Weddingbee

Thank you Zappos for 365 day returns, free shipping, free return shipping, and for overnighting my order without me even expecting it. The UPS guy carried a huge box to my doorstep and said, “that’s a lot of shoes!”

I don’t know what came over me to buy so many patent leather shoes to consider for bridesmaids’ shoes, but all I can say is these two are so soffffft!

Ewww, toe cleavage! When did toe cleavage become cool? I feel like 8 out of 10 pairs of shoes I try on at the mall have some serious toe cleavage going on (I’m a size six so all the samples on the sales floor allow me to try on dozens of shoes without pestering a sales person).

These shoes have perhaps the most perfect heel I’ve ever tried on. The surface-to-floor-contact ratio is perfect, there’s no wobbly balance problems, and it’s still cute and not chunky.

Black and white seemed like the perfect option, but how few options there turned out to be. Ew again with the toe cleavage, not to mention that it’s hard to keep the shoe on because there’s so little shoe covering my toes.

White! I only bought one pair of white shoes for some reason, and although I was leaning toward a real punchy color like red, everything was pretty much black or some variation thereof.

The shoe bends in around the ankle area to help keep them from slipping off. If I could find some grosgrain ribbon to match the detail on the shoes, they’d be nice to tie around the bouquets.

Hello nude! They looked to be a soft pink online. Perhaps this is the only use of toe cleavage that I approve of, because it complements the eyelet-y parts of the shoes.

Mmm mary janes! Most of the shoes I bought ranged from fifty to ninety dollars, which is surprisingly decent considering a lot of them were super comfortable and the run of the mill blistery shoes you buy at Aldo can usually run well over one hundred bucks. Enter the brand “Gentle Souls.” Very similar to the Sofft, but with super cushions around the balls of your feet. Why can’t all shoes have those?

These are character shoes straight from my local dance shop. They’ve got that mary jane look written all over them, but they’re made for character dance pieces; with the leather soles they’re probably great for ballroom dancing too.

I bought them because I’ve never had a pair of comfortable pumps, and I’m hoping I can bring them to my local cobbler to add more road-worthy soles so I can wear them for everyday wear.

On a completely different note: keds! I bought these just for my personal use, but I threw them on with the bridesmaid dress, and from far away they look decently complementary. We’re all familiar with the eleanor keds featuring owls, giraffes, camels and what have you, but little horses?! I’ve never seen these before.

So then my mind got ticking. The mister has this favorite pair of adidas shoes: rod lavers. Even his best man owns a pair. And one of the groomsmen’s dads apparently collects them. When he and I first started dating, he took a month trip to Malaysia, only to have his shoes stolen from right outside his doorstep. His very favorite shoes, and they were a few seasons old and not available any more. So I covertly asked for his shoe size, and for some reason, I don’t know, to impress me (?) he told me he was a size 11. I scouted out the shoes on ebay and went through the pain of ordering an online item as a Canadian (eww customs, duties, and extra shipping charges). Turns out he wasn’t a size 11, so to this day I still have those shoes in a box in the closet.

I’ve seen chucks/converse runners done at many a wedding, and perhaps they’re a little high school prom, but rod lavers would be so much more appropriate considering all the boys’ ties to them. And they’d make great groomsmen gifts. So we’ll see.

These were decent, but I could anticipate it really rubbing this circled area and making for an unhappy evening.

And now for my top pick, these! My mind has been torn in many different directions in many different areas of wedding planning, but I always come back to what I’d originally wanted in every case. Hello ankle strap flats. They’ve got a nice sheen without being too shiny. And it’s bonus-good because a) one of my bridesmaids is already taller than me without any shoes b) said bridesmaid twisted her ankle really badly the last time I was with her and probably wouldn’t fare well and any height of heel.

My one drawback was that the inside was pretty darn shiny and would make for some sweaty times. But! hello little sock things to save the day! 3 for $15 at Nordstrom; the cotton ones feature a little silicone-ish thing at the back that keeps them from slipping off your foot, which I’m told is a big problem with these itsy bitsy socks.

Bridesmaids’ shoes - done!

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