Friday, April 22, 2011

dyed to match shoes: the epic saga

Possibly the most tedious wedding duty ever.

They are a clever idea and a pretty way to match the dresses, but really, who's going to wear those again?

I did try to convince the bride that we should all wear black shoes, or white shoes, since we all have those, and they definitely would look cute with watermelon pink dresses. But no.

So I initially decided that I would buy these shoes from Payless, and have them dyed at a store in Buffalo that my mother-in-law said was pretty great.
The style is called Jackie, and it's available in a plain white satin that I could have dyed to be the correct color. I love it. However, it's $45, and I wasn't really sure about the cost of taking it somewhere to be dyed (probably another $15 or so). That sounded like a lot to me.

But then I fell for this shoe at David's Bridal, the Marah style:

I really liked this shoe, and figured that I could trust David's to dye their shoe the correct color. It was $59 plus $5 shipping (still expensive) and I ordered my usual size (5.5) because the reviews seemed to indicate that would be fine. Unfortunately, the shoe was at least a whole size too big! My toes didn't even show in the "peep" toe area. At that point, the size 5 was sold out, and would probably have been too big. I was so frustrated! Their return policy is that any items ordered online can't be returned in store, and they don't pay return shipping or refund initial shipping. I was out $10 in shipping, all told.

I didn't have very many options left. I went with my mom to a bigger mall on one of my free weekends, and we stopped in at Payless. I still really liked the shoe, but couldn't guarantee that it would be shipped in time or that it would be the best option price-wise. We called Dyed to Match, and they had just closed for the day - seemed early for a Saturday! I was disappointed to be leaving the mall without ordering the shoes, and felt like I had wasted the day and the gas to get there, except for the pleasant time spent with my mom.

My next week of school was very busy, but I carved out time on Tuesday to get to Dyed to Match. This was it - buy and dye. I had to pick a shoe, purchase it right then, and go home so I could get back for my Tuesday night class. The clerk was very nice, and showed me to the sale room so that I could get the best deal. There was a whole shelf of shoes in my size, but most of them were in a distinctly 80's or 90's style. No thank you. Not for my $40-$50. I did find two shoes there that I thought might work, and sadly, both were 4" heels. Painful! I ended up choosing a $50 size 5 shoe with a peep toe and sling back:Here they are. The color is a little brighter than in the photo, but I didn't want to blow out the contrast. The shoe seems like it's actually a little big, still, even though it's a half size smaller than what I usually wear! The sling back flips off my heel like it's a flip-flop sandal... I think I can manage, though. They do look nice. The funniest thing is that they're actually a part of the Unforgettable Moments line for Payless that I was looking at before.

And this is the saga of the dyeable shoe. I'll wear it once, for less than three hours, and then I'll switch to cute white sandals or flip flops, like these from Old Navy:
Super cute. I already have these metallic flip flops in silver and bronze from last year's sale, and white is always a welcome addition. Besides that, they come in size 5 and are bound to be a comfy switch after the 4" heels. Alternately, I could wear the black Nina heels I already have...

...the saga continues.

No comments: