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You know how I wore those 4-inch pumps last weekend? Yeah, I still can't totally feel two of my toes. Those shoes were so cute, but fuck you guys: TOO TALL! I heard from one Offbeat Bride who said that she wore heels on her wedding day and couldn't feel a couple of her toes until she got back from the honeymoon. NooOoOooo, friends! Noooo! Save the toes!
In the spirit of non-numb toes, this week I'm going to focus on low-heeled shoes. A few flats, but mostly low heels with nothing over 2″ high. Enough to get a little lift, but not so much that you can't feel your toes. Join me?
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I heard from one Offbeat Bride who said that she wore heels on her wedding day and couldn’t feel a couple of her toes until she got back from the honeymoon.
Hey, that’s me! XD My heels actually weren’t that high. They were comparable to the white shoes, second row on the left. I think the numbness was mostly from standing up, walking and dancing for hours and hours during the party.
All sorts of things can cause the toe numbsies! Most often, it’s just the way your foot curves to accommodate the weight being pressed down on the front of your feet or to accommodate a narrow toe cap. You end up putting your weight right on the nerve or you cause swelling all around the nerve that sort of keeps it compressed.
For people who aren’t used to being in high heels, it happens pretty much straight away. For heel pros, it’s more of an over time thing or wearing the ONE wrong pair of shoes.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Even kitten heels are too much for me, though I can usually get away with wedges because my weight is more evenly distributed. The ones above look perfect for me!
The best at-home treatment is rest and avoiding heels, though you should always trust your doctor’s advice first. A bit of piggie pampering doesn’t hurt, either. If your toes go cold or unusually pale/blue, see your doctor right away–you may have a foot bone break or severely compressed nerve, which needs attention. If your numbness lasts more than a week, do make an appointment with your doctor to see if further action is needed (likely, they’ll suggest NSAIDs, rest and possibly alternating ice and heat, though your doctor may suggest seeing a podiatrist.)
It can totally be about the shoe rather than the heel height. Thinking I was covering all my potential pain bases, I wore a wide-toe, under 2″, chunky heel for my wedding, and to this day, over 15 years later, I still remember it as the worst pain from shoes I have ever experienced. I regularly wear heels well over 3 inches high, and I will try on any height shoe that looks awesome – nothing has caused me as much discomfort as those wedding shoes. Due to a planning snafu, where none of my day-after clothes made it to the hotel, I had to wear them the morning after the wedding (with my husband’s shorts and tee-shirt!), and I still remember sitting on the bed literally talking myself into working up the courage to put them on.
Yesssss!!! I would wear, like, 90% of these!
My shoes! I’m wearing the Just Prance shoes in honeydew (light green). They need stretched a bit for my big feet, but they’re so cute! Pretty jealous to see some people were able to get them for $20!
I got the sweetest 2.5 inch heels from ModCloth for our big day. They’re the perfect shade of cream/ivory, match my dress like something out of a fantasy and they’re MEGA comfortable. When I got them I trotted all over the house like a damn supermodel. They don’t even need any “Breaking in”! My fiance’ is only 5’8, a wee bit taller in dress shoes, and I’m 5’5″, his one wedding fashion request out of anything and everything he could have had a definite “no I don’t want this” in was “please don’t wear giant high heels like usual, I’d like it if we were close in height for photos and dancings sake!” Hahaha. They’re so dreamy. I gladly fulfilled his request. <3
Now if I only I could find some low heels that aren’t ugly and aren’t made of corpses =[
Some of these are really cute but virtually all leather.
http://m.dsw.com/shop/collection/search/results/Kelly%20and%20Katie/kelly+and+katie+casilda+pump/248069
I got these in green for my wedding.
Gabriella Rocha at Zappos has awesome low heel non leather shoes.
