Wedding Shoes: Check! Or, putting the cart before the horse

In one of the most out-of-order wedding decisions I've made to-date, I bought my wedding shoes this weekend!

It seems odd to buy shoes before I've even been measured for my dress. However, I'm not totally crazy. I do need to know how tall my shoes are in order to determine the length of the skirt, so that will actually come in handy during the measuring process. Also, I brought the dress design with me to the shoe store, plus the fabric swatch, and I was in very, very good hands once I got there.

You see, I went to the store my good friend M. manages. She is a shoe guru and gives you the kind of customer service you dream of: those shoes run small, those run wide, those can be stretched, those are comfortable, those are cute but hurt your feet; she can recite a litany like this for every shoe in her store. Plus! M. is another of my bride-to-be friends and she is having the same dressmaker work on her wedding dress, so, in addition to having the sketch of my dress design, M. knows the dressmaker's work and has a good feel for what would look great with the dress designs.

Funnily, M. pointed me toward two pairs of shoes that I'd already been ogling online, so this was good confirmation of my advance research. After trotting around in both of them, I declared I couldn't decide, and thanks to having a gift certificate from a friend and a little help from M.'s employee discount, I didn't have to: I bought them both. Now I just need to decide which will be my wedding shoes, and which I'll wear to some other wedding-related event. ;-)

May I present to you: Sheer awesomeness in shoe form:

Shoe #1:

These shoes are hot, and they look hot on. M. said they're surprisingly comfortable, also. The MOH said they made my legs look great. mmmmsexy shoes.

And shoe (boot, really) #2:


Le sigh. These fit in with the Victorian feel of the corset and are amazingly comfortable thanks to the low heel and lovely padded insole. They were a little tight on my monster calves (thanks, San Francisco hills!), but M. says the store can stretch them for me. She recommended waiting until I'd lost all the weight I'm going to before deciding on that (once again, excellent and expert advice).

I've been so careful about spending money that this seemed really extravagant to me, but the shoes quickly made me feel better. Sigh. Shoes. The hard part will be waiting until the wedding to wear them!