Manolo for the Brides

Okay, can someone please tell me why anyone, brides or otherwise, would want to wear clear shoes? Seems to me that the end result would be a gruesome view of slightly squished feet… possibly even very moist and sweaty feet. I wore jellies as a kid in the 80s, so I know what happens to feet in shoes that don’t breath!

Here we have two examples of shoes, both being marketed toward the bride. The first pair of clear bridal shoes differentiates itself with a silver toe, while the second appears to have been bedazzled to within an inch of its life. In case it wasn’t clear, I hate both.

What say you?

Embroidered and bedazzled bridal sneakers… with heels. Bridal Chucks. And then there’s wellies, Uggs, and cowboy boots. I don’t think anyone can deny that footwear for the bride is a divisive issue when you move away from satin slippers and ivory pumps. All you have to do is look at comments like “Bridal shoes with personality are one thing. Completely tacky bedazzled canvas bridal shoes are another. Yuck!”

Photographer Mark Wallace snapped this pic of bride and groom sneakers from Adidas somewhere in New York — no surprise there — and I’m wondering what the readership thinks.

My take: At least they’re not covered in hot glued lace and glitter, like some bridal sneakers I’ve seen. What should we call their companions, groomal sneakers? You could wear them for a long time, since Adidas sneakers tend to last. And if you’re the kind of gal or guy who has spent practically your whole life in a pair of three stripes, then why not? I don’t love ‘em, but I sure as hell don’t hate them as much as I hate most bridal sneakers.

What say you?

Wedding accessory photos… brides and grooms usually either love them or hate them. There’s the shot of the bridal bouquet in a vase on a side table waiting for the moment when the buffed and puffed bride will grab it on her way to the foot of the aisle. And there are the many, many incarnations of wedding band photos, for example the loving heart photo or the rings in the hands of the bride and groom. There are photos of the bride’s earrings not yet in the lobes of the bride and photos of neckties hanging off of the backs of chairs in the groom’s dressing chamber. And, naturally, there are photos of shoes!

Shoes, more than any other wedding accessory, can tell a tale in wedding photographs because shoes (unlike earrings or the bridal bouquet) are to some extent utilitarian and they tend to be a very expressive piece of attire. Here are four examples of wedding photographs that show nothing but the shoes, yet convey a lot of information about the wedding itself and the bride and groom.

Rain on her wedding day? Or a bride by the bay? We can’t be sure of the circumstances that led to this photo taken by photographer Steve Holcroft without some digging, but it certainly invites a great deal of speculation. I can’t help but think of this bride as being playful, however. She didn’t have to wear wellies, after all. She could have gotten someone to carry her.

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Romantic? Check. Elegant? Check. A little bit out of the ordinary? Check. A pink and gold wedding palette is perfect for the feminine bride who wants to plan a wedding that could be described as magical and lovely. Though this palette skyrocketed in popularity after the modern movie version of Marie Antoinette, a pink and gold wedding palette doesn’t have to be inspired by the French Court by default. As pretty as it is, the pink and gold wedding can also be modern.

So what do we have here? Traveling in a vaguely clockwise pattern, there are natural branches studded with tufts of fluffy garden stock blossoms from a party hosted by Tracy Metz, a striking pearl and bird necklace designed by kgarnerdesigns, a lovely soft pink wedding dress by Alisa Benay for 100 Brides for $100K, a pink wedding cake with delicate gold embellishments from The Wedding Cake Shoppe, a gorgeous handpainted wedding invitation from Momental Designs, freaking amazing shoes from Haberdashery Boutique, a delicate rose gold filigree bracelet, and a snapshot from a real wedding that included antique gold bridesmaid dresses from Vera Wang.

The pink and gold wedding palette is truly as sweet as can be!

Remember dyeable shoes for bridesmaids? I can recall taking white ballet flats from somewhere like Payless to a shoe shop to have them dyed to match exactly the color of my junior bridesmaid dress, way back when in the 80s. Now that was a look. Today the rules are more lax when it comes to the feet of the bridesmaid. Some brides want their bridesmaids’ shoes to match (not the dresses, just each other) while others are happy if their bridesmaids’ shoes are appropriate to the event, color and style be damned.

