The Quest for Shoes

Two Sundays ago, after eating a delicious brunch with another friend, my maid of honor (L) and I decided to go shoe shopping. It was a nice day, not too cold, so we decided to check out a few stores throughout the city. We knew we wanted to go to My Glass Slipper, which is a bridal shoe store. They have a location in Manhattan but also have an extensive website. First though, since we were close by, we checked out Lord & Taylor and Macy's.

Our mission was two-fold. First, we both wanted to find shoes to wear on our wedding days, and we each had specific criteria:

1. Shoes have to be ivory (neither of our dresses are stark white)
2. Short heels are a must (neither L or I or very tall but we both hate really high heels! 3 inches or lower are our ideal height)

I actually didn't mind if my shoes weren't ivory, but cranberry-colored shoes are hard to find, and at the time that was the only color I thought made sense.

Our other mission (well, mine) was to find a pair of pewter shoes to wear for L's wedding. When the other bridesmaids and I bought our navy bridesmaid dresses, we all agreed that a pewter gray would look great with the dress. I also wanted these shoes to not be too tall.

So, a-shopping we went!

Note to brides: Lord & Taylor and Macy's (at least the ones in NYC) are NOT good places to find white/ivory shoes! They had like two pairs in each store and they were all way too high. We did find plenty of pewter shoes that were appropriate for L's formal wedding, but they were all TOO high. We literally saw twenty pairs of shoes that would work so well if only my feet could handle the 4-inch heels. Ugh. I tried on a couple of pairs of shoes that neither of us liked, so I didn't bother taking pics.

Then we went over to My Glass Slipper. They have nothing but white and ivory shoes so we were in wedding shoe heaven. Things were looking up! However, most all of their shoes are over $200! WTF?! Another case of cost being high because bridal is added to the name, I guess...I wasn't happy with the prices at all, but I did find two possible contenders. Most of their shoes were higher than 3 inches but they did have a decent selection of low heels.


One pair I liked were these in ivory:

Something Bleu Bloom

I had seen these online before, and they were really comfortable. Low heel, cute knot...the only annoying thing was the $210 price tag, which was actually in the mid-range for the store. Here's what they looked like on me (please excuse my unpainted toes, and the tights they made us wear!):

Photo by Me.

Definitely cute. I also tried these:

Photos by Me.

I couldn't find this pair online so I don't remember the designer! They were also comfortable and I liked the sparkly detail. These were actually less than $200, which was a plus.

L also found a couple of pairs that she liked but neither of us were ready to make a commitment. At the My Glass Slipper store, all sales are final! If you order from their website though, you can return them. We decided to both keep looking and keep these shoes in mind.

Our last stop was DSW, where we didn't find anything. By that point we were both exhausted from hopping from store to store around the city. When I got home, I continued my search online and perused every single online shoe store.

That's when I had an "aha" moment and changed course entirely, which led me to my wedding shoes! At least, I think. I still have to wait for them to come in...but I'll make the big reveal when they do!

I also found the perfect pair of pewter shoes for L's wedding online, on endless.com (which has a great selection and free overnight shipping for a lot of their shoes, plus free returns!). Here they are:

Bandolino Berry Pump in Dark Grey/Silver

Bottom photo by Me.

They are the perfect height, have a shimmer to them, AND are totally re-wearable after her wedding! And for only $69.95, I was pretty excited, and happy to have that done!

While on endless.com, I also saw these cranberry shoes that would be PERFECT if they only weren't 4 inches high:

Fergie Safra Dress Pump

SO CUTE!! Sigh...If I hadn't already found what I think will be my perfect wedding shoes, I'd be really upset about not being able to wear these.

How did you find your shoes? Did you go the online route?