Wedding Shoes 101 : Ideas & Options in Canada

photo: BH Photography, Ottawa

The shoes are a most important part of your wedding day's attire. They compliment your dress and they emphasise your personal style. Finding the perfect shoes to wear on your wedding day takes a little time and some expert information.

'Gipiur': Typical lace bridal shoes in ivory or stark white
from wed-shopping.com

Important Considerations

Comfort

Walking down the aisle, posing for pictures, standing in a receiving line and dancing the night away...all this add up to hours on your feet and picking the right shoes can make or break you day's comfort level. Choosing shoes that fit all the basic bridal criteria and that are also comfortable is key.

• The best way find the right wedding shoes with the most comfort is to actually try them on after a full day on your feet. As our feet tend to swell during the course of the day, it is best to try on shoes when your feet are at their largest.
• Also, remember to try on the shoes the way you plan to wear them on the wedding day. Will you be wearing pantyhose or going barefoot?

Heels

Do you normally wear high heels or flats? If you are already accustomed to wearing heels, you may decide to don a pair of stilettos on your big day. However, if heels are an exception and not the norm in your life, you really don't want to start experiment with them on your wedding day!

• Since your dress will be fitted to accommodate the height of your heels, you need to decide on what you'll be most comfortable with, well in advance of the wedding.
• If you want the extra height but aren't comfortable in heels, try low kitten heels or platforms. Completely flat bridal shoes are also an option and many of today's ballet inspired shoes make a beautiful choice for weddings.

Stuart Weitzman "Court": classic wedding pump with medium heel
from Zappos.com

'Paget': kitten heel bridal shoe
from AngelBrides.co.uk

Touch Ups 'Honey': a wedge heel adds comfort and stability to brides not used to wearing heels but that need a little extra height
from Bridal Shoes Canada

FiFi London 'Margot': ballerina inspired flat heeled shoe
from Bridal Shoes Canada

Fabrics

Traditionally, wedding shoes are made of silk or satin and these fabrics remain as popular today as in years past; however, choosing your shoes based on your individual style should be the greatest factor in your decision. Non traditional brides needn't be forced to wear something traditional. It's O.K. to let your personality shine through in all aspects of your wedding day look, right down to the shoes. But, if you are not sure what to look for in your wedding shoes, use your dress as your guide.

• Bridal gowns with shiny fabrics work great with satin shoes.
• Lace shoes work well with dresses that have lots of lace work on them, especially along the bottom; and
• dresses with a matte (not shiny) finish should be worn with crepe, or silk shoes.

Christian Louboutin
'Carnaval Nodo Satin d'Orsay'
satin pumps

Classic silk bridal shoe
from Belle Bridal Footwear (U.K.)

Colour

Since whites come in all sorts of shades, make sure to bring a swatch of your bridal gown's fabric with you while shoe shopping. Your shoes should be the same colour as your dress. You don't want to be wearing bone white shoes against a stark white dress.

If you find the perfect shoe but not the perfect shade, you may be able to have it dyed to match the dress's tone, depending of course on the shoe's fabric. Check with the store itself to see if they have any shoe dyeing options. For example, Bridal Shoes Canada, a Canadian online retailer of bridal footwear, has an extensive selection of "dyeable" shoes along with a shoe dyeing service.

Touch Ups "Flash"

Same shoes as above, dyed champagne!
from Bridal Shoes Canada

Wedding Shoes = Bride's Style

So, what if you are a non traditional bride? What type of shoes should you consider?

• Brides that steer toward the more modern, cutting edge styles may prefer a shoe with bold, chunky heels or super high stilettos.
• A traditional, romantic bride may choose a classic pump or even a lace pair of "granny" boots.

Dianne Lynn "Riva"
chunky high heeled shoes for a more modern look
also from Bridal Shoes Canada

Martinez Valero "Pinkie"
- non traditional bridal shoes for the non traditional bride
The Budget Fashionista's "Cheap Bridal Shoes"

"Granny" boots anyone?
Special Occasions "Victoria" from Bridal Shoes Canada

Who said "granny" wasn't cool?
Special Occasions "Lizbeth", also from Bridal Shoes Canada

Wedding Shoes = Wedding Style

Another way to narrow down your choices for the right wedding shoes is to match them to the style of the wedding itself. For example, an evening affair is perfect for high heeled stilettos, while a beach wedding beckons the bride to wear sexy, strappy sandals!

Super high heels for the bravest of brides!
Cinderella Luxury High Heels and Wedding Fashions

Perfect for a beach wedding
Martinez Valero "Cameron"

Still Not Sure?

A basic rule of thumb for picking the perfect wedding shoes is to choose a fancy shoe for a plain gown and a plain shoe for a fancy or heavily embellished gown.

If you feel you absolutely must match the embellishments on your dress with your shoes, then follow this rule: pearled dresses go with beaded shoes and shiny, bejeweled dresses with lots of crystals work with rhinestone or crystal adorned shoes.

Filippa Scott "Ella"
plain white & ivory wedding shoes, ideal for a bejeweled gown
myglassslipper.com

Perfect for a plain bridal gown
Jessie Rhinestone Trim Bridal Shoes
from Perfect Details

A perfect match for a pearl beaded dress
'Sofia' Beaded Wedding Shoes
from Perfect Details

Stunning! Ivory satin peep-toe pumps embellished with Swarovski butterlies, should work very well with shiny elements on an embellished bridal gown.
By Aruna Seth, foud on weddingo.co.uk

* Wedding Shoes and Dress Length *

This is very important. For your dress fittings, especially for the last fitting, you must have the exact heel size you will be wearing with you or better yet, have your actual wedding shoes on hand. The height of your heel will determine your dress's hem length. If you have the dress fitted while wearing higher or lower heels than your actual wedding shoes, your bridal gown will come out too short or too long. Either way, you are facing a wedding dress disaster!

Even if you have an idea of what your perfect wedding shoes will look like, it is best to do your homework before buying. After having purchased your bridal footwear, do yourself and your feet a favour by wearing them a little everyday until the actual wedding. This way, you will not only be accustomed to their fit and height but you will also be ready for the all important walk down the aisle.

Where to Shop

Well, obviously, if you like one of the shoes showcased above, the are all available at the stores we found them (listed under the photos), mostly well-founded online shops. Bridal Shoes Canada in particular is fast becoming one of our personal favourites: great selection, good service, dyable/customizable shoes and they are in Canada too (less taxes, shipping brokers etc).

Locally?

This can get somewhat complicated, only because there really aren't many stotes that specialise in wedding shoes! The best bridal boutiques usually have a fairly good selection, while in many cases you can probably find a wedding accessories (shoes, veils, gloves etc) specialist near you..

Second-hand? Classifieds?

This can be very affordable and even surprisingly effective, but not always reliable.. if you have enough time (wedding many months aways still?) you will probably end up becoming a Craigslist addict, but will eventually find what you need at a great price. Two practical options:

• Try a local second-hand / consignment bridal store
• Spend a couple of minutes every day in our wedding classifieds. We "pull" the ads from everywhere, craigslist, eBay, Kijiji etc, so the selection is basically complete - if it is on the internet, you 'll find it here. But there are thousands of new posts daily - so you 'll have to stay "on top of it". Check back daily.