding the one is a big deal for everyone, no doubt, but it was especially big for me because he wasn’t just falling in love with me, accepting me in all my crazy forms, no matter what mistakes I owned. I had the other half of me too, the little star stuck to me. Overnight we became his everything; he was actually intrigued by my weirdness, wasn’t horrified by my fiery temper, even encouraging of my love of coco pops. More than anything else he didn’t judge me. He accepted hippy, anxious, emotional, whole-hearted me. He thought I was beautiful and loved my wobbly bits. What’s more, he had an unconditional love for that little star stuck to me. He says she is what he loves most about me. I think you’ll agree he’s an amazing man. 
Operation Love You: The 4 FACTS all anxious Brideys need to embrace!
1) Trust the girl who fell in love with her double chin, your ‘Best Self’ is not created directly by planks and hummus! It’s simply the healthy, happy you that they all love and you love being. If your heart is smiling so is that beautiful face, so are those eyes, so is that sexy bod!
2) Madame Doubt needs to listen up, you will never feel happier or feel as perfect until the moment the love of your life sees you. That’s when you’ll believe it. You are their wonderful.
3) The Wedding Day; your hair may drop, someone may not like your shoes, your bra may not stick on (yes that happened to me!) and you might feel bloated, those are your worries not your faults, no one else cares! There is nothing more lovely, than a bride boldly being herself; owning her perfect imperfection.
4) Yes, your wedding day will be spectacular, the best party of your life. Yes you will be a stunner. I mean it! You will be a stunner purely because of happiness. But this one day is not your one chance to be your most beautiful. You are that beautiful everyday! It’s just this one day you actually have the frock to match!
When we got engaged I was in my underwear in a London hotel room. No serious, but not like that! I was in my undies, tipsy dancing with Seren and Nathan Jones and then he was down on one knee and then I was saying yes. I cursed him for doing it with my wobbly bits out but he didn’t want it any other way. Crazy Guy I thought, but he loves me in all my forms. Guess what…finally…so do I.
Operation Successful. 