Me? I just wanted my bridesmaids to show up with shoes, which shouldn’t seem at all odd when you consider how much trouble I had getting them to buy their dresses. Shoes? Please just wear them and we’ll call it even.

Personally, I like matching bridesmaids’ shoes and mismatched bridesmaids’ shoes. It all depends on the dresses and the whims of the bride. What you don’t want is one bridesmaid wearing chunky black platform heels and another bridesmaid in bright yellow ballet flats, with a third bridesmaid sporting bridesmaid sneakers that have been bedazzled all the hell. You wouldn’t want that last one regardless, I’m sure.

Coordination is good when it comes to mismatched bridesmaids’ shoes, so let your gals know they should all be on the same page if you’ve decided to let them do their own thing where footwear is concerned. Perhaps go one step further and dictate a kind of shoe, like ’strappy sandals’ or ‘peep-toe pumps,’ or a color or color family. To conclude, almost anything goes, but a little coordination goes a long way.

What do you think?

Lucky me, I have recently come into possession of not one, but two $25 Kohl’s gift cards! Instead of spending them on myself like a selfish witch, I’ve decided to give them away to two lucky readers who can spend them any way they want. My contests always get a little theme-y and this one’s no different. The theme this go around? It’s trashy, skanky, or otherwise extremely fugly wedding dresses or bridal accessories.

To enter to win one of the two $25 Kohl’s gift cards, leave a comment on this post describing the trashiest wedding dress or bridal accessory you’ve seen. Better yet, include a link to the offending gown or shoe or jewelry. Comments will be closed at noon on Friday, November 27, and the contest winners (chosen by our friend the Random Number Generator) will be announced shortly thereafter.

I can’t enter myself, of course, but to get you into the spirit of things, here are two pairs of bridal sneakers that you will not find at Kohl’s:

Yes, that’s a bridal sneaker with a four inch heel and a bridal sneaker wedge with a three-and-a-half inch heel, both of which feature a plasticized finish for durability. According to the Lovely Bride web site, these bridal sneakers are meant for the reception… so I suppose if the bride was wearing high heels, she could change into sneakers without stepping all over her hem? Personally, I think that if you’re going to change into sneakers, you could at least make them cute sneakers instead of shiny bedazzled monstrosities.

(via the lovely Lise who sent me a link to Tackyweddings.com)

Unless you’re having a back to nature barefoot wedding, you’re going to need to wear shoes when you’re going down the aisle.

Do you need to get new shoes? That depends on several things. Do you already have a pair of shoes appropriate to the sort of wedding you’re planning? Are they comfortable enough to wear all day, dance in all night, and still feel good? Do they look good with the gown you’ve chosen?

If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes,’ then you certainly don’t have to get new shoes…though you still may want to get them. If the answer to any of them is ‘no,’ then yes you probably do need new shoes.

The question remains: what sort of shoes do you want to wear?
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My mother always said orange was her favorite neutral. If there’s one thing I learned at her knee, it was that her eye for color was impeccable. These days, orange is my favorite neutral, too.

Oh I know it’s a bright, aggressive color. I know a little can go a long way. I also know it goes with and brings out the best in a wide variety of colors. I also know it’s a wonderful color for a happy celebration like a wedding.

Not convinced? Take a look under the cut at the cheery gallery of orange wedding details I’ve put together. Please note that there is not a single one that looks like Halloween.

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I bought my own wedding shoes from French Sole, but now I’m wishing I’d bought them from Miss Bunny.

The sweetly-monikered Miss Bunny creates beautifully decorated shoes for brides and non-brides alike — you can see a small gallery of her work at Miss Bunny Shoes. She also has an Etsy shop, though there is currently nothing up for sale therein. Shame, that! I’m in the mood to buy something beautiful!