"Don't forget to use the accessories wall, designers!" --Tim Gunn, Project Runway

Last night, I decided to take a break from all the coverage of the impending SNOMG (snomfg, snowpocalypse, snogasm) that will be descending upon our area today to catch up with this season of Project Runway! Bless you, DVR. Bless you.

In addition to being a local alum (that's right, gals, he went to our area's very own JMU!), we all know that Tim Gunn is all that is style and fashion. And what does he always say, other than "Make it work!" of course? Accessorize, because accessories can make or break an outfit.

And he's right. My philosophy has always been about accessories. I'm not the biggest fashion maven in the world (an understatement), but I love handbags, shoes, and jewelry. And given that I'm wearing something a bit non-traditional for my wedding dress...

To find out the backstory (and see more of the detailing) on this dress, click here. As a note, though, it's navy blue, and it's not as dark is it appears on screen.

...accessories are going to be pivotal. I already have two of what I consider to be my Major Player Accessories: shoes and handbag!

I spent many many hours over almost as many weeks searching for the right shoe to go with my outfit. I knew I wanted a nice gold shoe, but I had limitations. As I mentioned before, I am a whopping six feet tall. Mr. JeffM is about 6'2", so our limited height difference and, honestly, my complete lack of any motor skills or coordination precludes me from wearing anything other than a flat shoe. I had also decided that I wanted to wear a dressy sandal. The dress I chose has a lot of movement, as it is made from a flowing fabric, so I wanted shoes that were feminine but with a little more of a "take it easy" attitude.

I honestly thought I would never find them. After awhile, it got very frustrating. I would get shoe envy (of all things!) for people who could wear those gorgeous heels with the ribbons, bows, flowers, and other fun embellishments. It seemed like the fashion industry just didn't care about cute flats... or if they did, they cost in excess of $400, which is a hair out of my price range. I scoured Zappos, DSW, Piperlime, eBay, Nine West, Aldo, Steve Madden.... all countless times over. I was about to throw my hands up in the air when I decided to try Piperlime one last time. And there they were. Waiting for me. In my size!

Finding this gem of a handbag was a little bit easier. (I will say one note about the photo: the background isn't yellow like it comes across in this picture; it's more of a muted creamy gold. In fact the bag appears a lot more WOW YELLOW GOLD than it actually is.) For years I've lusted after the handmade clutches on Etsy, and finally I had an excuse to buy one. I was looking for something that had more of a bold design, aside from your standard bows, ruffles, and flowers. In design, I love bold lines and distinctive patterns, and this fit the bill perfectly.

About a week and a half after placing my order, this beauty arrived in a box on our front doorstep. The quality was out of this world. The silks used, and the stitching is just, for lack of a better word, divine. (I always feel so cheesy saying "divine," like I should be on Dynasty, wearing shoulder pads, and slapping someone.) Even Mr. JeffM was impressed, and he's not an accessories kind of guy.

The only thing I'm struggling with is jewelry. After some helpful hints from friends, I'm forgoing a necklace, as it will "only detract from the drama of the dress' neckline," but I am on the lookout for earrings and a nice bracelet. So far I do have a front runner for earrings.


These beauties are from J Crew. I love them, but I'm not entirely sold on them. I'm going to go to J Crew in person soon to see how they look against some of my accessories.

So far jewelry is proving to be the biggest challenge. I actually ordered an earring and bracelet set not too long ago, and while they are beautiful, they aren't exactly quite right. And I hate that! I hate that whole, "I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'll know when I see it," mindset. That's the problem I had with my shoes.

Sigh. So that's where I am so far. Hopefully Tim Gunn would be proud. I just wish he were here to give me some pointers!

Excuses to Shop...

Hello, my name is Miss Glen Echo; and I am a shop-a-holic.

Being engaged has allowed me to indulge my addiction with total inhabition (to the dismay of Mr. Glen Echo). For example, recently, there has been a lot of talk about my bridal shower in Feburary. A trip to pick up a birthday gift for a friend resulted in me irrationally justifying purchasing a shower ensemble...mmm...4 months in advance. At least this time, my indulgence resulted in purchasing something really cute and interesting that was also ON SALE!

