I actually changed shoes so quickly that I don't even have a photo with them on. The photographer has pictures of me wearing them, but I don't have any personal photos with them. The only photos I have where you can see my shoes are of the flats I changed into.
I've been talking about choosing shoes for your bridal party to a bunch of people lately, and there seems to be a distinct line between what people think. You either think the entire bridal party should have matching shoes or, well, you don't. I don't know if it's just people I talk to but everyone seems to be on one side of the other. No one seems to be in the middle thinking both could work.
Personally, I'm a fan of everyone having the same shoes. It just looks coordinated and I'm sometimes really particular about the weirdest things (and this is one of those times). And this is what I did at our wedding for the bridesmaids. They all wore these heels in silver. They were really comfortable and cute. And do remember one person taking them off before the night was through, but that's because we had a flip flop basket that encouraged our guests to swap shoes.
Honestly, often, everyone tends to take off their shoes and wear some sort of flats, so everyone gets uncoordinated very quickly. So you could start your bridal party off uncoordinated and be sort of coordinated by the night's end.
Then there's the option that you pick a color. Your bridesmaids can choose their favorite shoes (in that color) to wear. Someone can wear flats, someone can wear pumps, someone can wear awesome open-toed rocker heels (which I wore for my engagement party and they were really more comfortable than I thought they would be). Your bridal party can buy new shoes if they want or wear what's in their closets already. Everyone can choose wedding shoes that are comfortable to them and there's a better chance they'll be wearing them by the end of the night.
And that's more of what the groomsmen do. Most tuxedo rentals have an optional shoe rental. But what most grooms do (and what Pete did) is ask the groomsmen to wear any black dress shoe they own. You just want to make sure they clean them before walking down the aisle.
Pete completely bucked that, though, and wore personalized Converse, which I eventually changed into to match him. See, coordination.
So I have to ask ...
BRIDAL BABBLE: What side of the choosing shoes for your bridal party debate are you on? Matching shoes, matching color, or a free for all?
Matching shose, especially in short dresses where they are visible all day. I was in a wedding over the weekend too, and even though we all had long (matching) dresses, we all had matching shoes too. It just felt right and more pulled together. And when the time came for the photographer to take the infamous show off your hoes pic, we all matched perfectly. Thankfully my bride allowed us all to shop and agree on a shoe together, rather than pick the shoe for us. We chose a satin, silver kitten heel with a peep toe by Nina at DSW. Surprisingly, all of us had sore feet by the time the ceremony was over :( A couple of us changed into flip flops for dancing at the reception, but the long dresses hid them well.
ReplyDeleteI think at payless shoes you can get dyed satin shoes in matching colors probably at a reasonable price.
ReplyDeleteMatching shoes, if the shoes are visible!
ReplyDeleteI think matching color is great! For every wedding I've been in, the brides choose matching color over shoe and it worked out for the best! For example, 3-4 weeks before my brother and SIL's wedding, I tore a ligament in my knee and was in a brace for the wedding. Had she chosen heels for us, I would have been odd woman out because there was no way I could wear heels before having surgery! Instead, we all had matching colored shoes in our favorite/appropriate styles and it looked great!
ReplyDeleteI had them do matching color, just because I know some people will complain if they have to get the same shoes.
ReplyDeleteI prefer matching shoes, beginning of the day and end. It helps the event feel more coordinated!
ReplyDeleteI prefer shoes to match, but have seen lovely wedding photos of when they didn't!
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those rare ones in the middle-I think both can work! Granted, I prefer matching but that's me, I think it can def. work if everyone has different shoes but in the same color.
ReplyDeleteDo you lean one way or another based on gown length?
DeleteI think both work. I'm letting my girls pick their own though, simply because I don't want them to have to spend even more money on new shoes. So they all just have to wear nude heels of some kind.
ReplyDeleteThe money aspect is why I was thinking about letting my bridesmaids pick what they want. But they were all cool with buying new shoes, so I was happy.
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