Let me take you on the long journey that has been Finding Shoes For The Wedding.
As you now know, our wedding colors are orange and gray. We’ve also added cobalt blue as a Tertiary Accent Color, which sounds douche-y to say, so Pamela just says “big stripes of orange and gray with a little stripe of blue.”
Anyway, I knew that since orange is really a late summer/autumn color, I should find shoes sooner rather than later. Orange will be impossible to find in December and January, which is probably when I’ll order my dress. So, not knowing what I would find or how long it would last, I started auditioning wedding shoes. At any given time in the past 3 months I’ve probably had 3 pairs of potential wedding shoes in my closet, waiting to be returned when the next, cuter or better-fitting pair arrives. Do you want to see them? Of course you do.
Without further ado, I give you Sarah’s Shoe Parade:
Here are a few of the inspiration shoes that I found. They’re from J. Crew, of course, and were outside my price range, but I loved the color and the fact that they were kicky, fun high heels:
These orange silk espadrilles by Ralph Lauren are the first pair I bought. I got them at Macy’s. In the end, they were too casual and not sexy enough.
These flats are by Seychelles, and they’re called “Get Outta Town.” I bought them and Nordstrom and I love them; in fact, I kept them and wear ‘em all the time! They may make an appearance at the wedding when my feet get tired in heels.
These are by Poetic License, called “Frills.” They are ugly. I don’t know why I ordered them, except that Zappos has free returns.
These shoes were my first love. They’re by Gabriella Rocha – “Zowie”. Absolutely adorable, but the pair I ordered from Zappos was too small, and then they sold out everywhere before I could order a size up. See? This is what I mean about having to find orange shoes in the summer. They disappear after the Fourth of July.
After the disappointment with the last pair, I decided to take a look at some more expensive shoes. These are by Eley Kishimoto, called “SH 194.” They were beautiful shoes. But they were also too small, and furthermore, the description on 6pm.com said they were blue and orange, but they were totally red. Liars.
These are by RSVP – “Keisha.” they were cute, and comfy for their height. I could even love the yellow stripe. But at the end of the day, if you worry that your wedding shoes make you look like a stripper, it’s time for new shoes.
Here we go. These are by Oh Deer! – “Serena.” They’re sassy, and the perfect color of deep orange. The gold accent is fun and flashy without making me look like I pole-dance for a living. The heel is definitely high, but they’re wearable. My calves will look awesome in these, which is really important because I’m going to get a short dress. I’m keeping them.
Here’s another shot of what Pamela calls the “snake’s gold” heel. Snake’s gold. Sounds like a cross between snake oil and fool’s gold.
Maybe I’ll get some shots of me wearing the shoes soon. But the real star of this show has been Zappos. Between Zappos and 6pm.com, which is their liquidator site, I’ve purchased 5 pairs of shoes and returned 4, and only had to pay about $15 in shipping for the whole thing. Also, 6pm gave me a sweet price adjustment on my Oh Deer! heels because they went on sale 5 days after I bought them. I totally recommend Zappos/6pm. And for buying shoes in person, Nordstom has the best selection. Go forth and purchase shoes.
