Ever since I have been involved with Hill City Bride and whenever I talk about it with my mom, she tells me to write a post on wedding shoes. I thought it was a great idea (but have been procrastinating), so I began researching the origination of wedding shoes and how it has become modernized throughout the years.
Did you know that Catherine De Medici, who was married in the 1500′s, was the first bride to wear high heels down the aisle? Therefore, she was the trendsetter for wearing heels, but of course brides have their unique preference on their wedding shoes.
My great grandmother, Thelma Bristow Milby, also known as Memama, was married October 2nd, 1932, and she wore a velvet blue high heel pump. My grandmother, Joyce Milby Green, also known as Mamoi, wore white ballerina heels and my mother, Vicki Green White (yes, this is her true maiden name and married name … she changed colors!), wore white linen shoes with three inch heels. But now, almost 30 years since my mom got married, there are all kinds of shoes that are worn, but clearly the popular shoe of back when was high heels.
Everyone has heard the saying that the bride has to wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in their shoe.” But the sixpence in their shoe part is sometimes left out of the saying. Brides of Old England created this tradition by tucking coins into their shoe on their wedding day, which symbolized good luck. I know of recent brides that still follow that tradition. My mother who was married in April of 1984 tucked that year’s penny in her white linen high heel wedding shoes.
Nowadays, brides choose among all types of shoes for their wedding day, and some make their own style and do not really stick to the traditions of back when.
My mother attended a wedding recently that the bride wanted to go out of the bubble and create her own style of wearing Converse tennis shoes due to her love of Converse, but the deciding factor to wear these non-traditional shoes were her fear of falling in heels. The groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen also wore converse. This bride customized her and her future husband’s (now husband) shoes with each others’ initials on the back side of the shoe. Thanks, Kyrstin and Benjy, for wearing converse just in time for my wedding shoe posting!
I have also seen brides who choose to make their wedding a country western theme or something to that nature, and they choose wear cowgirl boots, which I think is a cute touch for a country style wedding. The popular country music singer who recently got married, Miranda Lambert, wore pearl white cowgirl boots on her wedding day.
If you are going to have a beach wedding and want to go barefoot, there are elegant and unique ways to make your feet look pretty!
When beginning to think of this post, I utilized social media (Facebook) and created a poll for previous brides and future brides to see where their style was or will be in shoes, and the outcome was interesting. The shoe that won the most votes was the trend that was set many many years ago … the high heel! Coming in close was a ballet flat. Then, at least one bride wants to wear flip flops or go barefoot on her wedding day.
On a personal note, on my wedding day a few years down the road, I want to wear a ballet flat. No matter what you chose, I wish you a wonderful (and comfy) wedding day!
