“Confidence is a personal journey that only you can go on!”

Callie Thorpe is awesome.

I’ve followed her on Instagram for a while now – I saw her at an event last year and was too nervous to say hi! And I was glued to her wedding pics while I was on honeymoon – and I cannot tell you how much her confidence has spilled over onto my own.

Callie is a blogger at From the Corners of the Curve, where she shares style, travel guides, recipes, and general life musings – and has broken the internet on more than one occasion.

Her gorgeous honeymoon bikini snaps made headlines around the world, and just last week, she was hailed for a Twitter stream about why the term ‘unhealthy’ shouldn’t be used as a way to body shame – ‘healthiness’ and ‘unhealthiness’ comes in lots of different forms.

Last year, Callie shared lots of equally empowering and reassuring insights in the lead up to, and after her wedding, about how she found the planning, why her wedding dress search was challenging, and of course, how special it was marry her lovely groom Dan.

My own wedding and Callie’s were just a week apart, so following her Insta in the lead up to her big day, I felt like she was a kindred spirit.

I too have ongoing battles with confidence that I didn’t want to rain on my wedding day parade, I too didn’t want to give into the pressure to lose weight ahead of our big day, and I too was so happy with my wedding pictures because I had a huge smile on my face all day long.

(As you’ll see, Callie and Dan’s photos by Kirsty MacKenzie Photography are stunning!)

When we first started our Healthy Happy Bride series, Callie was one of the first people I wanted to get in touch with.

So a couple of weeks ago, when she shared a mock-up of a bridal magazine cover on Instagram with her own picture on it – as part of the Navabi #moreplusplease campaign – I knew it was time to hit her up with some questions on bridal body confidence, beauty tips, and diverse representation in the wedding industry.

As always, she brought the real talk…

When you were planning your wedding, how did you find wedding blogs and magazines catered for curvy brides?

Your standard wedding mags you would buy at the supermarket contained little to no representation of plus size brides.

There are a few dedicated plus size bridal blogs and diversity shown in the likes of Rock and Roll Bride but overall it was limited.

Tell us about your call to see more plus size women on the covers of magazines?

It frustrated me that you always see the same type of bride on the covers of bridal magazines, there is a real lack of representation.

All kinds of women get married, love supersedes size so why can’t those women be represented too?

A Brides Magazine mock-up as part of the Navabi #moreplusplease campaign.

How was your wedding dress search?

My wedding dress search was pretty short, I called a few London based boutiques and unfortunately was told most dresses were only in sample sizes to 16 and 18.

When I expressed this frustration on Twitter, David’s Bridal reached out and invited me to try on some plus size dresses and that was where I found the one!

The choices from the David Bridal were really impressive, I tried on six different style dresses in total.

Did you have any issues around planning your wedding and the day itself?

I found planning the wedding really stressful as at the time I was working three jobs and it became a lot of work.

I am a bit of a control freak so it was hard to ask for help, but in the end I welcomed support from lots of my amazing friends.

What are your beauty tips for brides?

Drink lots of water on the weeks leading up to the wedding, clear skin is way better than tons of makeup.

Also don’t be afraid to not be traditional. Most brides go for a nude look on their wedding but I chose to wear my signature coral red Lady Danger lip and I felt just like me.

What were your favourite sources of wedding style inspiration?

I went for an industrial urban style wedding so I took a lot of inspiration from interior websites, as well of course Pinterest and wedding blogs!

You’ve spoken in the past about having low days and confidence set-backs – what are your tools for boosting your own confidence?

I was very open and honest that at times I felt pressured to lose weight, it is something that is pushed on to you every where when you are a bride to be, but in the end I chose to not put myself under so much pressure.

I had such a supportive fiancé, I realised that was what was most important.

My tip for boosting confidence is be kind to yourself, look back at photos with outfits that make you feel good and re-create them, and also read uplifting blogs!

What role does your relationship, and now marriage, play in your confidence, if any?

My confidence comes from myself because it is a very personal thing.

The whole time Dan and I were together he would tell me how beautiful I was and he loved me all different sizes but that didn’t change how I saw myself.

Confidence is a personal journey that only you can go on!

We loved seeing the photos of your wedding, tell us a bit about how you found the whole experience of getting married?

My wedding day was one of the best days of my life, the sun was shining, I had everyone I loved in one room together, it was beautiful.

I don’t feel any different now that I am married and organising  a wedding certainly taught me a few things about myself and others around me. Although at times I found is stressful I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

One of Callie’s viral honeymoon snaps on Instagram.

We were also obsessed with your honeymoon pics – they got a lot of media attention, how did it feel to see such a response to your body positivity?

It was so great to see that the world is changing how it views plus size bodies and to see media outlets challenging bad behaviors by sharing my message makes me feel so happy and really proud.

Tell us about the journey that got you to the point of feeling confident sharing bikini snaps – something so many women struggle with.

I started my blog as a diet diary five years ago during a time when I was desperate to lose weight and hated myself.

It was finding plus size fashion and body pos blogs that made me look at myself in a different light.

Representation matters and seeing other women my size wearing bikini’s made me feel like I could be confident to wear one. It’s like a chain of confidence, sharing images of yourself really can help others

What do you want to see more of from the wedding industry?

More diversity of women of colour and broader sizes in magazines.

The fact we have to have separate shops for plus size brides or entirely separate magazines is unfair, all women deserve to have an enjoyable wedding experience no matter what their size.

What advice do you have for brides and grooms who are planning their weddings and feel like they don’t see themselves reflected within the wedding industry and wedding media?

Just focus on what you love and who you are, find magazines that do cater to you, they may not be on the stands of your supermarket but they do exist.

Remember that the most important thing about a wedding is declaring your love for you significant other, all the sparkle and jazz means nothing.

What are your tips for wedding blogs like us to reach curvy brides or grooms? (We do feature real weddings with couples of all shapes and sizes, but we don’t necessarily tag them as ‘plus size’ or ‘curvy’).

I think using plus size tags is perfectly acceptable, its the same as how on shopping sites you would search the term ‘Tall’ if you happened to be taller.

The term can also be empowering for women and without it many women wouldn’t find people that look like them so tag away!