You are probably wondering what N-Fini is in the first place. First off N-Fini Shape is fan of Plus Size Bride at bayareabrideguide.com. They are a company that sells quality shapewear sizes 0-30. I am thrilled to be contacted and thank them for introducing me to the best shape wear product I have ever experienced.

I was skeptical at first trust me. I have used many shapewear products from department stores including Spanx, which most women rave about. The truth is though the largest size I found in Spanx never fit me right. I guess because I am a tall and large woman.

I decided to give N-Fini Shape a chance and ordered a strapless cami dress undergarment. It happened to arrive in the mail on a day I had a girl friend over. So I gave my friend the “before” look with this cute little black cocktail dress on, and then the “after” look with the shape wear underneath the dress. Then I did the test of walking around and seeing if the fabric was cutting into my fat or if the garment was going to start rolling up under my dress. None of this happened. I could hardly believe it. I felt hot; I felt ready for a night out to show off my smooth curves. I would most definitely wear this under my wedding dress. I felt happy that there is a company who actually makes shape wear that works well for the very plus size.

I then read over the company look book, which is filled with product photos as well as info on the company and each garment they make. I was happy to find that they specialize in full figures. Thank you for the curve recognition! They actually create exclusive fabric on specially designed machines to produce larger sizes. Rather than a larger piece of fabric created on a standard machine. They call this their Tru-Plus garment that is created wider than standard shapewear. Typical plus size shapewear tends to make you feel compacted and uncomfortable and N-Fini does a fine job of making the garment feel like it was made for you personally. I only wish they could make my wedding dress this comfortable.

Along side this special fabric is a diamond shape fabric LYCRA feature. This I could tell was what sucked me in and made me look so good. There was extra support and shaping in the most needed places by the diamond support. It was extremely flexible yet helped firm my trouble areas.

The last special feature that makes this my new favorite under garment is that they put gel in a scalloped pattern on the hemlines. This is the secret to why it wasn’t rolling up or down. I looked at my other shapewear pieces and saw that they had a straight line, no wonder they didn’t work well.

I highly recommend this product and am happy I don’t have to write an article about how average or unflattering this shapewear is. Instead I can say its fantastic, and N-Fini where have you been all my life? This is what every curvy woman needs on a fat day or even on a not so fat one.  Check them out at http://www.n-fini.com and use this promotion code to save $25.00 off orders of $50.00 or more. Code: Divine25, which expires 4/30/10.

Have you heard the phrase  “avoid heavier ever after”? Well I just did while searching for ideas on how to shape up for the big day. Now I’m not so sure I am really all that into the whole dieting for your wedding thing. However, what got me looking into it is my fear of having bad pictures.  So in light of this fear I have been browsing online and finding different things to get me past my crisis. Some things I found were different ways to become a fit bride, fat positive, and the negative adds like “avoid heavier ever after”.

On becoming a fit bride I don’t feel inspired to go crazy dieting by doing many of the suggestions I saw online or joining any sort of mainstream weight loss company.

Instead I am inspired by the discovery of blogs I can relate to as the person I am today. Such as these blogs bigfatdeal.com and bigfatblog.com which are written by larger women. These blogs have helped me realize something I knew deep down all along but thanks to mainstream media lost recently.  I lost myself and the image of the woman I want to be on my wedding day, the person my fiancé fell in love with.  Not an unhappy, dieting, exercising 24/7, stressed out woman. I don’t need to be smaller like the media says I should be on my wedding day.

Finding these blogs even though they are not centered on being a plus size bride they focus on weight in our culture both positive and negative, size discrimination, fat acceptance and more. I finally feel like there is even more people out there that I can relate to. I am not the only large woman out there and I am not alone after reading these blogs.

After reading upsetting articles like “Bride Dumps Fat Bridesmaid Who Will Ruin Pictures” on bigfatdeal.com, and “Reason Number 3,767 to Not Shop at Whole Foods” on bigfatblog.com these brought me back to the reality that I like my body for the most part and wouldn’t want to be treated any differently than others just because I am big.

How sad that the “fat” bridesmaid was basically dumped from the wedding due to her appearance. And that Whole Foods now offers health-based employee discount, a higher discount off their products if you have a low body mass index.  Don’t you think the not so healthy employees with higher BMI’s would benefit from buying more of their wholesome food? I think so. This action that Whole Foods took on employee discount is the exact kind of thing that makes woman like me feel pressured to fit into our thinner society. Sure I could practically starve myself, exercise like crazy, or get weight loss surgery to get a better discount at Whole Foods (if I was an employee) or to wear that perfect off the runway wedding dress. However, regardless of my size I should be accepted and thought of as a beautiful person and beautiful bride. The bride I am is plus size, happy, curvy, fat, and I intend to enjoy my life that way.

Therefore I plan to continue with my life being somewhat healthy doing yoga, occasional exercise videos, walking the dogs twice a day, eating right sometimes, and perhaps lose a few pounds because of it.  But I accept that it is okay to be a plus size bride and to just be yourself on your big day. After all you do want to look back at your wedding pictures and recognize you for you and not look back and think “oh god I killed myself for months to look that skinny and just gained it all back plus more.”  So here I am heading towards my very special heavier ever after and I am not avoiding it, I cant wait.

By Megan Peters

Since I am always looking online for things I need for my wedding. I have finally stumbled upon a few gorgeous dresses and at unbelievable prices. If you look carefully and are patient you will find the pot of gold! I promise. Here is my favorite site I have found www.inweddingdress.com.  They actually carry sizes 2- 26w or you can custom size. This is perfect for me because not only am I large I am also 5’11’’ which means most ready made gowns are not long enough for me, another added hassle to my shopping. I have noticed not many plus size bridal sites will let you customize dresses and that’s why this site is a beauty. I am such a fan of the fit-n-flare styles as well as the A-line satin strapless dresses they carry. I am thinking maybe I will just order my top two favorites and then eBay the one I don’t want since they are all under $250.

Soon I will be making an appointment at Trudy’s, a bridal salon in the Bay Area that stock some in store plus size dresses. However, I am much more excited that they are having a “Gorgeous with Curves” fashion show in March than my dress appointment. The show will be featuring beautiful plus size bride’s size 18-24w. Maybe seeing someone my own size in a bridal gown for a change will get me more excited about shopping. Currently I am feeling a little bummed as I flip through bridal magazines and only seeing one to three pictures of plus size brides. Where is the representation? Come on now, don’t they know the average woman is a size 14?