Weddingbee Blog

Seems like a lot of fuss for something that doesn’t even show on your wedding day, doesn’t it?

When my wedding dress finally came into Bridals by Lori, I was able to try it on and officially find out how high my heels could be. After one trial and no error, it seemed the answer to this very important question lay somewhere between 3.75″ and 4.5″. Unfortunately, my favorite pair (the gold Jimmy Choo “Laser”) boasted a diminutive heel height of just 3.25″ (or something close to it). It wasn’t the shoe itself that I was so in love with, though. It was the glittery gold fabric. Those of you who have witnessed Jimmy Choo’s glitter fabric in person know what I mean. It’s just so…special. So, I set out to find another shoe from the same collection, but this time with a higher heel.

I knew my first love, the Jimmy Choo glitter sandal from Bergdorf Goodman, was long gone. After a little bit of digging, I found another pair on the Jimmy Choo website: the “Nova.”

Source

They were the same fabric, a more supportive shape and—gasp!—they had a platform (one of my original requirements)! They were listed as 4″ high, so I figured they’d probably be just right. They had to be!

I couldn’t find them online anywhere except for the Jimmy Choo website, and since the site ships from the UK with very high shipping rates and tricky return procedures, bridesmaid J-Dawg came up with a brilliant idea.

“You could check the Jimmy Choo store in the mall,” she mentioned one day. Oh! The Jimmy Choo store! Hello! I’m not going to lie—I didn’t know that Atlanta had a Jimmy Choo store. I’m still kind of new to the area, and the store is in a fancy-pants mall that I don’t visit very often. But hey—I was willing to put on my fancy pants for some Choos. I called the store right away. Unfortunately, they did not have the Novas in my size in gold. But after a quick search, the wonderful sales associate found one pair. They were the last ones in the whole country. Seriously! They were in the New Jersey store, but she had them sent to the Atlanta location just for me. Ta-da!

She told me that the shoes would arrive in a few days, and then I could come try them on. But typical me—I just couldn’t wait that long. I wanted to see the Nova in person, even if it wasn’t my size, to get an idea of how high the heel really was and to check out the general shape. I drove over to the store that very afternoon.

The sales associate I had spoken to had already left for the day, but another girl was very helpful and informed me that while the gold Nova was not available in the store at all, they did carry the Nova in “champagne.” I hadn’t even looked at the champagne online, and I was intrigued. As she explained, the champagne had gold fabric, but silver glitter, so it was more multi-faceted. Plus, from far away, the shoe was almost the same color as the belt on my dress. I put them on and pranced around the store a bit. They sure were pretty.

Source

After I showed the sales girl a picture of my dress, she encouraged me to get the champagne Novas. She said they were a perfect match, and I couldn’t really disagree. When she told me that I could save 20% by making a charitable donation that day, I gave in. I wouldn’t be able to return them because of the discount, but she assured me that if I needed to exchange them, we could find a way to work it out. So, off I went with my new champagne Novas.

When I got home, the first thing I did was compare the heel height to the shoes already in my possession. Hmmm.

Well, that was interesting. The heel was quite a bit shorter. It was probably almost half an inch shorter than the Xaviers:

When I tried the shoes on with my gown, I was stomping all over the front. Damnit! After pouting for a few minutes, I remembered that there had been one more slingback option: the “Clue.” The store carried it in both champagne and gold, but the sales associate had told me it was almost 5″ tall, so I’d ruled it out immediately. Apparently, the Clue was now in the running.

I traipsed back to the store, Novas in hand. The girl who had sold them to me was there, and I told her I’d need to take her up on that exchange offer. She was very gracious about it, and went to get to see if she had the Clues in my size. The question was, would I like to try the champagne or the gold, since they were both available? Uh-oh. Presented with this choice, I found myself totally lost. I’d loved the gold from the beginning. While the champagne shoes were sparkly and blingy and dazzling, there was just something about the gold. Like I said … they were just special.

I told the sales girl about my indecision, and while she still supported the champagne, she told me I could just take home both and bring back whichever ones I decided against. Um, what? I blinked and asked her to repeat herself. I could just borrow a pair of Jimmy Choos? Like a library book? I was shocked, but she wasn’t kidding.

Still waiting for her to run after me and change her mind, I left the store with both the gold and champagne Clues in my size. When I got home, I forced Mr. Panther to hold them both in front of my dress for comparison:

I took a million photos from different angles, under different lights and with different settings on different cameras:

I posed them with my jewelry and hairpiece:

I sent all the photos to everyone in my address book and asked for advice. The votes were split down the middle. It was impossible, and I was a woman obsessed. Finally, I locked myself in our guest room and put my dress on. Since Mr. Panther can’t see me in my dress, I couldn’t do much more than look down at them and take photos with my iPhone (which I won’t post, since they’re pointed directly at my toes, and I hate toes). But that was all it took. Lifting up the skirt of my dress and looking down at my feet, I knew which shoes were the ones. It was the gold. It was always the gold. They were just right. Oh, and incidentally, the heel height was perfect.

So that was that. I returned to the Jimmy Choo store for a third time, dropped off the champagne Clues, and walked out forever. OK—maybe not forever, but definitely for a long time. It’ll be a while before I can buy another pair of Jimmy Choos for anything less than a very special occasion!

The end!

Anyone else as indecisive as me? Have you had any long-due moments of clarity and certainty, or do you go on waffling until it’s too late to change your mind? (I definitely do both!)

(All personal photos unless otherwise noted)