T-minus 365 Days

This time next year it will be our wedding day.

Jon was quite surprised when I told him it was only a year away. But Jon was also quite surprised when he discovered he was turning 26 this year, not 25 as he'd previously thought, and that next week was November, so perhaps he's not the greatest litmus test of how quickly it feels like this has come around.

This feels like a good place for a gif, but I don't really have one that suits this situation, so have this instead. I imagine this is what happened in Jon's brain when I told him how far away the wedding was.

That said, having discovered that the wedding is now only a year away, Jon has become somewhat less curmudgeonly in the discussion of wedding planning. Nothing like a bit of pressure, gently applied, to grease the wheels of cooperation.


What we have done so far
- Church
- Reception venue and food
- Photographer
- Dress
- My wedding ring


What we have to do
- Flowers, because flowers
- Cake, because cake
- Music, because otherwise we might have to talk to people
- Jon's wedding ring so he has something else to lose around the house other than his watch
- Jon's suit so he is not naked
- Bridesmaids dresses so they are also not naked
- I should probably have some shoes too, don't want to turn up to church looking like that episode of Sex and the City where Carrie gets mugged for her shoes.*

 Can you believe no-one had made a gif of this already? I'd expect one with the caption "Somebody stop him, he stole my strappy sandals!" But nope. For shame, internet. For shame.

*Yes, I am thoroughly ashamed of myself for making a reference to Sex and the City, however I only know about it because I worked at Blockbuster whilst I was at University and got free rentals, and was alone for like three weeks over the summer, so I watched it all, but only because it was free.

What we have to do, continued
- We should probably work out who we are inviting to this shindig at some point
- And I guess we should make and send them invitations so they know where and when they should turn up
- Also maybe we should make a table plan so they know where they are sitting for dinner, and so no vegetarians end up with a very meaty meal
- and there is probably some other stuff we should do as well, but when I get to this point in the list I start to drift a bit and get distracted.


Part of the reason I get lost towards the end of the list is because then it all becomes variables and things that will be longer and more complex to do. I want to get things done, but I want to get the quick-and-easy things done first. Flowers, boom. Cake, boom. DJ, boom boom shake the room. That sort of thing.



Basically I want to put off the difficult bits for as long as possible. Procrastination makes the world go round! Eventually!

If the Shoe Fits

When I was in school, I hated shoe shopping. It was the most boring thing in the world to me. My mother had to bribe me with sweeties for the yearly School Shoes trip.

This is because I had learned at an early age that the pretty shoes would not fit me. Because I had fat feet. Short, fat feet. So those beautiful shoes with the unicorn on? Either too tight or too long. The ones with the secret garden trail in pink stitching and the pretty little sparkles? Would have mangled my feet if my mother had listened to me instead of watching the way I hobbled around the shop in agony.

So I wrote off shoe shopping for my entire school career, pretty much. And then I went to University, and discovered that in the decade-and-a-bit since my traumatic shoe shopping experiences as a child, shoes had changed! They fit me better! And were prettier!

I also discovered that I have quite frankly the most ridiculous taste in shoes ever. And also pretty expensive taste.

It started when I discovered Irregular Choice.

                                                                                                                            (personal picture)

I bought these beauties shortly after discovering them. They've got a Unicorn on the sole. A UNICORN. They're basically Crack in shoe form.

And it was a slippery slope from there for my bank balance and shoe collection.

So thusly, when it came to start looking for wedding shoes, it was almost a certainty that I would find something ridiculous and love it.


THE RULES:

- No peep toes. I don't like looking at my feet.
- No slingbacks. I need all the support I can get.
- No pointy toes. I do not want Witch-feet.
- Stiletto heels. Everything else makes me look clunky.

Most importantly:

No White Satin.

Satin stains, and I'm just the sort of person to manage to stain it. And when would I ever wear white satin shoes again? It would almost be like throwing money into a black hole. No, I want shoes that I will wear again and again, because otherwise why bother? I found T.L.C. Creations.

More specifically, I saw these shoes on their facebook page:

(images from T.L.C Creations)

The lace! The colour! The music script! I was in love!

And then I read the story behind them:

"The bride lost her father a few years ago. She said she wished she had something of her father's to send us to use in the design. I asked if there were any letters or cards that he might have given her with his personal message written in them. She had a few of them so we were able to include this expression from her father in the design of her shoes. It says "I am very proud of you, love Dad". Now she will have part of her father with her when she walks down the aisle."

Well, if I ever needed any more encouragement to buy from them, that was it. I was straight there!

Their website is full of whimsical designs, combining sparkle and lace with beautiful textures - they even have a range with the artwork from an early edition of Alice in Wonderland. They could customise! They could adapt! I was in a whirl of amazing shoe-possibilities - could I get some with some of the text from Pride and Prejudice on? Could I get some with illustrations from Winnie The Pooh? - until I looked at the prices and my dream was cut tragically short.

Shoes are tragically not playing a significant part in our budget. And quality and customisation come with a hefty price tag. So T.L.C were dropped from my mental wedding plan as quickly as they'd arrived in it.

But that doesn't stop me looking.


Do you have a pair of dream wedding shoes? Did you manage to get them, or did you have to compromise and get something else?