This is my bridal shower dress...LOVE IT! I got it at Antrhopologie for $50 on sale (SCORE!) I figure...Feburary, Valentine's Day, Red, Loveliness! And...IT HAS POCKETS!

(source)

I already have a light grey cardigan I got at the J Crew factory store at Arundel Mills. It looks a bit like this one, but it has two little light and dark grey flowers near the neck line. I think it will go well with the dress.

(source)

So now I am searching for shoes...this is where I need your help Ladies. I cannot decide between:


1) Grey Pumps: Urban Outfitters, $48













2) Red, White and Blue Pumps : Nine West, $89















3) Purple Flats: Piperlime, $49.99













So, help me choose Ladies...
Which one do you think will go best with what I have so far? Accessories will be picked based on the shoe choice. I know the choices are not at all similar to one another...so if you think something else would look better, please give me a link...especially if its a good deal.

Priceless...

One pair of Steve Madden flats...$21 from DSW (marked down from $39.95)

Vintage shoe clips from Etsy (shop Sweet Kathleen's)...$10

My perfect pair of "something blue"...


PRICELESS!!

Online window shopping

Mr. 16th pointed out to me last night that I have been slacking on my NearlyWeds posting. It's true and I'm so sorry to have disappeared. But the sad fact is that I haven't had much to say about wedding planning because we haven't accomplished much wedding planning! Yesterday was the six month mark, though, and I expect things to start heating up!

For the past week or so, most of my wedding "planning" has involved me looking at shoes and other fun stuff online! There are lots of great sales right now at some of my favorite online haunts. I'm in love with this dress, from J. Crew, (perhaps as a rehearsal dinner dress?) but sadly they don't have my size.

{on sale here}

I also think I found my top choice for wedding shoes - but Mr. 16th doesn't want to see them - so if you are not the Mr., please click here. (P.S. I'd be jazzing them up a bit with some shoe clips. I thought I wanted flowers but right now I'm in love with these!)

mmmm.. beeeer..

just channeling Homer for a sec..

Miss National Harbor reminded me of our own booze dilemma. We decided early on that we had no interest in paying a per-person "open bar" fee (usually upwards of $25/person), which is one of the many reasons we chose Old Town Hall - they don't care how we handle the alcohol situation as long as we are having a private party and not selling anything. So we are having our caterer provide the bartender and "set-ups" (soft drinks, mixers, etc.) at $3/person, and then we are going to Total Wine or Costco or possibly a local mom & pop store (we'll see what we can afford), to buy all the alcohol we'll need - so our guests will do the drink-till-it's-gone thang. But we're not going to do liquor, just beer and wine (so the mixers provided by the caterer are basically useless but we will have a number of non-drinkers who will welcome juices and soft drinks so hopefully it's worth it).

I had wanted to do a signature cocktail but so far Mr. Fairfax has convinced me beer and wine is good enough (we'll see how we're doing on budget, I may bring him around in the end). So all we have to do is deliver the booze to the caterer a day or two in advance, and they'll take care of getting it to the venue. At the end of the night, if there's anything left, we'll take it to the "HQ" hotel and let the guests have a nice after party.

So the question is, how do you figure out how much you'll need? I've found a few sites that provide calculators - 3000 Drinks, Evite, and then a WeddingWire.com forum where there seems to be a pretty helpful conversation going on about calculating consumption.

By the way if you're not familiar with WeddingWire.com - it's awesome! I've used it a lot in my vendor searches, and they have a great budget planning tool, calendar, etc - and they host wedding websites. We ended up making our own site using Google Sites but the WeddingWire one is pretty great - it even has a function where you can collect electronic RSVPs, and it pulls from the guest list you uploaded (so if someone tries to RSVP and they're not already on the guest list, it won't work for them).

Sidebar: just found this etsy shop and I am in love. Custom bridal flats! uh! eco-friendly and totally affordable.

happy weekend everyone! I'm off to the beach with the future in-laws. :) :)

shoes! <3

After reading the amusing posts and comments on East Side Bride related to finding wedding shoes for Meg at APW (here and here and here), I got all up in a flutter about how ridiculously high the heels are on those shoes and angry about how hard it is to find shoes in my size (a whopping size 10, or more accurately 10.5 but that size rarely exists), and how often shoes in my size come with ridiculously high heels.

