Itwasahappy daybutIwas justsobig..it’s amazingtobe abrideagain
12. When Jenny looked in the mirror after her makeover, she was stunned.
“I can’t believe it’s me. I look like a different person,” said Jenny, a supermarket customer assistant from Nairn in the Highlands.
We took Jenny and husband Brian, 51, to Pollok House in Glasgow to recreate the pictures taken at their wedding in Brodie Castle, near Forres, in Moray.
Well-wishers stopped to congratulate the happy couple and were puzzled when Jenny revealed they have been married for five years.
She said: “It’s amazing to be a bride again. Brian and I have often talked about renewing our vows so I could be a slim bride, but we couldn’t afford it.”
“She looks stunning,” said Brian. “I’m so proud of her. She’s worked so hard to lose weight.”
The couple met at the store where they both work. Jenny, who at her heaviest weighed 17st, said: “I kept stealing his chips in the staff canteen.
“Growing up I’d always been small and trim but at 19, I started going out, drinking too much and eating takeaway curries.
“I felt healthy because I was playing football and rugby and running but the weight crept up.
“I’ve never been a girly-girl or concerned with my looks. I didn’t worry about my weight until Brian proposed and I realised I’d have to wear a wedding dress in front of all my friends and family.”
Jenny managed to lose twoand-a-half stone for her wedding in 2012 but was still 14st 7lb on
Bride reveals her struggle to shed the pounds for her big day and how she grabbed the opportunity to lose weight when she was given a second chance
her big day and had to go to several bridal shops to get a dress to fit.
A year after her wedding, Jenny’s mother joined Scottish Slimmers and they were both impressed by how easily she was losing weight.
She said: “I started going to classes but I wasn’t serious about following the healthy eating plan, so I’d take off a few pounds and then put them back on. It was slow going, despite my mum’s encouragement.”
By the time she was pregnant with her second son, she’d lost two stone. When she returned to Scottish Slimmers in 2016 she had put a stone back on.
But this time she discovered the Scottish Slimmers app and downloaded it to her phone.
Jenny said: “The app made all the difference. It was so easy to use. You write down what you’re eating and it tells you how many checks it’s worth. You can record your weekly weigh-in and track your progress and set your own goals, which I found motivating.”
Jenny reached her target of 10st 6lb earlier this year – a whole four stone lighter than on her wedding day.
She said: “When I was overweight, I had gallstones because of my fatty diet and I had a high-risk pregnancy with my first son.
“I feel so much healthier now and can run about with my boys.”
Jenny’s example has given Brian the encouragement to lose a stone and the couple regularly runs 5Ks with their sons David, five, and Henry, three,
Recently, Jenny completed the Nairnshire Challenge, which involves a 30-mile run and a Dress: £995 from Signature Brides & Bridesmaids http://www.signaturebridal.co.uk Bouquet and buttonhole from Floral Haven www.floralhaven.co.uk. Pictures were shot at Pollok House in Pollok Park, Glasgow http://www.nts.org.uk/Hire-a-venue/Pollok-House/. Photographer: Victoria Stewart. Thanks to Terri Craig of You school of make-up www.youschoolofmakeup.com, and Scottish Slimmers www.scottishslimmersonline.com