A Shoe By Any Other Name Would Fit So Well

Before I start yaking about wedding shoes, I should preface this post by saying that I have really really crappy feet. I like to think they're fairly attractive feet on the whole, not too big or too small, with long skinny toes and a slender heel. Unfortunately, as far as walking apparatuses go, they suck. Hard. After a long career of wearing a mixture of vans, chucks, and doc martins, my poor tootsies succumbed to plantar fasciitis and now require the use of butt ugly orthotics to function in normal society. This means the lovely arsenal of shoes in my closet go unworn and I'm stuck in new balance sneakers or Birkenstocks. This makes finding wedding shoes a little difficult since you generally don't want to wear butt ugly orthopedic shoes under your wedding dress. 

At my line fitting the other day, the dress maker had an obvious and yet ingenious suggestion. Buy two pairs of shoes. The pretty shoes will be used in all the pictures, peaking out from under the dress to show off my hippie loving amazing fashion taste. After the last picture, before I walk down the aisle, I have the ugly but comfortable shoes hidden under my dress and discreetly slip my feet out of the pretty ones and into the comfy ones and walk down the aisle with no one the wiser. Depending on the shoe, I might even be able to walk down the aisle in the pretty shoes and just switch out after the ceremony. It would depend a lot on the heel since the ceremony is outside and a skinny heel would sink in the grass. I know most people would say just kick your shoes off, but since the dress will be hemmed to a certain height, I'd likely trip all over myself if I tried to wear it barefoot. 

So, buying two pairs of shoes means finding two pairs that aren't too expensive yet meet my exacting standards, including being the same height. I've decided that I really want the pretty pair to be blue. I would probably settle for silver if I had to, but I want them to be fun, funky and adorable, definitely not your typical white or ivory wedding shoes. That should help with the price since everything wedding is automatically more expensive, ergo non wedding shoes should be normally priced.  They should probably have a strap too, to prevent me from accidentally stepping out of them while I'm getting my boogie on. I found a pretty pair of silver Bruno Magli's that were expensive but cute and comfortable looking and they promptly sold out.  If I wanted to order them from the manufacturer, I'd need to shell out $350 which just isn't happening. So without further ado, I present:

The Pretty Shoe Contenders

Bruno Magli 'Saluggia'

Price: Were $208 before they sold out, now $350 from the manufacturer 

Kinda awesome right? Too bad no one has them!

Pikolinos 'Formentera' Gladiator Sandal

Price: $81.90

Back up comfyish blue flats. Really not formal enough but certainly fun and wouldn't require a back up pair. 

Vince Camuto 'Ruperts 2' Pump

Price: $98.95

These are my favorite so far and they look comfy but did get a review that said the toe box was too narrow. This would make me really sad if it's true since I don't really have any other good blue ideas. 

Touch Ups 'Anastasia'

Price: $52.95

Kinda boring but cheap.


Chicka Chicka Blue Boom Heel
Price: $127.99

These fall somewhere in between I think, definitely fun but maybe too fun?

The Butt Ugly Comfy Shoe Contenders: 

Onex 'Siena'

Price: $70.00

This was the brand recommended to me by the dress shop. They certainly look comfy though I wonder if they have enough arch support for my crazy high arches. 

Mephisto 'Nicasia'

Price: $280 and currently sold out in my size

I can't figure out why these shoes are so expensive. They kinda look like gladiator granny shoes though if they're amazingly comfortable I might consider them. 

This is where you come in with tons of suggestions for awesome yet comfortable shoes. I've pretty much checked all of Zappos and Nordstroms but I'm open to any suggestions you have.