For the Love of Red Shoes!

Inspired by Pink Galoshes' post on Valentino bow pumps this morning, I thought I'd do a little tribute to my own fabulous Valentino bow wedding shoes (in RED, of course!). Some of these images you've seen, but I've never put them all together. So in the name of flaming red "bridal" shoes... enjoy!

Also, Let me know what other wedding images/descriptions you guys would like to see here. I'll be posting a big recap over on EAD Weddings soon, but I can still fill in a few holes here, too, if you're interested. And remember, I'm blogging on a daily basis over on my new blog The Freckled Citizen (I posted about shoes there just this morning... old habits die hard), so come and visit me there for a dose of everyday, non-wedding talk, too. :-)

Now... on the red Valentino extravaganza!

Inquiring Mind: Melissa

I received a charming note from a reader today, and decided that answering reader questions could become a new feature here (assuming, uh, there are more questions...). Let's offer to the floor to our first EDM Inquiring Mind, Melissa - who knows just how to flatter me!

Hi Maggie!

I LOVE your wedding blog! I know this is random and hopefully not stalker-y...I came upon it when I was searching for ideas for a red, white, and blue themed wedding, as it is along the lines of what we are planning. My fiance and I are getting married this October, and as he is British and has his whole family coming over from London, some of them for their first time to the US, we are trying to do a somewhat British/Royal theme. Our colors are navy blue and mulberry red, and I designed and made my own passport wedding invitations. Also, I cannot believe this, but I tried on that exact dress you wore!! OK, can I just like have your wedding??!

Anyway, can I ask you where you got that fabulous blue damask floor runner? And last thing..those killer red shoes?

Looks like you and your guests had an amazing time, and congratulations to you.. you look beautiful!

Sincerely,

Melissa

Well hello, Melissa! Your wedding sounds FAB - perhaps you should start a wedding blog so we can peek in at it?

First up, our runner. You might remember my never-ending fabric search all winter for our reception tablecloths. Our first big purchase was Premier Prints fabric in the Amsterdam print, in Lipstick and Snorkel. The red print was gorgeous; it's what we went with for half of the tablecloths. Unfortunately in the blue print, the "white" background was actually more ivory - and since we were using these tablecloths over standard white underlays (to avoid a big rental cost), we needed them to be really white. So we regrouped with our blue print and ended up using Premier Prints Kimono in Snorkel (which did look white). So what to do with the Amsterdam fabric, then? We considered returning it - and Premier Prints (a great company with fantastic affordable fabric, by the way - and I now know how rare that is!) acknowledged the white was off in some of the reams, and would give us a full refund. But as it turned out, our floral/design guru fell in love with the print and thought it would work perfectly as a printed runner at a ceremony site - and that against the rustic boards, the fabric would definitely be white enough. My mom's best friend (who also moonlighted as our day-of director) made the runner for us out of the already-purchased fabric, and the design team nailed it down that morning. I loved the way it added excitement to the ceremony site and really personalized it. Here's how it looked in action (one of our pro shots - screen capture only, explaining the logo and small size - we're waiting for the high-res images):


And last but not least, the shoes! My love of shoes has been well-documented here, but good catch, Melissa - you're right that I never described my own shoes in detail. The shoes are Valentino. They're ridiculously sexy. Even if they got stuck in between every board of the ceremony site... I'd originally wanted the lovely feathered Louboutins that are plastered all over this blog design, but they're not in production anymore, and months of scavenging eBay got to be depressing. I'd never seen my Valentinos online before or since, but there I was one day, happily walking through Nordstrom, and there they were. Out of nowhere. I scooped them the next day and never looked back. Another pro shot:


You know how most brides spend their cocktail hour answering guests' questions/fielding their ooh and aahs about their dress? Mine was spent fielding shoe questions and showing off my feet. My shoes needed an agent, that's how much attention they got. True story - as we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, my bridesmaids and I were in a side sitting room goofing off. This woman comes down the stairs and says to me, "Thank God you're here! I was watching you from the window and telling my husband to check you out! I have to tell you! You look amazing! THE RED SHOES! THE RED SHOES! OMG THE RED SHOES! Amazing!"

I could have been wearing a burlap sack, and I really don't think anyone would have noticed, as long as those Valentinos were on my feet.

Thanks, Melissa - and go start that wedding blog!

More questions about our wedding? Bring 'em on! Comment here or shoot me an e-mail at maggie(dot)eatdrinkmarry (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the handy button on the sidebar. Ask away!!!

Sneak peaks!!!!

Okay first, my sister is in labor right this second and I am THRILLED for her, and rather crushed that I'm no longer in NC with the fam, but trying to fly back as quickly as I can to meet my forthcoming nephew.