This might not be making any sense. It's not even the point. The point is the abovementioned blogs inspired me to go on a big search to Prove I couldn't find the perfect wedding shoes with 1.25 - 1.5" heels (I bought a dress on a sample sale that is only long enough for me to wear shoes at that height, Maybe a maximum of 2" (which is good because I hate towering over people in 4" heels anyway) ) and ended up on Endless.com and found.. the perfect shoes! they're 1.25" and ADORABLE. At least to me. And they have a Button on them. Which is important because I'm being crazy and incorporating a ton of old antique/funky buttons into my wedding (button bouquet maybe? I haven't decided).

I will have to come back soon and gush with Miss Glen Echo about all my super Etsy finds.

The Bridesmaids Shoe Dilemma

I decided to go against the usual.

I decided that I didn't have the energy to find a shoe that would please all of my bridesmaids. Besides, I'm the shortest one anyhow, so I don't care if my bridesmaid that's almost a foot taller than me wears 2" heels or wears ballet flats, same with my taller-than-me Maid of Honor (sister)

I decided, as much as comfort is important to me, it should be important to me to let my gals be comfortable in what they wear to my wedding.

I looked for pictures, and the few that I found of brides who didn't put their gals in matching shoes looked fine. I think it'll add a certain uniqueness to the pictures.

Unfortunately, I told them to either get them in navy, green or pink - because well. Who doesn't like a rainbow of colors, right? And since the dresses are all cocktail length and navy from Aria Dress, I thought adding some color and personality to the pictures would add a little umph to the pictures.

But after reading this thread on Weddingbee, I'm beginning to second guess myself. Maybe I should have told them navy shoes. But what if some of them already bought shoes in pink or green?

Weigh in, what do you think? Should bridesmaids wear matchy-matchy shoes (even though not all of them like heels - my sister never wears heels and picked a chunky shoe, my tall bridesmaid would be towering over all of us in any sort of heel, and my other three bridesmaids, are likely indifferent), my biggest thing is comfort and costs. They're spending so much to come down here so I'm trying to keep costs to a minimum and I like to think that letting them wear a dress that they could wear again and shoes they picked out for themselves, they're getting the most bang for their buck.

Thoughts??? Did you make your bridesmaids wear matchy matchy shoes?

(image via Budget SaavyBride)

TA DA! My something Blue!

I know you have read about 3 million posts about bridal shoes.....and guess what, here is 3,000,001. I am IN LOVE with my shoes. I knew I wanted a color...I mean, even in my everyday dress, I where colored shoes. Its my thing!
A friend of Mr. CP's is starting a new hand-made shoe business and asked if she could design my wedding shoes...as if I had to think about that one! She charged me the cost of the shoes, as long as I took a few pictures at the wedding that she could use on her website. Um, DEAL. The process involved multiple sketches and going back and forth to get the shoes exactly how I wanted them. I took some pictures of them below. Prepare to be woo-ed! I had them dyed to match the bridesmaid dresses, exactly. The Swarovski crystals are green, yellow and clear, to match the flowers. She also put the date and our inititals on the soles. There is a tiny bee sewn in, but you can't see them. Brittaney can be emailed directly from her website, which is about to go live, http://www.lovehershoes.com/. ENJOY and tell her Miss CP sent you, if your interested!
(Notice I got artistic with my ring! hahaha)

What color are your bridal shoes?

Thinking of My Girls

Bridesmaids. They're on my range, my to do list. I'm trying to get my girls settled away so that they can begin to save because well, Aria dresses aren't exactly the cheapest dresses in the world (not the most expensive ones either).

So I've been looking at their shoes. How to complete the bridal party look. We picked out the groomsmen ties earlier this week - as I mentioned before, we're going with Vineyard Vines ties. We still haven't really picked out what color suits but m'eh. We'll get there.

In three weeks, I trek to Boston to go with the girls to go to Aria Dress so they can pick out their dresses and thus, I can get them ordered sometime in the next century (in case you haven't noticed? I procrastinate in all things wedding planning).

But I also want to have an idea about their shoes (I'm only mildly obsessed with shoes. Really.)

All my girls, sans two - one being my twelve year old cousin/junior bridesmaid - are significantly taller than me. I'm 5'2"...on a good day - my shoes are 2 1/2" heels, so that'll put me maybe at 5'4 1/2" but realistically, 5'4". When my tallest bridesmaid is 6'0" and my shortest is 5'2" like me, putting them in 3" matching heels? Not an option.

