never too many shoes

Though I have my wedding shoes already safely in my closet, that doesn't mean I've stopped looking at shoes. They're just so pretty. These two seem awfully similar to the shoes I bought (Delman's "Step-Up T") but with higher heels and more reasonable pricetags. The higher heel is a dealbreaker for me, and I really lucked out on free shoes - but I do like the gift bow peep toes. Residual Christmas joy, maybe.
Vanelli "Puppy," $89.95, 3" heel. Silver, black, and brown.

Glint "Addison," $89.95, 2.5" heel. Black, orange, navy, and hot pink.

luck luck luck

A few days after the replacement shoes arrived, I was paying bills and noticed something suspicious in my checking account. A credit for $64.99, attributed to my banking institution.

Some time ago, they started a program where you could enroll your debit card for the possibility of the bank "picking up the tab." Sure, I thought. Why not. It would be nice if they bought my coffee, right? Well, that never happened, and I forgot about it. Until I was paying bills and had a good chunk of change returned unexpectedly.

Oh, yes. My bank bought my wedding shoes - specifically, round TWO of wedding shoes. If I put any importance on these things, I'd say the universe was wholly in support of my marrying DJ. Right down to financing my footwear.

extra, extra!

The replacement shoes came - and they fit! I think maybe the 9's would have been too large after all. Whew. I may still have my shoe guy stretch the toe box for comfort, but it's not strictly necessary.



Please ignore my hideous veiny feet and obvious need for a pedicure. Also the crappy photography. Why is it so hard to take a picture of your own feet?

waiting for the other shoe to drop

Sooo. We have a problem. I ordered these shoes:

These were delivered:

Not an acceptable substitute.

Normally this would be a small setback requiring only a quick exchange, but I bought the very last pair in my size (9) and the only remaining sizes are 6.5 and 8.5. AND, they are now twice as expensive as they were on Friday night.

After 45 minutes on the phone with India, they still did not have my size in stock. In fact, my size has been and is still missing from the entire internet. They were happy to refund my money and let me buy the 8.5's - at the new higher price. Gentle readers, I was not very pleasant to some poor customer service manager several time zones away.

Eventually it was agreed that as this was Amazon's screwup, they would let me buy the 8.5's at the lower price and I would return the substitute 9's. Which leaves just one small problem: I wear a 9M, not 8.5M. I have a few pairs of 8.5's, but mostly 9's. What odds do I have of making these work? I'm picking up some boots from my shoe guy on Saturday. Do you think he can stretch them a half size for me, or am I out of luck? Any recommendations?

My short buddy here was very interested in the shoes and camera. He thinks all the bright lights and shiny objects are just for him, which is generally correct.

fake right, pass left

After all that shoe talk, I didn't buy any of those. I hadn't meant to buy anything just yet, but you know how that goes. That's when the best things come along.

Instead I started cleaning out my favorites folder at 1:30 in the morning. I clicked on a forgotten Amazon link tagged GREAT SHOES, and there they were. Great shoes that, last I checked, had been $325 and not available in my size. Still, great. Silk satin, 1.5" heel, peep toe, fancy fun ruffle on the front... great. (For me. You feel free to disagree in the comments.)

But that was then and this was... several days ago, and at the time of link clickage they were marked down to the floor and available in my size. I debated for a millisecond, then bought them. After all, Amazon is nice about returns. (January 31, Julia. That's how long you have to change your mind if it's going to change.) I happened to have a leftover birthday gift card from DJ's parents, which made the net cost to me... $40. Yep. $40.

I won't dye them - I like the champagne color and the heel wouldn't take dye anyway. I'm sure I'll find another reason to need green shoes when the right pair comes along.

I'm especially excited, because I like these as shoes, not just wedding shoes. I'd wear them for something else fancy even if I didn't have the wedding excuse. Although really, there aren't nearly enough cocktail parties in my life to justify the fancy shoe closet I've built over the years.

