An End To The Shoe Saga

Before I get into footwear, I ordered a hoodie with my birthday gift card, Thanks Mom. Mike and I designed this hoodie back in 2008 so I'm super thrilled that it will be here Monday!

I'll be sporting it at the rehearsal, during pre-wedding running around on the day of and I'm sure throughout the honeymoon. I like that we made it together and that it doesn't say bride so I can wear it long after the wedding.

Shopping has been a real let down lately. We're waiting for color swatches for the tie Mike picked so I went to get him a shirt. They didn't have the size he asked for or the exact one we'd seen online so that's going back. I ordered the one we'd seen online. Worse than the shirt drama was the shoooes-ah!

I originally wanted these:

Beautiful, right? Totally me. I still adore them, but there were some sizing concerns and after trying to walk in my dress with my crutches (aka facing reality) I started to feel like they wouldn't be supportive enough.

Then I thought something like this:

More supportive and totally wearable after the wedding. In dark brown it seemed like something the prince in a fairytale would wear. Only as Mike pointed out on my fruitless search princes don't often wear size 2 in kids. I also think we've left boot season behind us now that's it's March. I struck out hard core and after I'd given up I decided to just order the gray ones online I discovered they were sold out!

So, the answer was:

Yup, in the end I'll be rocking some glittery green sneakers beneath my gown. Cross your fingers that they fit. They'll be more supportive than ballet flats and they say "True to my love" on the side. It was free two day shipping so I have plenty of time to break them in.

Good News & Bad News

Today I learned my real bra size. Child bearing, nursing and major orthopedic operations have not done me any favors in the long run. Damn it. I am not a person who gains and loses significant amounts of weight generally. I have worn the same size clothes since middle school. Apparently, after going way up on the size chart for awhile I am smaller than I've ever been in my life.

Since I'm not planning on cosmetic surgery I tried to convince my emotional parts that it's rational after all the trauma my body's been through. I have no way of knowing if I'll bulk up to recognize myself in wedding photos or not. In light of all this, I decided I needed a pretty new bra. I ran the sales girl a little ragged, but I found a mutli way bra from the PINK line. It's just like the one in the picture except nude with nude lace. Same pink flowers. So cute, on sale and totally wearable post wedding. So, Yay! cute bra. Boo! smaller boobs.

Of course I came home and tried it on with the dress. It looked good except for being a tiny bit too high in the back. I figure somebody can pin it for me and I'll be wearing my hair down anyway. I took the opportunity while I had the dress on to practice walking with crutches in the dress. It went well. I had Mike take pictures of me so I could see what it looked like with the wedding dress, bra, crutches combination. At first the pictures made me happy, but the longer I looked the more frustrated I got.

It's my thin frame, it's weird not to recognize yourself. I want my pre-surgery body back. The uncertainty is hard. I'm doing my best to eat right and stay active, but who knows. Lara and I stopped in a shoe store where she helped me try on shoes. I got really emotional about it because it's the uncertainty again. I have no idea how long I'll be able to stand or if I can tolerate the shoes I wore before...not a clue. I'm hoping for my pre-surgery mobility. It's possible. I though about for a long time after I got home and I decided if I have to wear my dirty old sneakers under my dress in order to be on my feet and dance most of the night I will.

Glass Slipper Jr

I'm also looking for flower girl shoes. It's harder than I thought. I found these they're $12 and in the same style as the ones the bridesmaids are wearing. I'm just not sure if silver goes with sage. I want them to be able to wear the shoes again and be comfortable. They only have that one in silver and gold. Ideally, I thought a lavender ballet slipper would be sweet, but I'm a sucker for sparkly. Silver seems like a color they'd wear again. Hmmm...

So, here's a lavendar ballet slipper covered in lace. I think a flower on the dress and the shoe might be too much. These are handmade so they're a lot more ($30).
Upon further reading they too have cloth soles and won't stand must wear and tear.

This one is a lavender ballet flat/mary jane and the rose on the toe has tulle in it for $14. It'd be a lot sturdier than the other purple shoe with the cloth sole

Basic black plus sparkle? When I look at the shoes all lined up I'm less in love light purple.

Opinions?

Glass Slipper?

Knowing now I'll have my dress in a few weeks, I revisited my shoe options. These were my favorite a few months ago:

I still like them, but besides being more than I want to spend I discovered that they are not avaialble in my tiny size. I decided to check girl's shoes instead of women's. I found these:

These are half the cost and just as pretty. They can be ordered in my size and come in:Off White, Lilac, White, Silver, Navy, Pink and Beige. I'd get them without the flower on the toe of course, but upon further reading these have cloth souls are not meant as street shoes. I know it'll mainly be grass and the dance floor, but that worries me.

I should probably investigate a more supportive opinion, but I adore ballet slippers. I also found this:

Something blue? I know I've got a whole thing going on with green, but these sure are pretty. Upon reflection of my original intenion to do ivory or champagne I couldn't think of a reason not to go with color. I'm far more likely to wear a colored ballet flat again then an ivory lace up ballet slipper. A regular ballet flat would give me some stability. Then I found these.

Honestly, are they too much? I don't think they'll be seen too much under the dress. I'll wear them after the wedding all the time. Feedback is welcome.

I Love This

This first group of pictures are from the same wedding on indie bride. I LOVE this wedding! I tried to contact the bride, but the email on her wedding site is no more, so if anybody knows where I could get these bridesmaids dresses please let me know.

I am totally stealing this idea. It's super simple and you can wear them on the honeymoon.
Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography

Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
It's not just an "everybody jump" picture. No two people are doing the same thing. The bride and groom are still and chaos is all around them, amazing.
Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for bridesmaids dresses. Simple black and short with a bit of green. Only I'd want emerald green instead of apple, but her colors sure do pop. I like how they're all slightly different.

Photo Credit: Leah Rae Photography
I'm completely obsessing over comfy wedding shoes. I love the shoes and I love the picture.

Here's another amazing shoe picture from my friend Anne's wedding. She wore neon Converse All Stars with her new last name embroidered on the back. I love this photo:

Photo Credit: Amanda Psenisky Photography

I love the sense of fun all these images convey. Sure it's a serious step to bind your life to another person, but it should also be one heck of a shindig. After all you're only supposed to do it once. In the first wedding they gave guests fake mustaches to wear. A sense of humor about it all is so important. Yes, I want my marriage to be a serious commitment I've made, but I want to start it laughing and keep on having fun. There can never be too much laughter.

I also love this bridal portrait session at Sunken Gardens I found:

For the rest go here.
I bet anybody who wasn't on board with our first choice venue is excited now. So, beautiful. A little natural beauty and good photographer are a powerful combination. Speaking of Sunken Gardens I'm totally heart broken because I called today and my first and second choice dates are booked! I thought a perk of the whole waiting four years deal was that my ideal date was finally a Saturday. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up so far. Expectations can make for unhappiness in this process, or life in general. Not that it matters too much I don't have the deposit to give them today, anyway. On top of which they have all of April except of course for my second choice date wide open. Breath in, breath out, be flexible.