Let’s be honest, I clearly am a shoeaholic and my wedding weekend was no exception! Footwear is a powerful thing that creates a feeling of beauty, strength and sophistication. Every time I slip on a new pair of shoes this vibe of positivity shoots through my body and my world is changed. I love the way shoes transcend you. The moment I slide on stilettos I Immediately feel like a princess; when I put on a pair of combat booties I feel powerful; and when I slip into a pair of kitten heels I feel like I stepped back into an old Hollywood movie!
My life changed forever on June 30, 2018. This princess — Cinderella to be exact — married her prince in the city of brotherly love. But let’s rewind 24 hours to June 29th, because the rehearsal is where the shoes begin!
As we arrived at the hotel, I had so many feelings rushing through my body, but my biggest concern was how do I show up to the hotel looking like the sophisticated woman I am, yet have the feeling of comfort as we unload the mounds of bridal wear, snacks and drinks galore from the car to the bridal suite. That being said I knew I needed a little wedge to keep my posture looking tall and lean. I wore a pair of Samuel Edelman wedge sandals that had the perfect amount of gold metallic to match my white with gold trim Lilly Pulitzer dress. As the bride of course I was running around the hotel like a maniac and I didn’t roll my ankle one time! (So proud.) Remember: comfort should always be your first priority; however, beauty is pain but not in this scenario!
Next stop on our wedding weekend path was the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was in the waterfall garden where we were to be married the next day so I thought ahead and went on amazon and bought heel caps so I wouldn’t sink into the grass. Yes, you should always have a pair of these at home ready for any potential grass-related. And a little bonus tip for you fashionistas: they are also great for new heels that you do not want to ruin the heel cap, and you can wear them on cement as well.
Clearly my husband understands how much I love pink and we went with a white and pink theme for our Rehearsal dinner looks. Steve Madden designed a beautiful heel called the Born. It is a kitten heel that gives you just enough lift to give that feeling of sophistication we discussed and it was easy to walk from the waterfall garden to Sky Philadelphia where we had our amazing sky view dinner with a platform deck over-looking the city.
Now, it’s time to talk about the best part of the entire weekend; our wedding day! I started off my morning in my favorite pink and gold Kate Spade Just Married Flip Flop as we had hair and make done in the bridal suite. As soon as it was time to get dressed all I wanted to do was slip into my glitter Berta Bridal gown.
But let’s be honest my shoes were just as much my prized possession.
It truly took me a while to narrow down my wedding heels. As much as I mentally prioritized comfort, the end result was a 180. I fell in love with way too many designers. Look became my priority. I finally selected Gianvito Ross satin sandal stilettos with glittered heel counter. They were four covered heels that had a tapered toe band and an adjustable ankle strap with a white silk bow-tie detail. These marvelous shoes are made in Italy, one of the fashion capitals of course! To be completely honest they were much more comfortable then I would have ever expected them to be!
So are you ready for my biggest wedding day secret?! Only my parents knew — since they walked me down the aisle — but I wore my favorite Kate Spade white glitter platform Keds down the aisle. Not that it was meant to be a secret, but can you believe no one knew! Even my husband didn’t even know until 4 months later when I started writing this blog!
The look I was going for at my wedding was a modern-day Cinderella, which, if I can toot my own horn a bit, I definitely nailed. To complete the I immediately put my Gianvito Rossi’s back on right after the ceremony. I somehow did our choreographed first dance, which mind you had a-lot of movement for such high heels, and didn’t even fall!
Now let’s fast forward to brunch the next morning. We were up from our wedding until 4:00am with all of our friends so waking up only five hours later and wearing heels all night I definitely needed a comfortable shoe to wear with our gray hubby and wifey tees. Guess which designer was my first comfort thought?? Of course Steve Madden! All I can say is #imwithsteve because his team has truly designed footwear for the everyday modern woman. I went to brunch and back home to NYC that day in my white Rachel flatforms. I pretty much lived in them all summer, because it still gives you the perfect amount of lift off the ground while keeping your foot flat like it is on the ground.
So, I am not sure if you have been keeping a running tally here, but I ended up in six different shoes throughout our wedding weekend! Obviously that number isn’t high, but if you think about how many times I changed shoes each day and all of the thought process that went into these footwear changes, six was the perfect number. I spent my wedding weekend on cloud nine with my husband because all of my footwear concerns were taken care of.
The more you take the time to think about the chic yet comfortable footwear choices out there the less you have to worry about your feet at any event! Next time you go shoe shopping really consider where you are wearing them to, how comfortable will you be, and how do the shoes make you feel. Your feet carry your entire body and if your feet aren’t happy, then neither are you!
“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.” –Edith Head the most legendary costume designer in Hollywood