OK, things are progressing nicely, and I’ve got a first fitting for a wedding dress next week. Something occurred to me this morning, though. Where do I buy the shoes to go with this thing? I’ve heard you can get shoes dyed to match (I’m getting married in green, not white). How does one go about this? Do I walk into David’s Bridal or somesuch? I want to wear something flat and comfortable for the ceremony, since I’ll be standing for a long while, and maybe switch to heels for the reception. I usually buy shoes from Payless, Target, or KMart, so I’m pretty much out of my league here.
Many traditional department stores – the anchor stores in malls, like Macy’s – have a small selection of dye to match shoes available in the shoe department, but they’re often tucked out of the way. The shoe department sales person will be able to hook you up.
You can also check out some of those Big shoe stores. They usually have selection out the ying-yang, and will have shoe that can be dyed. The bridal store where you are buying your dress should have the dye to match your dress, or can tell you how to get some.
If I recall correctly, even Payless carries dyables. They used to. IIRC, they’re not that hard to find, it’s just that most of us aren’t looking for them.
I confess I’m not really fond of the look. You’d have better choices, and a greater chance of wearing the shoes again, if you go with a standard dressy shoe instead of one you dye to be all matchy-matchy with your gown.
I got my shoes from Zappos. They have a huge selection and you can search by shoe type, heel height and color. They also have a bridal section and dyables.
Yeah, don’t do the dyables - they never seem to turn out as well as I think they should. I’d just buy something from any shoe store that’s comfortable and dressy. A nice black pump with some style would serve you well.
I found a great pair of silver heels for my wedding at Macy’s, in the clearance section no less!
Basically, wedding shoes are like any other shoe. Look for dress shoes in the color you want and you’re fine. Most wedding dresses (long ones anyway) are hemmed so that the shoe never even shows. I was barefoot immediately after the photos and no one was the wiser.
I am currently deciding between two pairs. One I got from Zappos. The other fromThe Shoe Company.
Do your shoes have to be an exact colour match? I would just find a great shoe in a more neutral colour that you might not normally buy yourself, but would covet and wear them again and again whenever you got the chance.
I’m not a big fan of the dyeables, either. IME, they hurt my feet and often look weird. I ended up going with a white strappy sandal (after buying at least two or three other pairs of shoes that didn’t work), with little purple sneakers for the reception (that I never actually wore until after the wedding, because the strappy shoes were so comfortable). My dress was white with lavendar trim.
Yeah, I had to do dyeables for a bridesmad dress. it was hard to find a pair that wasn’t horrendously unattractive and then there’s the cost of getting them dyed and the comfort factor.
You should look at silver shoes like another poster mentioned. Silver would be very pretty with green and it’s pretty popular right now so there’s lot of choices out there. Cruise around Zappos to at least get an idea of what you like. They have a category for bridal shoes but I think that’s really just a collection of shoes available in white. You can also sort by heel height, shoe style, and colot.
Hey! That’s what I was going to say! I was a bridesmaid wearing dyeables when they took outdoor pictures in wet grass. It was not pretty.
My wedding shoes were white satin. I think they could have been dyed, but I didn’t bother, as my dress was white. I bought them at a bridal store.
I had an aunt call my mother in tears a few weeks before her wedding. She had bought nice leather pumps to wear with her gown, and her maid of honor said that it was terribly gauche to wear leather shoes with a satin gown.
Where do people come up with this stuff?
She wore them anyway. No one saw them. She’s every bit as married 13 years later, leather shoes notwithstanding.
Hey, maybe you smart people can help me out- what kind of shoes should I get for my wedding?
It’s an outdoor ceremony on a farm, so reasonably casual. I’ll be wearing a dress shaped like this , but in white linen with a lace waist, and it’s just above the knee. I’d like a bit of heel, but it needs to be short and thick to handle the grass and then dancing the night away to a polka band. I love the look of mary janes, and a strap might help with the dancing. I was initially thinking white, but then I’d have to avoid getting grass stains on them (I’m not a very fastidious person), plus matching white to white can be tricky, right? My ‘colors’ such as they are will be green and yellow- my bridesmaids will each be wearing different green dresses- we haven’t even thought about shoes for them. I’m clueless about shoes, since I have strangely-shaped feet and generally have to take what I can fit into, but I’m ponying up the dough to have the dress custom-made, so I may as well go whole hog on the shoes, too.
I got my wedding shoes on ebay - both pairs. A pair of medium-high heels for about $28 (that would have sold for $100 at the dress shop) and a pair of ballet flats for about $10, if I recall correctly. They were both dyeable, but I left them white, since I (correctly) figured no one would see them or care if they didn’t match the exact shade of my dress. Didn’t end up wearing the flats because my other shoes turned out to be very comfortable. Go ebay!
P.S. Margo, I’d be tempted to go with a swing-dance style - like this.
Oh my goodness- Ghanima, you’re a genius! There are tons of sites full of professional dance shoes that have the ‘look’ I’m going for, many nice and subtle but still stylish and they’re made for moving, not teetering. I think it will still take some looking, but you’ve put me on the right track.
Okay, I’m probably the only guy around who will add to this conversation.
But I recommend you check out John Fluevog. They have wedding-specifc shoes, but all their stuff is funky and stylish.
I think you could just go with white or cream colored shoes to go with a green dress. IMO, dyeables are quite tacky. You could find affordable, cute shoes at Designer Shoe Warehouse, if you have one around you.
I wore Mohops for my wedding a year and a half ago and have worn them dozens of times (including to clomp around Vegas on our honeymoon) since. Much more comfortable than they look, and you can dress them up or down.
