Adventures in Shoe Shopping

If you're male, go ahead and skip this post right now.

Now that it's just the ladies...

Shoes. Obviously this hasn't been a huge concern for Kenneth. He'll wear whatever they've got where he rents his ensemble, but it's been a minor major concern for me.

I wanted to have my wedding shoes figured out before my dress came in alterations started. I also knew with my long list of particulars, it would take a long, long time to find The. Perfect. Shoe.

My wedding shoes had to be:

1. Less than $100. Our budget just wouldn't allow for more, and truth be told, I pride myself in my ability to find gorgeous shoes while never paying full price.
2. Seattle-in-spring-appropriate. I don't know if you've heard this before, but it rains in Seattle. This means no suede, no satin, no silk, and no faux versions of those materials either.
3. Something I'd wear again. Yes, they should be festive, but I just can't bring myself to purchase anything I'll wear/use one day except my wedding dress. (Ok, and my veil). I'm a frugalista bride and it doesn't seem practical to wear one-day-only shoes.
4. Peep-toe. Nearly all my pumps are peep-toe because they're just so much more comfortable than other heels. I wouldn't feel like myself wearing something else.
5. 3" or less. I discovered this later in the hunt, but Kenneth wants me to be shorter than or the same height as him on our wedding day. Definitely a fair request since he otherwise never minds my height adding shoes. It was also a welcome requirement because it gives me an excuse to wear shorter, and thus more comfortable, heels.

Preferably, they'd also be some fabulous shade of blue, so we could get fabulous pictures like this (imagine the shoes are blue instead of green):

Adorable, no? (Source)

I knew I was picky, but I didn't expect it to be so hard. (Did you know most bridal shoes are $150+, and those that aren't are usually satin? I certainly didn't.) After hunting through many a clearance rack and after many an email to poor mom and sisters-- "What about these?" "No? Ok, what about these?"-- I gave up on blue shoes. I'll settle for metallic, ivory, or any fabulous color. (Does it have to match the decor? Nah.) Finally, while strolling Nordstrom Rack, I found something like these (shorter heel though).

Source

Silver is in our colors, and I'd wear anything by this designer. They were comfortable and affordable...But after bringing them home, I decided they weren't festive enough.

Then, another day at The Rack, I found these, except in gold:

Source

After bringing them home, it was determined that they were festive all right, but the 4" heel brought out the fiance's veto. On second look, they were pretty gaudy anyway.

J.Crew had some fabulous options, but not in my price range, so I started stalking Ebay. (Oh, Ebay! Why did I not see your virtues before wedding planning?) I'm a bit trigger happy on Ebay since I rarely win, so when I bid on these, I thought they would work, but didn't think much of it. They fit my criteria, and at that point, that's all that mattered. Bidding ended in 2 days... so if I didn't win, there was always more shopping that could be done later.

Source -- not actually where I found this picture, but I haven't been able to track it down since I found it. This is as close as I found.

I placed my bid and later in the afternoon I skampered off to Portland for the weekend to visit my dress that had just arrived. Mom and I made a wedding-weekend of it, so while I was there, I had my first dress fitting, shopped for invitation supplies, picked up our save-the-dates, decided on mom's mother-of-the-bride dress... and of course, went to The Rack for more shoe shopping. That's when Mom found these:

Source

Beautiful. Not too guady. Heel height at 2.75". Comfortable, re-wearable, festive. We checked the price tag--$79 for a pair of Stuart Weitzman shoes! -- and I was sold. The shoes were purchased and we continued on our merry way, with me basking in the glow of victory in the hunt for shoes.

That is, until I checked my email that night and found that I had won the J.Crews. Of course, the one and only time I've ever won an auction on Ebay. Sigh. Now I must choose betwen the gold Stuart Weitzman's and the ivory J.Crews.

B.