shoes for the girls.

While I don't always think its necessary for bridemaids to wear matching shoes, in the case of my own bridesmaids this is the route we opted to go. I was worried that different color dresses along with different types of shoes would look a little too busy. Realizing that not all girls have the same taste in shoes, I determined my criteria for choosing a pair that all six girls would like:

1. They have to be black. As much as brides think that their girls are going to wear those purple heels again after the wedding, they probably won't. Though still not guaranteed, there's a much higher possibility they'll wear the black ones again.

2. Simple design. Nothing with sparkles, patterns, etc. This also lends itself to wearability, and helps when you're searching for a pair of shoes that six girls with very different styles are going to like.

3. Preferably leather, not satin. This goes back to that wearability thing. They'll probably have more occasions where they can wear leather shoes over satin ones.

4. Affordable. My girls are not made of money, and even if they were I wouldn't expect them to be spending it on matching shoes for my wedding anyway!

I sent out an email to my bridesmaids asking if they had any suggestions for black shoes (I did not give them all of the criteria, to see what kind of shoes they would choose). Here are a few of the options they had picked out.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

After listing all of the options, the girls told me which were their favorites and we went from there. Can you guess which pair we ended up choosing? I'll give you a hint...they follow all of the criteria listed above!

We went with #2! They were on sale last week for 50% off, so they all got their shoes for under $30!

I think they'll look really cute with their dresses, and hopefully they're practical enough to be worn again. One more thing to check off the infamous list of bridal to-dos!

Did you opt for matching shoes for your 'maids?