DJ and I, by the way, have a deal. He does not harass me about my shoe real estate, and I don't harass him about his DVD collection. His DVD collection is probably of equal or greater value than my shoe collection, so it works out nicely. There is very little furtive smuggling of shoes and DVDs into the house. In fact, he was nearly as excited about my shoe find as I was.

Incidentally: so far I have a dress, veil, and shoes. I've spent less on the combined total than the retail price of those shoes - and gotten exactly what I wanted, every time. It makes me happy just thinking about it.

ETA: I just went back to the page, and today they are twice as expensive as they were over the weekend. Why, Amazon? I'm glad I impulse bought when I did.

white shoe irregular

I'm a tall girl, and although I stomp around my job in heels all the time, I'm not excited about wearing 4" heels with my wedding dress. Nor am I that excited about risking blisters because I've been too afraid to break in my new shoes.

There's a dearth of small-heeled options out there. Ideally I'd like a 1-2" heel. None of that cheating, measuring the heel from the arch - no, I want a 1-2" total add to my height. There aren't so many of those out there. Definitely not a lot of cute shoes in that height range. The girls who want 3-4" are lucky - there are tons.

But I have found some possibilities. I've been going back and forth about dying my shoes DJ's beloved GREEN - I've wanted forest green shoes for a long time, but these shoes do not necessarily need to be those shoes. Not all of these are dyeable, but I haven't decided yet if that's important.

Stuart Weitzman, 2.25” heel. $151.00 (on sale from $270.00.) Not dyeable. Classic. Spendy. Borrrring.
Something Bleu Bloom, 1.5” heel, $190.00. I really like the tiny covered heel and the knot over the peep toe. These are my favorites, and I'd definitely wear them again after dyeing. But they are spendy and never on sale.
Lexus peep-toe, 2.5” heel. ₤29.99. These are my second favorites, tied with the next two. The heel is a little high, though, and of course I can't try them on (please note the currency). Their relative affordability depends greatly on the exchange rate.
Nina Electra, 2.5” heel $99.95. Perfectly classic, but the heel is just a bit over what I'd like it to be.
Touch Ups Abby, 1.75” heel. $51.95. These are probably the ones I'll end up buying. I don't love them, but the price is right and the heel is right, and shoe clips could make them seem more fun than they really are.



So that's it for small heels. There are more, but those are the ones I liked at all. Then I moved on to flats. I think that's where everyone over 5'7" ends up at some point, thinking how cute those shoes would be with jeans and feeling slightly depressed about that. I'm not sure I want shoes that could go straight from wedding to work. But I suppose they could be dressed up with shoe clips or feathers a la Shannon Britt.


Steve Madden Keepsake, FLAT, $69.95. (One thing about these - I have them in both red and black patent, and because they are so lowcut there's not a lot of support for the front of your foot or your arch. It's possible to slide completely out the side if you're not careful. So, meh.)
Shelley George Apple Blossom flats - dyeable - $129.99. They come with or without the bow. I say no bow, because I did that when I was five.
J. Crew, $158.00. Meh. They're nice ballet flats, but meh.

Baby round toe flat dyeable silk - $190.00. I really like these, as shoes. I think they'd be fantastic dyed forest green with a sparkly or feathery shoe clip. But - meh.
Grace ballet flat, not dyeable. $120. Comes in white, candlelight, antique. Too sugar-sweet, and not dyeable means not rewearable. Which sort of kills the wear-with-jeans possibilities.
Bliss collection by Bryony ₤55.99. Is it just me, or are they just a little bit grandma-ish? I'm torn, because I like this knot detail on other shoes. Just not these.
Flat ballet pump in satin ₤22.99. Snore.Ras satin opera skimmer. $151.00 or $237.95 (on sale) - in other colors for $130.87. I like these shoes a lot. Like, a lot a lot. To wear with jeans. Besides that, they aren't really green. Which might not matter if they were $60, but at >$100, they had better be perfect.


I'm not sold on any of these. Anyone have any recommendations?