Candace's Wedding

The loveliness that was Candace's wedding, for your viewing pleasure:


Things to note:

• The wedding ceremony and reception were both held at Waters Mill, in Dahlonega, GA, an all-inclusive facility that was built with weddings in mind. The ceremony was outside, and afterward we all headed to the reception building only a few yards away. About 100 guests were in attendance.
• The bridesmaid dresses had pockets!
  
• When it was time for the bride and groom to leave, the staff at Waters Mill handed each guest a sparkler, and we held them up and lined up on the sidewalk as the newly married couple ran underneath an archway of fireworks to their get-away vehicle. What a cute idea in lieu of rice/bubbles for when it's dark out!

All in all, it was a great wedding. Congratulations to Candace and Todd!

More Shoes!

Continuing with our recent theme of footwear, I wanted to share with you all Andrea's revelation. She was having trouble finding a shoe she was comfortable wearing--she wanted a heel, but not something too high; she wanted it to be closed-toe (October wedding, possibility of outdoor photos) but still cute. This morning I got an email with her solution:

Dance shoes!

Of course, we're not talking ballet slippers here (although that could be a fun option). Andrea scoured the internet looking for ballroom-style dance shoes and this is one of the pairs she found:
The advantages are obvious--they're going to be comfortable because they're made for dancing! These are made by Aris Allen as a reproduction of a 1930s dress pump and complement Andrea's dress quite well in my opinion (the dress has a vintage feel to it, with a boat neckline and a triple tiered lace skirt). They are $74.95 and available at dancestore.com, a site which specializes in swing dance shoes. They are "vegan" shoes, but neither Andrea nor I knows what that means!

Some other websites that sell dance shoes are Best Ballroom Shoes and DiscountBallroom.com, but a simple Google search will turn up many other options.

Happy Accidents

Lily, you inspired me. Admittedly, my wedding shoes are not colorful, nor detailed, but I'd had them bookmarked on Zappos.com, and I decided now was the time to buy them, because, well, I didn't want to keep reading patent law cases.
I selected these shoes from Zappos.com because they were everything I had in mind--simple, white, tall, peep-toed--for my wedding shoes. Now, I know it does not sound ideal to be buying shoes from the internet without being able to try them on. But here's the real advantage of shopping on Zappos or any online shoe retailer, which I think outweighs the risk of purchasing something without trying on--they have customer reviews!

The reviews for this shoe--Cora by Calvin Klein--were almost all from women who had bought the same shoes for their weddings. And the comfort ratings by these ladies were all positive, even though the shoes have 4.5" heels.

Alas, when I went to buy them today, they were out of my size!! Oh no!! In a panic (for God knows what reason, I mean, I've got more than nine months to go here), I Googled the designer and style name, and found a site called ShopWiki. ShopWiki lists all the online retailers with that product, including Piperlime, a retailer selling my shoe--in my size!--for $40 less! With tax (shipping was free!), the total came to about $63. What a deal! And what a happy shoe ending!

Wedding Shoes

Hello everyone!

I was doodling around today on the internet, and found this lovely pair of shoes on Zappos. They are called Roma, and made by rsvp. This pair is light blue in color (fulfilling the traditional "something blue" requirement!), but they also come in champagne and black.

Roma by r.s.v.p.

I love the beaded detailing on the heel, and think that they would make elegant wedding shoes for a wide range of wedding styles. They would add a bit of subtle romance to a minimalistic, contemporary wedding, and perfectly complement a country-style wedding. Plus they are not outrageously expensive, and could be worn for dressy summer occasions!

Let me know what you think of them!