I know, I know, it's what "I want." But since my girls are mostly traveling to be here with me, and the one that's not traveling is getting married two months after me, I don't want them to spend TOO much money on the outfit. That's why I was careful about picking dresses that had styles that they could pick, that they'd be comfortable, and dresses that looked like they could be worn again. Makes sense right?

So I thought, what about classy flip flops. Not the 2 for $5 Old Navy flip flops but classy ones.

[JCrew $78] - a little too pricey for...flip flops. Let's be real.


[Victorias Secret $38.50]


[Gap $39.50]



[Piperlime $49]

and finally....


[Nordstrom $69]

I just know, I KNOW that someone - likely FMIL, or my own darling mother will say something. Too casual, too something that they don't like. But me? I like the style. I live in flip flops from nowish to like, October. So it seems natural to have my girls in flip flops. Especially the last pair because then - navy dresses, white shoes. Me? White dresss, navy shoes. Oh my goodness, this could be perfect.

I'll get a few more opinions, I like to reaffirm my decisions with my girls cause I know sometimes I'm irrational, neurotic and everything in between but this time? This is just me.

Thoughts? Are you letting your girls pick their shoes? Heels? Flip flops? Flats? Am I being too crazy for this??

I'm Officially a Two Shoe Bride

So I broke down and bought another pair of possible wedding shoes on Friday. I was doing ok, I bought my original pair back in October (for full price, $70+, oh yes they were on sale for $29 less than 6 weeks later. THANKS, Bandolino), and I've held out til now. That's something to be proud of, right?

I have my first dress "fitting" in three weeks. It's not really a fitting, I bought my dress on consignment and off the rack, but I do need to get the train bustled. I also need to make the final call on whether I have to get it hemmed. Boo. The dress is 4 layers of filmy organza type fabric, which I'm pretty sure will mean $$ if it has to be hemmed. The heel on the original shoe is about 2.5 inches. When I went home last time, I took the shoes with me and tried them on with the dress. I'm 5' 6" and in the shoes the skirt almost skims the ground almost. As in, if I look down that's enough to make the shirt brush the floor. Since the wedding ceremony is outside I was getting a little nervous that maybe I need a little more height. I originally hoped to wear flats to maximize the height difference between the me and Mr. Fairfax, but even when I'm in three inch heels, the man's got some height on me. the And since I love to shoe shop these reasons were more than enough to justify getting back in the bridal shoe scouting game.

I originally wanted colored shoes. I went from wanting blue to red to settling on brown (the color of the bm's dresses). This time, knowing how hard it was to find something just right in a color and knowing the the height was really the important aspect, I opened up and started looking at traditional bridal shoes and dyeables again.

I saw these on the J Crew Final Sale, and I literally had them in my cart and almost hit "purchase" SO many times. I couldn't justify it though since the shoes would still be around $78 with shipping even if I could get them on an extra 20% off day. I wasn't 100% sold on the t-strap style (it's cute in theory, but what if I hated it?) and the shoes are NOT returnable (that tricky "Final Sale"). I didn't see much of market for the style on eBay leading me to believe, if I got them and hated them, I'd be stuck and out a lot of money.



I also cruised around to Payless again to see if anymore of the Lela Rose shoes had been released. Payless started doing the partnership with high end designers (just like Target!) sometime in the last year and the latest collection is a line of bridal shoes by Lela Rose.



Well, I was in luck. The Lela Rose bridal shoes are out AND the dyeable line is now available. Niiiice. All four shoes are super cute, and they come in two versions: 1) the normal Payless version made of that synthetic matte patent leather type stuff and costing around $25 2) a satin dyeable version for around $45 and that includes the dying costs from what I can tell. My friends, this is a STEAL. You can find them under the "Special Occasion Shoes" and the "Designers for Payless" sections on the Payless website. Information about the satin dyeables can be found on the Unforgettable Moments website.

Yes, yes, this was all online, so I still needed to see them in person. Fortunately, there is a Payless around the corner from my place of employment, so I was able to check them out over my lunch break. Best part ever? They have a t-strap shoe very similar to the J Crew shoe!