And second.... my fab photographer Julie Dreelin posted some sneak peeks that I HAD to share!

Bling! And letterpress! A match made in heaven!!!!

Bling PLUS hot red shoes? Yes please!


Our guys looked goooooood....


And we didn't look half-bad, either ;-)
(Isn't T's floppy hair in the beach wind the most adorable thing ever, by the way? Makes me want to marry him all over again.)


Unforeseen consequence of tall, skinny heels - they got stuck in between every single board of our rustic wedding locale. Oops!



And here we are! Getting married! Just a taste of the amount of laughter that went on. Our cheeks hurt we grinned so much during our own ceremony. My mom's too, I think - that's her front and center in blue!


And outside of our reception later that night!!

Happy, happy, happy....

F-Word Friday: It's Gotta Be the Shoes!!!*

Michael Jordan wore a new pair of Air Jordan sneakers every time he played a game as a pro. When a reporter asked him why (assuming it was a way to get more "game-worn" shoes out on the market to auction for charities or give to the underprivileged), Jordan said the philanthropy was a nice by-product, but that the real reason was more selfish. He said the universal truth was that everyone feels special when they're wearing new shoes, and he wanted that feeling every time he stepped on the court. And he's right.

Maggie, as has been well-documented, has a new pair of dangerously sexy red Valentinos for the wedding. They're outrageously, unfairly hot. On a scale of 1-10, they're at least a 14. And the bridesmaids, even the super-preggo Best Woman, are wearing fun new shoes too. I, admittedly, fretted over which shoes I'd wear. The choices are limited when wearing a seersucker suit, and I thought I wanted a pair of shoes that didn't feel out of the ordinary for me (I wanted to be comfortable wearing them, not just having them on, if that makes sense). But eventually I caved, and we found a pair of white bucks with navy saddles, which are really comfortable and very cool (thanks in no small part to the seersucker lining in the shoe).

But the groomsmen, well, they were on their own. With a new suit, shirt, tie, belt, and pocket square already in place, we decided early on that basic brown shoes would suffice. What's more, knowing that they all owned brown shoes of varying styles, and that no one cares what shoes the groomsmen wear anyway, we just gave them general guidelines to help pick from their own shoe collection. Never mind that two of them probably only own one pair of brown dress shoes anyway.

So that was that. Until Wednesday, when my father, the Best Man/King of the High-End Outlet Mall/World's Most Interesting Man, rescued the groomsmen from the woefully shallow depths of their own closets. He managed to find above average off-white bucks on sale for next to nothing, and called immediately for permission to buy new shoes for himself and his fellow groomsmen. I was, shall we say, skeptical, but that night he sent me a phone pic of himself in full groomsman attire (complete with a large-brimmed hat that made him look like a stunt double for Elliot Ness), and damned if he didn't look even more like The World's Most Interesting Man than he already did! So now, even the groomsmen get new kicks for the big day.


What can I say? Our wedding party clearly understands the importance of rockin' footwear.

* Back in the late '80's, Nike launched a series of ads with Michael Jordan and Spike Lee. Jordan played himself, and Lee played his own alter-ego, Mars Blackmon, taken from his character in 1986's She's Gotta Have It. The commercials quickly entered the pop-culture lexicon, mostly for Spike Lee delivering now-classic lines (like the one in the title of the post). Jordan was certainly the best pitch-man of his day and maybe of all time, and this ad started it all, igniting the Air Jordan sneaker craze in the late 80's that got so out of hand people were actually killed for their sneakers. Jordan made more iconic commercials, like this one for Gatorade in 1992 (maybe my favorite commercial ever), but it was the shoes that put him on the map as a spokesman.

Hot shoe FAIL

As we all know, I love shoes. Having a much-taller F-Word necessitates the need for tall shoes, and let's face it, hot shoes are our legs' best friends.

So you might guess I'd be a fan of the latest shoe-related fad. As such, these shoe, er, accessories have been sweeping girly wedding blog nation lately.


My verdict?


I'm sorry, but NO.


That is all.

Boldly nude

As we all know, I am a huge fan of bright shoes on brides. I simply cannot get on board with white shoes, ever. But as much of a color fiend as I am, these nude satin pumps are unbelievably pretty, and as dramatic as a boldly colored shoe in a completely different way. They're courtesy of Stuart Weitzman, who finds the sweet spot between hotness and comfort better than any other shoemaker in my closet.







Via The Little White Book.

Behold, my red shoes

Remember this?

Let's try it with red shoes, why don't we? Better yet, let's try it with MY red shoes. THE red shoes.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





















So I know, I know, these are not my inspiration shoes. The funny thing is, I think these are actually far better than those for the dress, the event, the day, everything. They're comfortable, too. And elegant enough to appease those who might raise their eyebrows at red wedding shoes. (Not that any of us would do such a thing, of course.)

