Outside of the Shoe Box

Many brides are thinking outside the box these days. Weddings with very personal and individual themes are more popular than ever. A bride recently commissioned me to make her a pair of shoes in red for her November wedding. I thought, "How bold! Getting married in a red dress". However it turned out she was wearing an ivory dress. Then I REALLY was impressed...I thought, "How bold! To wear red lace shoes with red crystals and red organza bows with an ivory dress was definitely thinking outside the box. I was really excited by this revelation. It means brides are declaring their independence. This bride was receiving pressure from her mother to change her mind about the red shoes, But, NO... she was having her red shoes, just as she had always imagined them.

When I finished making them, I put them into a lovely silk shoe bag and placed them into a keepsake presentation box that I had covered with red satin, lace and braid trim. No one can say that her wedding did not reflect her personality and her individual taste.

I also recently made shoes for a young bride in New Jersey whose wedding is in September next year. She wanted her shoes in rose gold and ivory with a rose design being prominent. The most exciting part for me was that she sent along a piece of lace from her mother's wedding gown from 1982, and some lace and ten tiny satin buttons from her grandmother's wedding gown from 1949 that she hoped I could incorporate into the design. It was just lovely working with these materials.

I worked the pieces of lace into the designed easily and placed the buttons in the back of the shoes so that they ran down in a straight line in the way they would likely have run down the back of her grans wedding dress in 1949. They will definitely be a keepsake she will cherish for generations.