I should really have a flow chart to explain this, but my first plan was to try on the t-strap style at Payless and if I liked it, order the J Crew t-strap shoe. Once I got to the store and confirmed the shoes are all cute in person and met my standards I decided to buy the $25 version and if the heel is high enough with my dress (the specs say the heel is 3.5 inches), return for the nicer satin dyeable version. Once I got them home and wore them around the house for a few minutes, I though, heck, these are fine! The synthetic looks nice and you can't even tell it's matte patent leather unless they're two inches form your face. And everyone keeps telling, no one is going to see my shoes anyway (I'm still skeptical of this). Why pay $45 for the white satin shoe when I'm happy with the $25 one?


So in case you were wondering, I can happily confirm, these shoes are pretty sweet. They are quite attractive, reasonably comfortable (actually have a decent bit of padding under the ball of the foot), and the price is seriously right. Lela Rose even added the very sweet bridal touch of a pale blue liner in the shoes. So if you were wondering, go for it! I'm really happy with mine so far!



FYI-They have a few samples of the satin shoes in the stores, but you basically try on the $25 in the store, look at the color palette if you want your shoes dyed and then place your order. The $25 ones aren't bright bright whit, but they aren't off white either. My dress is a "diamond white." Basically you only know it's not true white when you put it next to something that is. The colors will probably be a teeny bit different, but I'm willing to live with that.



Honestly, as much as I was SO determined to have colored shoes and make a little statement with my shoe choice, I just love my white shoes. There's just something extra special and bridal about them. Much like the moment they put the veil on you at the bridal shop, and you really feel like a real bride for the first time, that's kind of how I feel when I put on my white shoes. :)

Something blue...

I've mentioned on here a few times my search for shoes. I finally found the perfect pair, and then, my dress came in and I was beyond ecstatic. They looked perfect together. I was infatuated with my dress/shoe combo.


Never the conventional one, my mother was not surprised when I picked navy shoes. She tried to get me to go with white shoes but I wasn't having it. I appreciate certain traditions but others? Are meant to be broken.

So I was appalled today when I got an email from my future brother in law telling me that he thinks I should "reconsider" my shoes.

"...personally I have to say in the pic they stick out and not in a good way. I feel a bride should be all in white and you don't want to draw attention to your feet with a dark colored shoe compared to the very white dress. Your supposed to be different from the bridesmaids no need to match something. So there's my 2 cents I don't know if anyone else had mentioned that but I thought I should."

Not going to lie, I feel, and I could be totally off base here, that he was out of line. My future mother in law told me earlier this weekend on an impromptu trip north to surprise her for the long weekend, that she felt I should reconsider my navy shoes. The picture he is referring to is the one above.

I told her - politely - thank you for the input, but no thanks. White shoes, while I appreciate white shoes, and appreciate that many brides wear white shoes, I'd just...rather not.

I've seen some fabulous pictures of brides wearing non-white shoes - in a variety of colors and I love the look. It just adds a little bit of flair to what is otherwise a rather...traditional day. I've never been the one to go all traditional so I don't plan on my wedding day being a day when I break that habit.

The Weddingbee boards show that I'm not the only one who wants colored shoes - additionally, there are other brides on The Knot.com boards who are defying convention.

[via an Excited Bride]

[via Dallas Wedding Planner]

Now, I know, I might be over reacting, being a little too sensitive. But it's a stressful time. We're signing a new contract for our reception, we just finished and sent out the Save the Dates, my boss is back from a three week trip away and we're two weeks out from a huge event at work - I'm stressed. And attacking my shoes? The Best MAN attacking my shoes??

I just feel...a little sensitive. Maybe too sensitive. Obviously I'm not the only one adding a bit o' flair to my bridal outfit....

what about you? How are you adding flair to your outfit?

Hello, Lover!

Ah, that classic line from SATC...nearly always my first reaction when I see a beautiful pair of shoes. Especially a beautiful pair of shoes on sale.

These are on sale right now at South Moon Under. They are $49.99. They are beautiful. I love this brand of shoes (Seychelles). They are comfortable, practical and beautiful. I might have to pretend I didn't already buy shoes to go with my wedding dress...

But I'm Too Tall!

