Soul Search

I received a voicemail last week- my dress is in a month ahead of schedule. While I am excited about it, I haven't called the shop back yet because they want me to schedule my first fitting. For which I need my shoes. Which I don't yet have.

I posted earlier about what I am looking for in regards to shoes, and when I was in Cleveland, decided to take a trip to my local shopping bazaar (read: mall) with my mom and try on every red shoe in sight that was even remotely close to what I was looking for.

First stop was Nordstrom's. First, that store really does have phenomenal customer service. As you may have noticed in my last post, most of the shoes that I really like are closed in the back. Turns out that I absolutely.can.not.wear.those.shoes. There is a reason why most of the heels I own are slingbacks or strappy sandals. Stephen, the most understanding and patient salesman ever, carefully explained to me why those shoes will not work for me. I have narrow feet- not only does this mean that it is narrow by my toes, but it also means that my heel is narrow. So me heel will consistently fall out of gorgeous D'Orsay heels, unless they either come in narrow or comfortably fit in a size 9.5 instead of a 10.

::sighs:: And there are such pretty shoes out there that really would work if my feet weren't so darn narrow.


MAXSTUDIO Savannah
Why can't you be a slingback or a strappy sandal? You would have been perfect, but you have that darned heel issue. I (surprisingly) even liked the bow in front.


Nine West Jojus
Gorgeous, but there is no way that you will work, what with my extraordinarily narrow heels.

I also learned that Nina shoes don't have enough arch support for me, and that Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes tend to pinch me in awkward places.

Wicked Rich, you are gorgeous, but I see where you get the "wicked" in your name. You pinched my feet in the 30 seconds I walked around in you, leaving deep red marks that lasted much longer than you did on my feet..

You, Kate Spade's Elisabeth, are a very pretty shoe, but are just too expensive.

I have combed the recommended online stores (thanks for the suggestions!), and am still having trouble finding what I am looking for. I had already planned to get custom ballroom shoes, since Calvin and I have been taking dance lessons and really enjoy them, and tanya2s suggested in my earlier post that I check out http://www.bestballroomshoes.com. Turns out, you can also get shoes made with a rubber soul instead of suede- so I could order two pairs of shoes through them, one with a suede soul for dancing, and the other with a rubber soul for ordinary wear. At the same time, I hate to risk ordering custom dance shoes that might not fit, since they are non-returnable.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for places to look? And how early do you really need to go for dress fittings? It seems that as the holidays draw closer, the number of red satin or silk heels will increase. Do I really need to go in for fittings 6 months in advance, or will 4 months be sufficient?