I'm in love. And... loving my wedding shoes, too.

Score!

Recessionista shoewear

And now for something we haven't discussed in a while: my red shoes (look up, over, all over my Twitter page, etc.). The fantasy shoes - lovelovelove them - are no longer made, so I can be found scouring eBay pretty much every night. Acknowledging that finding an elusive pair in the color, size, and price range I want may not happen, I've started searching around for other shoe possibilities. As much as I hate the thought of parting with my beauties, I think we can all agree that the money is better spent elsewhere.

Last night I found an array of possibilities that were shockingly cheap - as in, under $100 cheap. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on the fantasy yet. But unless an eBay miracle happens - or high-end shoe lines start producing spring/summer red shoes that aren't patent leather - I might give one of these a whirl.




Promiscuous (ha!!) Celebrate











rsvp Hart











Nina Electra

Bridesmaid shoes!

I never planned on mandating matching bridesmaids' shoes, trust me. My thinking was, everyone should go out and get a fab pair of strappy red heels that they love and would wear again and again. But this is no regular group of bridesmaids: this is Team Maggie. And since they are so kick-ass - and my kinda girls on all things shoe-related - they are rising to the challenge of the blue and red patterned wedding and exceeding any and all expectations.

Enter: The red striped shoe. With a blue bow that just happens to match the bridesmaid dresses. And a playful cork heel that doesn't take itself at all seriously.




I know!










My sister found them for the crazy-clearance-additional-percent-off-markdown price of... $15. Seriously.

So after e-mailing Team Maggie for approval, everyone loved them, shoe sizes were sent, and my marvelously pregnant Maid of Honor made it happen.

Loving this teamwork.

To Team Maggie! And to shoes!

Friday eye candy

Hotness, via Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book.

For the love of red shoes!

Look, look, an engagement photo featuring my fantasy shoes!


Courtesy of The Bride's Cafe

These are still my absolute favorites, although we did come across a runner-up a few weeks ago. I always know we've spotted a true red shoe contender when my f-word (yes, we are still using that term, and yes, it still amuses us) stops in his tracks in front of them. So far he's done that twice. :-)

Shoe salvation!

Although I've been worrying about colorful shoes that will match the wedding, look what I just found thanks to the delightful Junebug. Light orange shoes would totally match... and could not be sassier!

Second-guessing the details

As fun and exciting as planning a wedding is, I know that everyone has moments of doubt about wedding details. Lately I'm doing all sorts of second-guessing. For instance:

• Colors. I haven't seen any swoon-worthy shoes in coral or peach, and the idea of white shoes is so very blah. (Let's not even discuss Dyeables, and I know I can find decent metallics but that's not exciting me right now, either.) The shoe dilemma has me second-guessing our entire color plan. What if I should be using hues that represent the ocean? Don't I need a darker complementary color that's not in the same color family? These shoes are worth turning the entire wedding blue and green, for instance. They're that gorgeous. What about blue-ish and peach/orange? What about navy blue? I could be just as happy with casual blue suits for the guys as I am with khaki ones. There are loads of fabulous hot pink shoes to choose from, as well. So are we back to pink and orange, then? Or do I stick with my plan and just wear the blue shoes as a "something blue" even if they don't match the rest of the wedding? Of course, my absolute favorite color, apple green, is still out of contention as a primary color because I feel like it's too non-beachy. Sigh...

• Officiant. Our top-secret officiant plan might be off. Now what to do? Go with an officiant who's been recommended but who still doesn't know us? That feels so generic and out of synch with our creative ceremony/vow ideas, but we might have to change course.
  

• The Dress. I thought I found my dress a month or so ago, and since I'm such an early bird I'm taking advantage of an October trunk show to order it, when I'll get a discount. But that gives me all sorts of time to question it. What if it's not the right dress? What if I should be trying on dresses every week until then to be sure? What if I end up wishing I'd gone with something fun and tea-length, or a different material, or a different neckline? What if it photographs badly? What about how I wanted the dress to zip up effortlessly and casually and feel confident enough not to wear steel trappings underneath? Is that only possible if I'm in the gym 15 hours a week until May? And what about Trevor's insistence that I not get all "crazy bride shrink-down" on him?

• The Logistics. What if in the end our wedding is too much trouble for the people we really want to attend to get to? We're trying to make things easy for folks, but there's still extensive travel and expenses involved. What if all the rooms fill up too fast? What if the rental house coordination doesn't happen? What if everyone waits too long to plan it (despite our early Save the Dates) and it becomes too much for them to deal with?

Ahhh! I want my clarity back! :-)

Shoe porn

Louboutin Crystal-Trimmed Sandals