One of the sad things I have encountered during my wedding planning is shoe shopping. Our colors are red, brown, and ivory/white, and I plan on wearing sassy red shoes. You'd think that would open up a world of possibilities, right?

WRONG!

You see, Mr. JeffMemorial is a bit over six feet tall, and I... am six feet tall. Couple that with a crippling lack of coordination that has rendered me unable to walk in high heels since I was in high school, and you understand why I have been exiled to the world of dress flats.

Which is fine! I do really love flats! It amazes me, though, how hard it is to find a gorgeous pair of red dress flats. I do not want dyables. I think dyable shoes are great, but I want to buy unique shoes. Plus, I'd probably end up accidentally dying our pooch, Wee JeffMemorial, red in the process.

I have found a few options, though. (All courtesy of Zappos.com.)


Gabriella Rocha. $58.50.


Delman Welcome-P $114.80


Steve Madden. $79.34.


Sigerson Morrison. $244.50. (So beautiful, but the price makes me cry.)

I even entertained the notion of shoes not in red...


Type Z Cathy. $67.50.
Maybe traditional white?


Steven Kleo. $94.50.
...or I could go funky.


Franco Sarto. $88.95.
Oh, Franco. <3


Steve Madden. $80.01.
This time in gray!

I definitely want a shoe that goes from ceremony to reception.

Either way, while I have LOVED looking at shoes, and have bought a couple of almost THE shoes, it's so frustrating! I see all the cute heeled shoes and get cranky. Oh, to be not so freakishly tall. (Shamelessly buying new shoes in the name of the wedding is a great excuse, although I think Mr. JeffMemorial is starting to catch on, heh.)

There are so many options. Classic traditional white or color? One pair of shoes for the whole thing, or do you get one for the ceremony and one for the reception? Flashy? Subdued? And there are too many pretty shoes in the world!

Oooohhh! Had to share THIS!

LOOK what I found!!!! Cole Haan makes NIKE AIR PUMPS!!!!! Is there anything more perfect for a wedding, when you are dancing and on your feet all day!!!!
This is one of the many I love!

I am not getting these, actually, I am really lucky with my shoe options...its worthy of it's own blog as I get more info, but can we say CUSTOM MADE!

Another Pair of Nearlywed Shoes!

Miss Gallery Place made me want to share my shoes too! I bought them awhile ago, but between a missing memory card for the camera and a dead computer...it was tough to share! But Santa (aka Mr. Fairfax) fixed me up for Christmas!

So here are my shoes!

Bandolino "Soiree"

I decided to go with brown shoes because it's one of the main colors of our wedding decor and the color of the bridesmaids dresses. Most of the bridal shoes and dyeables I saw online, I wasn't crazy about so I expanded my search to any color shoes. When I saw these in Bandolino right before Thanksgiving, I snapped them, perhaps a little too hastily--they're almost 40% off right now! I was pretty sure I wouldn't see anything better, so I went ahead and got them. No buyer's remorse so far...knock on wood. at at $70 full price, they acceptably within the budget.

I'm just a few inches shorter than my lovely husband to so I was hoping to go with flats in order to maximize the height difference, but these have three inch heel. But with the extra height, I can skip getting my dress hemmed.

I've worn them around the house a couple times and did a little dancing in them on New Year's Eve. The comfort report is good so far!


I can't seem to find them online, but definitely check out the Bandolino (brick & mortar) stores. They're always having great sales.

The Shoe that fits...

Ladies, I'm sorry I've been MIA for so incredibly long. I took a much needed wedding hiatus. Our save the dates are simply waiting to be assembled (and have been since the beginning of December), and I just kind of...went into holiday mode. Getting out Christmas cards, traveling, hosting our annual holiday shindig...it was a bit...much.

But I'm back. My dress is IN (YAY!), but most importantly, the mission that has been taking over much of my days is over.

I found my shoes.

It was a tough decision, there were a few contestants but nothing I truly drop dead fell in love over. A friend of mine had sent me these a few times over, and I had hemmed and hawed over them, thinking well...maybe. But last week, I took a long lunch and popped into the Nordstrom at Pentagon City to see what there was to see. The shoes were there. In my size. They fit pretty well. The heel was not too high. Too bad they didn't have my color there.

