Although most full length bridal gowns will cover your wedding shoes for the majority of your wedding day, you can be sure there will always be a toe on show during that crucial photo. Making sure your bridal shoes match or complement your dress is crucial; you’ll have spent so much on your wedding outfit it would be a shame to let your footwear spoil it.
Many brides are concerned with getting the right colour shoes to match their gowns, but what about the wedding shoe material? Here are some of the ways you can ensure your bridal shoes work with your gown, and don’t clash with it.
Use your dress designer
The easiest way to find shoes that complement your dress is to get them from the same designer. That way you can be sure that the material used is exactly the same, and the style should work seamlessly with the gown as well. The downside of this is that shoes made by wedding gown designers can be very expensive.
Get extra dress material
If your wedding gown is made from an unusual material, see if your designer or bridal store can supply you with some of that material. You can have your bridal shoes made from scratch using that material, or have a plain pair that you have bought professionally covered. Again this may be expensive, but you will be able to shop around for a good supplier, and it should cost less than buying shoes from your dress designer.
Carry a swatch of dress material
You should aim to buy your bridal shoes in between choosing your dress and your first fitting. This way you can ask for a small sample of the dress material to take with you when you are shoe shopping, and you will have your shoes for the fitting to determine the length of the dress. It is easy to forget exactly how material looks unless it is in front of you, so carrying a swatch will help you to get a better match.
Choose matt shoes
Your ideal might be to find shoes that match your dress material exactly, but if that isn’t possible, try to go for shoes made from a material which is slightly more matt than your dress material. If your shoes have more of a sheen than your dress they will stand out like a sore thumb, especially when the sun is shining.
Use similar accessories
Shoe accessories are currently big news, and if you can’t find shoes in exactly the same material as your dress, you can disguise that by using accessories in the same material. Have miniature fabric corsages made in your dress material, or accessorise your shoes with crystals or pearls, depending on the detail on your dress.
Dare to be different
If you can’t find shoes that completely match your wedding dress, and the ones that are close just aren’t close enough, then why not try a completely different material. There are some beautiful bridal shoes available in leather, cotton, and other materials, and if you choose something entirely different to your wedding dress it won’t look as if you were trying to match them in the first place.
