Recommend some good wedding heels?

November 11, 2014 11:28 PM

AskMetafilter has some shoe experts. I'd love your help finding comfortable, stylish heels to wear for my wedding and wedding reception. Hit me with your best bridal shoe suggestions! The wedding is a bit rustic and vintage, so if you can think of heels that are a bit different but might work for a formal ceremony, I'd love to hear!

I'm really hoping to find shoes that are comfortable enough to wear for 8 hours. Some ideas I've had about what might be fun include:

-- a somewhat vintage style to match my lace dress?
-- and/or a satin ribbon that wraps around the ankle?
-- matches the sort of rustic / barn-like setting? (Our look is closer to old-world rustic elegance than "country barn hoe-down" though, so I've ruled out cowboy boots.)
-- they don't have to be white (though I would probably prefer something that is fairly light in color: taupe or a dusty pastel would work)

It would be an incredible bonus to find shoes that I'd want to wear after the wedding.

Ideally these shoes will also be shipped to me quickly, with cheap or free returns, and cost less than $200.

posted by slidell to Shopping (18 answers total)

These should not be your first option, but if you run out of time the Calvin Klein Dolly is a classic, sophisticated pump that will never ever go out of style. It also happens to be the most comfortable heel I have ever owned, including super high-end designer shoes that are famed for being comfortable as well as absurdly expensive. I once walked four miles in under an hour in them and didn't even feel it. I really don't know what it is about them—they have some cushioning under the ball of the foot, but no more than other inexpensive shoes. They have only a moderate heel but it's narrow. There's no reason for them to be so comfortable, it's LIKE MAGIC and I own the shoe in an embarrassing number of colors that I wear with basically everything all the time.

If you go this route, of course the shipping is fast, returns are free, and the shoes are emphatically NOT expensive. Perhaps the white is of interest to you? I don't know how you feel about the wooden heel but I kind of like it for a nod to the rustic vibe. You could dress them up with pretty vintage-y shoe clips if they feel too plain.
posted by peachfuzz at 11:40 PM on November 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure what you mean by "quickly", but if you can handle a few weeks' lead time... Last year I ordered custom wedding shoes from Shoes of Prey - 3.5" stiletto peep-toes (purple silk with a cream lace overlay), and wore them pretty much continuously for ten hours, with no troubles (I don't ordinarily wear stilettos, just flats and occasionally wedges). They cost $AU280, and took around four weeks to be made and shipped.

Obviously since they're an online store, you don't get to try before you buy, but! I ordered mine around 12 weeks out - when they arrived, 4 weeks later (8 weeks out from the wedding), they were too large (I am normally a size AU 7.5, but I ordered a size AU 8... turns out I should have just ordered my normal 7.5!), so they made and shipped a brand new pair free of charge, which arrived 4 weeks later (4 weeks out). They were happy for me to keep the original, too-large pair whilst the new ones were being made, so that I could attend dress fittings etc., and I returned the originals only after the new ones arrived and I was happy. All in all an extremely pleasant experience, and I recommend them to anyone looking for shoes! I was really hesitant ordering online (I am notoriously picky with shoes), but it ended really well for me.

If you're not keen on a company based in Australia, I've heard Milk and Honey is quite good too (although it looks like they're now part of a company called Upper Street).
posted by snap, crackle and pop at 1:12 AM on November 12, 2014

I wore SuperTrash heels in my wedding. They were very comfortable, although I did have to exchange mine for one size larger than I usually wear because of the small toe box. Mine actually came with a matching pair of ballet flats, which I changed into after the reception. I'm not sure if that's true of all of their styles, but it's a nice bonus.
posted by neushoorn at 1:27 AM on November 12, 2014

I think it would honestly help hugely to see the dress :/
posted by DarlingBri at 2:00 AM on November 12, 2014

Response by poster: It's an Allure 2561. I'm not wearing the optional sash. I fell for it because it was a nice heavy, simple lace dress. I'm still deciding whether to keep the lace scallop at the bottom or make it a straight line. The bottom two pictures best capture how it looks to me, but also try to look at one of the pictures that gives you a close-up of the lace. In the alterations process, they're making it just a bit more A-line and making the bust a little more of a sweetheart.
posted by slidell at 2:15 AM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well I googled this to high heaven recently and came up with these. I didn't get them in gold but beige, but I wish I had got seafoam. In the end I didn't wear them in favour of a brightly coloured pair of heels, but these were cheeeeeep and also VERY COMFY and boy did I wish I had worn them after my feet burned.

I can't say whether they'd go particularly with your dress but they hit every other criteria, perhaps?
posted by scuza at 2:53 AM on November 12, 2014

I can't speak to their comfort, but Modcloth has a lot of cute vintage-aesthetic shoes at very reasonable prices. Here are a couple of searches that might help sort through the offerings:

Vintage shoes (you can further refine by color, size, etc.)

