Bride Emma a shadow of her former self

Emma Larter, 34, from Luton, couldn’t bear the idea of wearing a size 24 dress and repeatedly put off her dream wedding to fiance David after he proposed in 2009.

But after being ‘fat-shamed’ in a photo of her at a party, she finally got hitched on Saturday, looking stunning in a size 12 gown.

Mum-of-four Emma said: “I felt amazing in my dress and it was the perfect way to celebrate how far I’ve come.

“For once in my life I felt happy with people taking photos of me. Before I used to hide behind people but I finally had the confidence to say ‘take my photo’.

“It was the most magical day and something I would never have enjoyed as much as my former self.”

Emma and David, 35, had been engaged for seven years.

“I originally bought a dress in size 16 back in October but I had to go and get a new one in November because I’d lost more weight.

“My bridesmaid even commented on how easy it was to lace me up on the day, which felt pretty good.”

Emma revealed that she would previously gorge on a high calorie diet of takeaways, fried snacks.

But after joining her local Slimming World group, she swapped fast food for healthy meals and regular exercise and dropped to a slinky 12-stone.

Emma’s efforts led her to losing ten stone in less than a year, dropping from a size 24 to a size 12.

But she revealed the diet was put to one side as she celebrated her dream wedding to David, who works as a foreman for a tarmac company.

Emma added: “Although my family all eat what I eat, I couldn’t really inflict it on all the guests.

“I’ve got down to my target weight now and I’ll never go back to where I was before.”

Emma, who now works part-time as a Slimming World consultant, has been voted Woman of the Year and Miss Slinky by her group.