Wedding Blog

On our wedding day, the shoes on my feet may only make select appearances (except for when I’m practically holding them up in the air, begging for my photographer to take some “amazing shoe shots”), but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t look fabulous.

Of course, I can’t really afford to be sporting some of the favorites… unfortunately “Stuart” or “Vera” will not be printed on the soles of my shoes. But there are many affordable options out there that are great renditions of their designer counterparts, most of which run anywhere from $50-$100. I searched every site known to man (don’t think I’m joking!) to find the perfect pair and came up with a few contenders:

Source: Dyeable Shoe Store
“Melissa” by Lisa Rene, around $90, and dyeable to match any color I should choose.

Source: Dyeable Shoe Store
“Bianca” by Touch Ups, $49.95, sleek and sophisticated… and also dyeable.

Source: Dyeable Shoe Store
“Cerise” by Pink, $69.95, perfect heel height, great vintage feel, and dyeable.

What I have learned is that the bridal shoe market is over saturated with white satin dyeable shoes. And there’s nothing wrong with that… I have a girlfriend who bought the best pair of shoes, dyed them a pale blue, and had the sweetest vintage chic looking shoes around. I absolutely drooled over them!

However, let’s say I’m going to pay, on average, $80 for these shoes. And I’m probably paying for shipping. And then I’m paying to get them dyed whatever spectacular color I choose from the rainbow of colors they’ll show me. And then I’m hoping and praying and double crossing my fingers that the color comes out just as I’ve always imagined my bridal shoes would be. So let’s say I’m at $100+ on my footwear investment. Not to mention the kickin’ pair of flats I’m going to buy for the reception when I start to lose feeling in my toes. So we’re pushing $150 now? And I might wear the flats again, but the pretty pale vintage-styled shoes that I took the time and care to have dyed? They’re going to be taking up precious real estate on my shoe rack for months while I stare at them, hoping for a reason to actually wear them outside of the house again.

After pondering this whole shoe budget/wearable debacle, I took the problem to one of my bridesmaids who would never, ever lie to me about footwear. And while she had some favorites out of the bunch I had selected, she gently told me that they just weren’t me. Hmph. It’s true, I have far too much fun with footwear to just grab a pair of white satin bridal shoes.

I went straight to Google and started searching for “crazy bridal shoes”. There had to be other brides out there like me. And voila! I came across a link for the Nine West Gohana.

Source: Overstock.com

(Cue chorus belting out “Hallelujah”.) Our wedding is black and white, but my dress is diamond (off white). Nine West calls these “natural”. Perfect. And at $42 and some change on Overstock.com, it’s like it was destiny. $42 and I can wear them again? And I can afford to pick up an awesome pair of flats because my feet will no doubt be dying after dancing the YMCA? Amazingness.

I love the wedding choices that are completely about me. There’s no need to make others feel good about my footwear. They don’t need to weigh in on the color, the style or any other teeny tiny little detail. And even though these pretty little pumps may not get a lot of face time in the wedding album, I’ll at least know that I’m strutting around with a little drama on my feet.