As many of you know I recently got engaged! It’s so fun to personally walk though what I have walked so many of my brides through. It’s also fun to do fun things with my mom like pick out my dress, look for shoes, and much more! (I can’t share too many details with you because my future Mr. likes to read my blog, hi hunny!) So, last night I was pinning on my Pinterest page and low and behold it was like an extra ray of sunshine came from a gorgeous pair of Christian Louboutin’s! I knew I had to hunt them down and have them for my special day. To be honest I’ve never had a pair of Louboutin’s and I definitely do not want to order the wrong size so this morning I went to Twitter with sizing questions. Of course the shoe fairy failed to make every shoe fit true to size, and what really is my shoe size? So, I’ve come up with a few tips for finding shoes for your special day.

1. Get your dress first. This will allow you to see what style would go best with your attire. If your dress is satin and form fitted you may not want shoes with an obnoxious bow – it may get caught on the front of your gown when you walk.
2. Research! Do you want flats, boots, strappy heals, sling back heels, platforms? Do you want a color, texture or pattern?
3. Try your shoes on! As I said the shoe fairy did not make every shoe fit the same. While some sites like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus have size guides you want to make sure your shoes fit and are comfortable. You are the bride and you will not get to sit down for very long on your wedding day. If you will be dancing well into the night you want to make sure that beauty isn’t too much pain.
4. Take your shoes to your dress fitting. Nothing is worse than using a pair of shoes at the dress store because they “look close to your shoes” and chopping off too much of your dress.

Just like your dress, jewelry and bouquet your shoes are as much of your wedding day look as anything else. Don’t rush into a decision, order them off line to receive them just in the knick of time – all for them to fit wrong.

Happy shoe shopping!

Images via: Miles Witt Boyer, Josh McCullock, Jose Villa, Jose Villa, Ace Cuervo, Candi Coffman, Candi Coffman

With recent news of Ralph Lauren’s Daughter, Dylan, tying the knot of course we were curious about her gown. Designed by her father, who “is said to have consulted his former protegée and grande dame of bridalwear Vera Wang on the design of the dress,” I quickly fell in love. The August issue of Vogue is not yet on news stands, but I took Dylan in her dress and created a gorgeous inspiration board on how I would have styled the event. I would start with this gorgeous 16.04 carat, oval diamond ring, they are a girls best friend, right. Gold is a gorgeous staple and perfect for details on the invitation, china and votive holders. I have a new found love bow ties, they are a southern staple after all, so I would have the gentlemen wear them in pink. I would match the ruffles of the cake to the ruffles on her train, decorate the tables and create bouquets out of peonies, garden roses and soft textures. Last, but not least I would finish off Dylan’s bridal look with these beautiful Badgley Mischka heels. We will have to wait to see what the affair was really like in the next issue of Vogue, but until then what do you think?

Images via: Sweet and Saucy Shop, Betty Broccoli, eloge de l’art, the cherry blossom girl, Daily Mail, mad nicolas, weddings-decor