Lulus.com has a large selection of vegan shoes. Most have very high heels, IMO, but there are also some cute low/flat options. Here are a few:
http://www.lulus.com/products/mixx-shuz-nicki-nude-pointed-d-orsay-kitten-heels/83618.html
http://www.lulus.com/products/deby-6-silver-cutout-sequin-pointed-flats/105426.html
http://www.lulus.com/products/chinese-laundry-angelina-berry-purple-suede-d-orsay-kitten-heels/109226.html
I wore High Heels ( higher than I’ve ever worn, practiced walking quite a lot) for the ceremony and photos, and then switched out to a nice pair of Kitten Heels for the dancing etc. ! Felt like a million bucks the next day!
My shoes were probably about 2.5-3 inches. Not too bad, but, even though the heel wasn’t too bad, new shoes can be pure torchure the first time you wear them. What I did was I kept them looked at my desk at work and wore them around the office to break them in. This way, they weren’t going outside and getting dirty and I didn’t have to wear heels around the house (we don’t wear shoes in our homes in Canada). I don’t see customers at work so it really didn’t matter that I had bright white shoes that completely didn’t match my outfit lol. My coworkers understood! Anyway, this saved me! I was able to wear my shoes absolutely all day and only took them off about a half hour before the end of the reception.
Love this post! My fiance is only about 2 inches taller than me and I don’t want to be taller than him on our special day. But I also like the way I carry myself in heels. Modcloth was the answer (as it often is) and I got the Sommelier wedge which is the perfect heel height, has the adorable vintage feel I wanted (especially the ankle strap) and they’re our exact shade of purple! Plus, who can beat the price? 🙂
I want about half of these just to wear to work!
Noooooo!! Those absolutely adorable, can’t even handle the cute shoes at the top don’t, as usual, come in size giant.
They’re so cute though. SO CUTE!!
Oh, yasss! How I love the look of high heels, but how they hate my feet. Kitten heels, on the other hand . . .
I think practice really helps. When I first tried mine on (the same Ariel wore!) I was instantly in agony. I ended up buying the same pair in black so I could get used to them without messing up my wedding pair- first just getting used to standing in them, then walking in them, and finally wearing them out, increasing the duration each time. I’ve seen a significant different in comfort and I’m hoping come the wedding I’ll have no issues with them.
Love all these low heeled beauties, but I have to admit I went totally flat for our wedding day. My natural foot state is flat and when I’m in pain/uncomfortable in the feet department it shows all over my face. So dirty pink velvet, flat peep-toes it was- and I LOVED them!
I was dreading the idea of wedding shoes until my dress fitting. I am actually tall enough to get away with a 1″ or 2″ heel with my dress length. Squeee!!! Lucky me.
Aaaaah, so much love for this post! The other-half and I aren’t even formally engaged (we’ve discussed the wedding, but there’s been no “will you?” yet), but I know already that all the wedding shoe porn I’ve seen and fallen in love with would make me feel uncomfortable despite their beauty. I’m fine with wearing ridiculous heels, but I’m about 5’10 and he’s just scraping under 6′ … I don’t like being taller, and like Hell would I ever convince him into a Cuban heel. 😉 I’ve already decided that spats will be in order for the big day, so maybe kitten heels will be what to team with it …
Love this! I too am going for low heels, to try and avoid toe-death. I’m also going to make sure I ‘break in’ my shoes first too, as they’re leather so should get soft enough to not give me blisters if I potter about a bit. I’m also going to wear converse for the dancing part of the day!
I really love the fact you can design your own shoes at Shoes of Prey (and you can choose a bunch of different materials too, for the veggies). Sadly they’re crazy expensive though, so I just tend to lust after them!
My wedding shoes just got dropped on my doorstep from Amazon and I LOVE them! I also did not want sky high heels. For one thing, I don’t want to deal with the discomfort and second, my future hubby is only a few inches taller than me. I really don’t want to tower over him. I had a hard time finding the kind of shoes I wanted in a smaller heel. Either they were super expensive or didn’t have the color I was looking for. Glad I finally found a pair!
http://www.amazon.com/Nina-Womens-Crystah-YS-Dress-Eggplant/dp/B00BTPVC6Q/ref=sr_1_92?s=shoes&ie=UTF8&qid=1390710666&sr=1-92