Wedding shoes! An item in wedding planning that I came to seriously resent. I couldn’t help but spend an inordinate amount of time searching for the *exact right* pair of shoes and yet this search was tedious and frustrating and, uh, quite boring.
I needed a pair in ivory and ones that were not overly embellished, as my dress had some detailing of its own to contend with. Ivory, not the easiest to come by.
I considered Bella Belle, a brand I had not heard of prior to this shoe journey and one which seems to have great reviews. But none of them felt quite right. Same assessment of the offerings by Badgley Mischka. Prior to being engaged I was enamored with the Amina Muaddi glass-slipper-like PVC shoes (after first seeing them on Jamie Baratta in Vogue), but by the time I was planning a real wedding and not just an imaginary one, the luster had worn off a bit (lots of dupes out there), so I didn’t try them.
The lovely woman who helped me find my wedding dress at a DC boutique told me, unsurprisingly, that she usually recommends Jimmy Choos as they are well-made and known to be comfortable as far as heels go. I’ve seen the same advice in countless blog posts I’ve since scoured. My initial hesitation was the price point (side note: the line is not totally comprehensible, I’ve found, between wedding items that seem like ‘ah I couldn’t possibly spend that much!’ versus those that inspire something more like ‘YOLO this is my one wedding!’ Nor does said feeling correlate with the actual price of the underlying item). But, I saw a beautiful pair of Choos on sale at Saks and ordered them to try, along with a pair from Sophia Webster that I also loved. Both in satin ivory.
They arrived around the same day and I buckled them up for a waltz around the house only to find that I felt, frankly, silly — like I was a child beauty pageant contestant teetering around in her mom’s heels for the first time. And my fiance agreed with this assessment! Kindly but firmly. I’m sure the fact that I’ve primarily been wearing Blundstones and Birkenstocks during pandemic times did not help, nor did the fact that I was wearing a pair of ultra-sexy, knee-length baggy sweatpant shorts for the big reveal of the try-ons. Alas.
So, back they both went and I was then on a new search, one guided by the following needs: not stiletto heel, not over 4 inches, and ‘ivory would be great but let’s be open to other colors unless you want to drive yourself insane.’ As patronizing as the advice can be (to me, at least? I’m sensitive), I leaned into the adage that ‘first and foremost, you need to be comfortable on your wedding day.’ I set aside my frustration that Stuart Weitzman has apparently turned its nose up at all ivory brides out there and checked out their offerings in other colors. Pearls! Very pretty. Also – sparkles! Huh, well they won’t really be visible during the ceremony anyway, and that could be fun for when the disco lights came out at the reception, I thought. I ordered, I tried them on (with painted toenails and not in the harshest light in the house). And, yay! We’re done here.