Heels in white, pink, coral, grey, etc.

Same as above, but for flats

"Wedding shoes" search

I noticed these flats with an ankle ribbon detail that you might like for changing into later if you wear heels and your feet get tired. Anyway, it's a fun site to browse, and prices are low enough that you could get a couple of options.
posted by taz at 2:53 AM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

I would go for vintage pee-toes personally. 1, 2, 3.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:07 AM on November 12, 2014

Mrs PenDevil bought a pair of ballroom dancing shoes, had them recovered in fabric to match her dress and then broke them in for a few weeks before the wedding. Says they were super comfy.
posted by PenDevil at 3:22 AM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Check out Anthropologie's wedding site. It looks like they have a lot of shoes that might work.
posted by whoaali at 4:00 AM on November 12, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mohops. I wore them for my wedding, my brother's wedding, my sister's wedding. They have TOTALLY been worth the cost for me because I got them a custom size for my weird feet.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 5:30 AM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

I would suggest Victorian/Edwardian-style lace up boots, and I suggest you get about a two-inch heel that's reasonably sturdy if you want to stay comfortable on your feet for 8 hours. I definitely do not recommend you go over 2 inches for comfort's sake, and nobody should ever wear a heel higher than 3 inches so don't go there unless you want to be in soooooooo much pain.

Anello & Davide will almost certainly have something you want, boots or not. I am linking to the Theatrical section because everything "Bridal" is always overpriced, but they do, also, have a Bridal section.

Whatever fabric shoes you get, you can dye them to your preferred colour after the wedding and get leather sole and heel treatments added so that you can (carefully) wear them to walk around in.
posted by tel3path at 5:34 AM on November 12, 2014 [3 favorites]

For a fun twist on vintage styling, I love Irregular Choice
posted by Mchelly at 6:58 AM on November 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Re-mix Vintage shoes, down in LA. I did end up spending a little bit in shipping/returns to get the size right, but they were really helpful on the phone and very fast in the shipping. I won't know until early December how they do for a full evening, but I bought a pair in part b/c I kept seeing swing dancers wearing them, and so surely they must be comfortable, right? The pics in the listing don't show all the colors available for each pair, you have to click on the individual shoe's page.
posted by snowymorninblues at 8:33 AM on November 12, 2014

I didn't discover this until after I got married, but there are stores that specialize in shoes for dancers, including some very beautiful heels. Because dancers really need the maximum possible comfort, I bet these would be really good and intend to buy some at some point.
posted by Maias at 5:03 PM on November 12, 2014

You're probably going to need something with a more substantial heel, so you don't sink into the ground.

Some Modcloth options:
These could be tied with a ribbon for a more dressy/romantic look.

My friend just wore these in her outdoor vintage wedding.

Here's a pair of Badgley Mischka wedge heels that look similar to the spike heels I had. This style is pretty cute and maybe even a little more vintagey.

Unusual:
How about these Fluevogs? They're not pumps, but they're cute :)

Or maybe Swedish Hasbeens, in a metallic?

Cydwoqs are kind of out there, but they're really cool and I guarantee you nobody will have them! How about Market or Rotate.

If you look for shoes for dancers, their soles are thin and slick, meant for indoor use only. Some of them are very flexible and don't have a shank to support them. You can get a street sole added on, but many won't have the support you need.
posted by Madamina at 6:23 PM on November 12, 2014

Response by poster: Wow -- you guys know some amazing places to buy shoes! I am now in love with so many of these options.

To answer the question about timing, I was shooting to order shoes today and have them arrive by Monday to stay on track with dress fittings, so I am (sadly) limited to options that can easily be ordered online and ship out immediately to California.

But your suggestions have been hugely helpful. Here's what I've got on the list to try on: ballroom dancing shoes 1 or 2; Vintage by David Tutera, and then some basic ones from Zappos like Nina Forbes.

Sadly, Seychelles Marvel, Liebling Grace, and several of the Modcloth options are not available in my size. Even before the comment above about Cydwoq, I had already spent awhile trying to figure out what the most "bridal" equivalent of these Cydwoq booties was, but gave up (and was silently grateful not to fall in love with a $300 pair). I also tried a bit to find something like the "ladies twin bar shoe" pictured on Annellos & David's site here to no avail.

Thanks for everything. If anyone has further comments or new ideas, I'd happily listen.
posted by slidell at 9:36 PM on November 12, 2014

You might want to check out American Duchess historical footwear. (I think these are gorgeous, but unfortunately they are pre-order, and take 1-2 weeks; all the other ones I looked at were in stock, though.) Here's their shipping info.
posted by taz at 4:49 AM on November 13, 2014 [3 favorites]