I AM BEAUTIFUL: A Shoot Created To Encourage Woman

Photo by Morgan Taylor Artistry

You deserve to look and feel beautiful in your skin! The skin you are in right now. The world we live in has spun a web of hatefulness that every one of us has gotten trapped in. Hatefulness toward ourselves. We’ve all had those moments when we looked in the mirror and felt ugly, useless and not valuable. We’ve looked at our bodies and felt angry, discouraged and disappointed because we don’t look exactly like what our world is telling us we should look like. It’s an unrealistic and destructive line of thinking that can take us down paths of self mutilation, eating disorders, self doubt, diminished self respect, debilitating mental health struggles and overall self destroying behavior. It’s a viscous game that just feels impossible to get out of. This destructive thought process has filtered into the Bridal industry as well. It’s made it very difficult for woman with curves and full body shapes to find dress that make them feel beautiful. The bridal stores tend to be stacked with dresses that can really only fit runway models and simply trying these dresses on becomes an exhausting struggle. That can be soul crushing to a bride who is searching for her perfect dress and time and time again is unable to fit in the sample sizes in the stores. That is unbelievably discouraging when you are trying to find a dress to help you look and feel the most beautiful you have ever felt. But, there are positive people and encouraging places out there for you and I am here to shine a little light on that.

Back in the early Spring of 2020, some amazing woman and I got together at La Bella Moda, an awesome little encouraging Bridal Shop in Conshohocken, PA and decided to create a Bridal Styled Shoot featuring woman with curves. The purpose of this shoot was to encourage and empower women of all sizes to feel beautiful in their skin!

We brought in an amazing hair and makeup team from Jacqueline Michelle & Co. who pampered our beautiful models and brought out all their natural beauty. Then, we dressed these beauties up in bridal gowns that not only fit their curves but flattered them as well.

The models stood in front of the camera with our amazing photographer Morgan Taylor Artistry, feeling confident and celebrated for who they are. We popped champagne, shared words of encouragement, threw confetti, eat delicious pizza and laughed, a lot. We even had each of the models write love notes to themselves as a way to help break the bad cycle of self hate. It was an amazing experience and one I am sure not to ever forget!

As a curvy woman myself, it was so encouraging to see women like me being represented in the wedding industry. An industry I love so much! We still have a very long way to go with making sure that all women and all people are represented and treated equally but even little changes and little moments like this make me feel like there is hope for our future. We can make change by sharing positive and encouraging thoughts and words like this and sharing the beauty in everyone and the more that we share, the more our world can be filled with positivity and encouragement towards others.

Every woman deserves to feel beautiful! Especially on her wedding day and that is something that myself and the amazing women who were a part of this shoot stand behind with all out hearts! We want to be a light. To be encouragement and to empower women to look at themselves in the mirror and know that they are beautiful, exactly how they are!

Never forget that you, yes you reading this blog right now, are beautiful. You are worthwhile. You are valuable and you are enough. When you look in the mirror today, I want you to smile and say, “I AM BEAUTIFUL”. Because , you are exactly that. <3

Love,

Naticia

THE AMAZING TEAM oF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN BEHIND THIS SHOOT

Concept Creation, Design, Planning & Coordination: The Calla Lily Event Planning & La Bella Moda| Photography Genius: Morgan Taylor Artistry| Floral Design: Fleurish | Vintage Rentals: Lilac & Lace Co. | Hair & Makeup Design: Jacqueline Michelle & Co. | Bridal Gowns & Shoot Location: La Bella Moda | Signage & Calligraphy: Creamery Hill | Models: Mel Manouel, Ashley Drew & Everything Emily Ann