Bridal shoes, the Do’s & Don’ts

Today’s bride often complains how hard it is to find the perfect bridal shoe. We often hear brides saying comfort is the most important thing they consider, but I haven’t met a bride yet that didn’t also want want a stylish design.
There is no other day when so much pressure goes into choosing a shoe that let’s face it, isn’t even seen much.
In reality a bridal shoe is barely noticed during the wedding day, except for the pic at the beginning of the day and when dancing, but just like the dress, you need the shoe to suite the day and dress.
I can remember for my wedding I was hand beading over my shoes and it became an obsession. Yep there’s just something about girls and shoes, that when it works we feel amazing.
Here is some practical advice we picked up selling shoe to brides on the daily, and how we solve the issue of finding you the perfect bridal shoe.

Fitting Date

Ok so you’ve decided on your dress and plan a fitting only to be told by the designer you need to bring your shoes. Gulp, you thought you had till the wedding day to decide on your perfect heel.
So that’s No 1, be prepared.
Once you have the dress decided, you can choose your shoe. You’ll need those shoes for the hem height, anywhere from 4 months to 1 month before the wedding.

Partner height while Choosing bridal shoes

This is a huge factor with so many brides, are men shrinking as a race or us ladies growing? Either way I can’t think of one bride that wants to be taller than her man. This is why our custom heels are going bananas. Imaging going into a shoe store and saying I’ll have those 12 cm beauties but in a 6.5cm heel. Yep that’s our brides reality.

Comfort, Comfort, Comfort: Choosing bridal shoes

It’s a long day and rubbing shoes, blisters or squashed toes are a definite no, no. My rule is if it hurts at the beginning it will get worse before better. Kid leather is by far the most comfortable, it’s like skin on skin, and very soft. Also see how hard the shoe is to the touch. Hard shoes look good on the shelf but soft shoes feel great on the feet. Not all leathers are comfortable.
Heel height comes up again when discussing comfort, us ladies all know what height we can handle, and the ‘big day’ isn’t the time to test this. Platform shoes can be a gift, the bigger the platform the less pressure on the balls of your feet. Also check placement of toes in strappy shoes or if your toes overhang the shoe, it isn’t a great look.

Choosing bridal shoes and Buying on line

Although clearly this happens a lot, I see so many brides that have bought shoes from cheap to crazy expensive that just don’t work or fit, often 3 Prs in they still aren’t right. I know how long brides spend in our store deciding, so it baffles me how they buy off a picture. Don’t get me wrong, I sell on line too but you really need you know you can exchange the shoes or discuss your needs with a real person. I’d have issues spending hundreds on a shoe from a place with no address or contact number. Read reviews and see what others say about the quality, comfort and service. Be prepared for it not to work or arrive in time, or call someone to discuss availability or stock levels. If your not expecting a perfect fit first time you won’t turn into a blubbering mess.

Shoe bling

We have all seen the Insta pics of beautifully jewelled heel shoes but does any bride try them on with a full length gown before the day? Umm no. They are full of claws that catch and pull your dress, as this happens the claws loosen and the crystals fall out too. So if getting those shoes before warned. There is a lot of unhappy reviews on these shoes. The only jewelled shoes you should get is ones that are hot fixed or with curved claws that don’t catch. Swarovski make stunning hot fix crystals and are a far superior crystal. It’s still fine to get those shoes but what you are buying is a photograph. Talk to us about claw free shoe bling, they are available.

Wide foot

Go for a shoe with both sides enclosed, this gives more fabric to stretch around the width of the foot, a cut out side is more likely to pull on the feet.
Also they are hard to find but a shoe with a v shaped front vs. a curved front also gives more room for a wide foot or if your feet puff up.

Choosing bridal shoes for Long or narrow foot.

This can be hard but we have found a few tricks.
If your feet are narrow you may be swimming in the front of the shoe, simply placing a pad or two under the ball of your foot, this will move the foot up and fill the space. This add so much to the fit and comfort of a shoe. If you have long feet a strap will hold you back in the shoe and stop the toe spillage. Some prefer a closed shoe to hold the foot in place. Feet slipping out the back of a shoe, just add a heel pad to fill you out the extra half size.
These pads to feet is what invisible tape is for cleavage.

Lace dress with nude under tones.

This is the only other thing that troubles brides with shoes, they come in with two separate swatches and thing they need to match the darker. While nude shoes are popular at the moment, when you look at a bride as a whole, you don’t want the first thing people to notice is a dark tone shoe. You want the dress to flow into the colour of your shoe. Most of these gowns have a lighter lace overlay and that’s what you should match, after all it’s the main colour of the dress. Brides are loving the lace shoe as an option, the skin tone of the foot creates the same look as the lace overlay.

Ok so now you have all the tips and tricks we use in our boutique. Of course I have to add that we custom make in 15 various heel heights, 14 colours and can alter design and add personal touches from lace to sparkle. We really have something for everyone.