Wedding Shoes Advice

According to The Wedding Report, brides spent an average of $94 on their wedding shoes. However, too many times, brides are scrambling to look for their shoes at the last minute. Below are a few key pieces of advice that all brides should know about when looking for their wedding shoes for their big day:

1. Start early - This advice is not often followed. One reason to start early is in order to have the shoes ready when you get your dress altered. The other reason is that you will have more selection. Depending on what you are looking for, some shoes are more popular by the season. Also, starting early will allow you to save money and wait for a discount.

2. Plan ahead - As mentioned above, shoes are more popular by season. If you are looking for the wedding ivories and whites, there are many more white shoes in the summer versus fall or winter. If you want to go with gorgeous metallic shoes like silver, gold or copper, there are plenty more in the winter season when these come out to wear under evening party dresses. Finally, if you are looking for pastel color shoes, look during the spring.

3. Determine the heel height of the dress: The heel height will determine the length of the dress. If you don't have shoes yet, at least, decide on the height of your heel while you're shopping for your wedding dress. Not knowing this will give you a headache when it comes time for alterations. Bridal gowns are made for brides who are approximately 5'7'' with 3 inch heels on. Unless you are a bride whose height with shoes equals 6 feet, you will need your dress tailored. During the alterations process, they will ask you how short you want your dress and how high your heels are. After that, you are stuck.

When determining the heel height, think through how comfortable you want to be and how tall you want to be. If your fiance is very tall, you might want higher heels to wear. If he is not as tall or the same height as you, then you might not want to wear heels that are that high. Also, think of your comfort level, the higher the heel, the less comfortable your feet will be as the night goes on. Don't forget, every 1/2 inch adds a significant amount of pressure to the balls of your feet.

4. Think through what will match your dress: Most women I've talked to have their own preference in shoe style whether it is flats, stilettos, pumps, open-toe, closed toe, thick heels, thin heels, wedges. Most shoe styles will match any dress, however, it is the details on the shoe that can get tricky. If your dress has a lot of rhinestones and crystals, try to balance out the shoes with something more simple. On the reverse, if you have a more simple dress, you can balance it out with something more sparkly. Either way you go, if you have silver rhinestones, then don't buy shoes with gold buckles. Make sure those shoes will match the dress you choose or buy multiple shoes and take them with you to the fitting to decide on the right pair.

5.Choose a color: The color of the shoes is really important, but totally up to you. Although white and ivory bridal shoes are the traditional colors, these days, many brides are opting for much more bold colors. Some have gone the silver or gold route, while others have gone for such colors as red, blue or even green wedding shoes. Whatever your color, have fun with it. Since most people have a white dress, almost every color will work. You can even consider using your wedding colors and choosing the shoes to match. Or, you can consider having the shoes as your "something blue" and buying blue wedding shoes.

6. Break the shoes in: This is a must for every bride. Make sure you break the shoes in before your big day. I've seen too many brides sitting down at the end of the night, rubbing their feet because their shoes hurt. None of them bothered to walk around in their shoes beforehand because they wanted to keep them clean and new. However, if you don't break them in, you won't know how they feel and you will be in them all day. Wear them around the house if you don't want to get them dirty. Just make sure you wear them for at least an hour and then figure out what might hurt your feet. If there are things that hurt your feet, buy shoe pads, inserts or anything else that will help.

7. Consider multiple pairs of shoes: Finally, consider buying a pair of really comfortable shoes to change into at the end of the night. You don't have to give up your grand entrance for the ceremony in your entire outfit, or all of the beautiful photographs that you will be taking, but at the end of the night, when you are hanging out with your guests and dancing on the dance floor, you just might want a pair of comfortable flip flops, sandals or even sneakers to wear under your dress. Nobody will notice your bridal shoes at that point and nobody will mind if they do see them, because they will just see your big smiling comfortable face!