I got back to the office, searched online, could only find them at Nordstrom and they were out of my color! I called them up, the customer service was IMPECCABLE and low and behold the man on the other end of the phone found a pair at a Nordstrom in who knows what town that are being shipped to me! Hooray! I should have them by the end of this week!

The winners?
These bad boys - Addison by Glint for $90 at Nordstrom. Under my $100 budget for shoes!

Now to find a veil and ah-hem a strapless bra for the dress before the fitting (which is still not yet scheduled)! Hoorah!

Among other things on my to do list for the wedding this month? Blog more regularly, find a veil, schedule fitting, keep my mother off my back (now that time is ticking she's been bugging me more), pick out bridesmaids dresses before my trip to Boston next month to see 3 of my girls, make room block at Hotel (tbd), send out save the dates before we leave town for MLK weekend, pick up bow ties from Vineyard Vines for the groomsmen (at the Outlet in NY!!) and send out my bridesmaid newsletter which is still just a file on my work computer *sigh* Now that we're just short of 8 months out...I suppose I should get on this all. Right?

What are your big to do's this month?

When you know...

They say that for everything wedding planning "when you know, you just...know." This has been true for me in terms of dress, Reception Hall, Church, and now to add to that list, my shoes.

A few days ago I had talked about my shoe dilemma. Well my fellow nearlyweds, shoe stress BEGONE! I found the shoes. Now they're not exactly what I wanted but then again my wedding dress wasn't either but I just knew that it was the right dress. Just like I just know that these shoes are the right shoes.

It happened quite randomly actually. I got my new Real Simple Magazine last night and they had a section about holiday outfits. Then there they were. Paired with a sequin clutch and a red dress. Clearly they weren't all meant to be paired together.

They're taller than I wanted, they're not navy but tealish (though they could be darker. Photos are always deceiving) but they're opened toed and have the cutest flower on them!

From Seychellesfootwear.com

They're beauts no? The heel is 3" but I figure by the time I get to the reception I'm going to want to kick off my heels anyhow. Worst case scenario if I find shoes that I like better sometime in the next few months - as long as the heel is the same height it'll be fine and I can return them.

I'm infatuated, they're in my budget and I'm convinced, despite the cons that these are THE shoes. I should listen to my gut no?

I Like Your Shoooeeessss

Since I bought my dress, I've been envisioning my dream wedding shoes. I'm a shoe addict with no fewer than 30-50 pairs of shoes taking over half the closet floor. I always envisioned a beautiful pair of Kate Spade heels for my wedding day, figuring if there was one time to spend $300 on a pair of shoes wouldn't my wedding day be one of those?

When I changed my wedding colors from pink/green to navy blue/green, I decided I wanted navy heels. Not tall heels, more like kitten heels - I think 1" sounds good. Maybe 2". I loathe tall heels for long periods of time - my knees are bad from all of my running and 3 1/2" heels for 12 hours probably wouldn't help that much at all. Then I decided I didn't like the beads that many bridal shoes have. I wanted a bow. A simple bow. Additionally, I hate straps around my ankles or across my feet. Because our big day is in early September, I'd love to have a slip on, open toe type shoe.

Have I found said shoes? Not yet. I think I might be narrowing it down too much. Recently, after a few debacles on the internets searching for shoes where I found a pair that was either too expensive, too tall, too sparkly, or had too many strappy things, I found a few that I liked. Of course, the first one...too expensive.

Kate Spade Nordstrom.com $345

The next one? Too granny like.

Glint Anderson Nordstrom.com $90

Not navy enough/too expensive.

JCrew.com $100

JCrew.com $140
Way out of my budget.

I found a dream pair on Jcrew.com but upon looking at what I could afford and what mother GP can afford since she's buying the veil, shoes and has bought the dress, I figured, Huh, they're 30% off...maybe?? (see above. Pair 4 is the pair in question)

No Dice. "I'm not paying for shoes that are a quarter of the price of your dress" blah blah blah. *sigh* Thus eliminating the lovely Kate Spade shoes.

So the search for the navy shoes continues. It doesn't always pay to know exactly what you want. Just so you know. For now I'll continue looking not just for dyeables, but for navy shoes. That don't cost $300. *sigh* I'm hoping for better luck with all the holiday sales coming up.

What are you planning on doing for shoes? Are you going traditional with white? Or trying to spice things up with a color of your choice?