Lucy Lucy.....we bloody love you ♥

"Ok so here are a few words to describe the amazingness of my shoot with Red Shoe and the wonderful, lovely and fabulous dream team that is Sarah & Mandy. I've been a huge fan of Red Shoe for quite some time now but it was always something I never thought I'd actually have the bottle to go through with. I lost count of the times I started typing out a message to Sarah then deleted without sending!! My battle with depression, anxiety and... low self esteem started a long time ago due to variety of things that happened growing up but a long term relationship with somebody who thought it was fun to play on the insecurities I had about my looks and appearance made everything a whole lot worse. After a lot of patience, hard work and an unbelievable amount of strength and support from my amazing best friend and Mum, after 4 years I felt like I was winning. Then in March this year, my beautiful, wonderful, irreplaceable Mum passed away unexpectedly without any warning and my whole world changed overnight. Now, everyone around me tells me I've coped brilliantly with things but what they don't know is a huge part of me died when my Mum did; the bad habit of bottling things up and putting on a brave face are back with a vengeance as are the depression, anxiety and low self esteem issues. Queue Red Shoe to shake things up a bit!!! I decided it was now or never, after all you never know what's around the corner or when your time's up!! Even though it was all booked and paid for, it took everything I had not to back out and cancel but boy am I glad I stuck to my guns and went through with it!! The wonderful Mandy was just lovely putting me at ease instantly, making me laugh and working miracles with my face and hair, and as for the beautiful Sarah, she was just amazing guiding me through every step of the shoot and making me feel absolutely fabulous!! I cannot put into words how grateful I am to these two wonderful ladies for giving me the best day I've had in a long time, you're both just truly amazing - thank you from the bottom of my heart! xxxxxxxx"

The beautiful, amazing and God I love you Corinne......

My story

The past couple of years has been one of highs and lows. I had an early miscarriage, then my following pregnancy ended after discovering our daughter had Edward's Syndrome and we were told she would have no chance of survival. I know that we made the best decision for her (and our other children) in ending the pregnancy but I've had to live with it since and have never really forgiven myself. My next pregnancy w...as also quite stressful as I was under consultant care, everything seemed to be going well and then at 20 weeks a rare brain condition was diagnosed in my baby boy. We were advised he would be severely disabled, he is now 14 months old, a wonderful little boy and proving the doctors very much wrong. I have 4 boys and I home school the youngest 3, it's full on!

My husband and I got married last year, on the anniversary of the day we met. I was 5 months pregnant at the time and we had the most wonderful hippy wedding in the woods. This was a definite high! Then shortly before our youngest baby was born we realised something wasn't quite right with my husband, sex had become painful and he noticed his penis was becoming curved. Eventually he saw the GP and then the specialist, who diagnosed Peyronies disease. He is currently waiting for an operation to repair the damage and hopefully after 18 months of no sex we will be able to make up for lost time.

So, these photos are partly a 'happy shiny new knob' gift for my husband but also as a confidence boost for me. After 4 babies I'd lost sight of me a little and this was a way of getting something back.

What I didn't realise was the impact it would have, I've gone from feeling slightly invisible and not really understanding what people would find attractive in me to feeling truly sexy and empowered. It seems ridiculous to me that as a woman who doesn't wear makeup and rarely dresses up that this experience could empower me but it really has. Seeing the first photo I was shocked, Mandy and Sarah made me feel relaxed, comfortable and utterly gorgeous and it completely shows. For the first time in my life I could see a bit more of what other people see in me, it wasn't that they made me look different but rather that they showed the parts of me that people have always said are beautiful and I never believed.

Finally I look at me and believe it, I feel beautiful, sexy and confident. Put simply, I feel absolutely wonderful.

The Beautiful Ruth

I met my best friend 16 years ago and very blessed to say he still is now two kids later. We have had are ups and down but i'm a lucky girl. I've been toying with the idea for a while about having my pictures taken. And i'm so glad I did and I found Red Shoe... Mandy and Sarah are amazing . The reason I wanted them doing is simple.... i'm always in my dog walking gear and gym clothes fed up looking like a bag lady. Thankyou Red Shoe for making me FEEL and look pretty. You're amazing. Xx

Anna

Sarah

"I booked my red shoe shoot as a wedding present to my hubby ...with the intention of making a photo book love story, I wanted to show him that I can still be fun, cute and sexy not just a mummy. I had the shoot only 6 months after having my youngest son so my confidence was low and I felt really self conscious, but Mandy and Sarah really made me feel at ease and by the end of the shoot I felt so much better about myself and proud that I could do something like that! On the morning of the wedding when my husband received his gift he was very happy to say the least. It was such an amazing experience and I would definitely recommend all women to have a red shoe shoot xx