Finding my bridal shoes was something that intimidated me constantly. I take fashion personally on every level. Being a stylist I take great pride in every detail of any outfit. You can’t see them at all, so why should it matter. Well, it does. It matters a whole heap of a lot to someone like me who overthinks what shoes to wear to downstairs bodega. The shoes I’m was going to marry the love of my life in couldn’t just be any old pair. They had to be special. And just like the quest for my wedding dress, the hunt for the perfect bridal shoe commenced after the date was set.

When my fashion fairy godmother (NYC sample sale queen) Michelle told me there would be a Jimmy Choo sample sale I didn’t really consider it an option for my wedding shoes. You never really know ahead of time when it will be, exactly what will be there, and how much luck you’ll have. Michelle told me to get my caboose to the Jimmy Choo sale on day one, and to make sure I was one of the first girls in line.

Being an anxious bride, and with high hopes, on May 16th I went to stand in line for the Jimmy Choo sale FOUR hours early. That’s right. I happily stood in line for F-O-U-R hours. For shoes. Not just any shoes though. Specialty shoes that need to be ordered in advance from a Choo boutique. The sale opened at 10 am, so naturally I hit Starbucks at the crack of dawn and I was there at 6 am. All the tables were organized by size, on large fold out tables. A bit of light caught my eye while I was scrambling through tables of different sizes. I’m not sure if it was the delirium or sunlight finally breaking through the clouds, but the light bouncing off of crystals from a pair of shoes nearly blinded me. With eager hands I scooped up the shoes and looked at the bottom. They were my exact size- a 36.5.

The strange thing about trying on shoes at this particular sample sale was that they were all zipped tied together. After finally finding a staff member to cut them for me, I tried them on and stood around in said shoes for about ten whole minutes. All of the sample sale staff ooh’ed and ahh’ed while I indulged in looking in a mirror for far too long.

They were the only shoes I bought that day, and the only ones I wanted. I had never seen this particular style before (which was surprising to me for some reason) and even though nobody on Earth truly needs a pair of hot fix crystal ostrich feather shoes. I still felt like I did because when I put them on I felt more like a bride.

After expressing to a few people my delight upon finding my shoes, I had a mixed bag of reactions. Complete and utter happiness from my sweet find, and an attitude of “why bother”. When wearing a long gown, you can’t see the shoes. However, that’s why the shoes are so important to me. I wanted to literally walk into marriage on the right foot. And I did. You may not have seen them the whole night, but I knew they were there, and that little touch makes every step feel like magic.