The Status of the Shoes

Remember when I pimped out my wedding shoes? If not, here's a reminder!

A lot of you were curious if they were easy to walk in or if they were slippery at all, and all I could give you was a semi-confident "yes" and "no", respectively. Before the wedding, I only had the chance to walk around in them on our tiled kitchen floor for a few minutes at a time, because I didn't want to mess the soles up. Blame it on my obscene "need" for photos of the whole shoe. Of which I got (half of) one.

Photo by Exclamation Imagery

Let's just all ogle at my pretty shoes for a minute, 'kay?

I will tell you that around my kitchen, they were not slippery. And generally, no, they were not slippery on our wedding day, either! I had a brief holy shiz moment when I first stepped on our venue's wooden floor with them, but after a few steps I got used to it. It was part "walk careful in these 4-inch glittery shoes, Fox" and part "walk careful because you're in a wedding dress, this is not everyday shoe-strutting!" Once I got those thoughts through my head, though, the shoes were a perfect little piece of cake to walk in.

Photo by Exclamation Imagery

On the flip side, I have to admit that the only time I was really on a potentially slippery surface was when I was walking through our venue's main house, like during the cocktail hour. We also did a lot of walking around on sidewalks and grass before the ceremony, so the soles had a chance to wear down a bit. But, I think the true test is that I kept those babies on for 99% of the day (minus a few minutes at the reception, until I realized no heels = me tripping all over myself). And no slips!

In short, here's my advice: glitter up your soles, but there really isn't any need to do the whole sole. If you're worried about slippage, skip the ball of the sole, where the front part of your foot goes. I promise you, you won't miss any pictures of it. If you are having a relatively outdoorsy wedding with minimal wood surfaces (and are a nutcase like me), go ahead and do the whole thing!

I mean.. let's be honest, though. They're gonna end up looking like this anyway.

A sure sign of a good time.. glitter and worn in soles!

Are you having any kind of painted or fancy wedding day soles? Are you worried about scuffing them up or slipping at all?

Paper Hearts

Early on in my planning, I stumbled across this adorable paper heart garland on Etsy.

via Etsy shop Pickled Parlour

I was immediately smitten, and was itching to include these in our wedding in some fashion. The only problem was, somewhere along the line, I started to get worried that I would just have too much going on.. paper lanterns, puff balls, ribbons, hearts.. something had to go, lest my wedding end up looking like someone threw up every rustic-y type of decoration out there. (I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but still. Keep it simple, stupid.)

Good news, though.. it was not the hearts that went! (It was the ribbons, per Foxy. Boh.) A few weeks before the wedding, I realized I had no idea what to do for chair decor for the ceremony - I'm too cheap for more flowers, was banned from using ribbons, and was feeling rather uninspired. Then I remembered that I had leftover card stock from my programs and this nifty little tutorial stashed away in my bookmarks toolbar. My solution? Individual paper hearts for the chairs!

Photo by Mrs. Pony

I kind of got carried away when making them, so they also made good decorations for all over the venue (notice how they're hung with ribbons?)!

Clockwise, from left to right:

Photo by Exclamation Imagery | personal photo | Photo by Mrs. Guinea Pig

What I loved most is that some lovely little wedding elves (I'm still not exactly sure who!) moved a lot of the hearts from the ceremony space to the reception space once the ceremony was over. It was like double decorations for the price of one!

Now, in case you love these little hearts as much as I do, here's a basic tutorial!

First, start with whatever kind of card stock you so choose - I used mostly double sided 12"x12" cardstock that I got at Michaels, but also made a few using regular white and ivory cardstock.

Image via Michaels

Next, you cut the paper into 1" thick strips (use a paper cutter!). You'll need to make a few of the strips a bit shorter in order to get the layered effect.

Then, starting from the outsides and working your way in, layer each strip on top of each other so that the shortest strips are on the outside and the longer ones are in the middle. You should also have an extra strip in the middle to serve as the "base" - also the place you'll eventually hang the hearts from.

Once the strips are stacked, make sure you have a good grip on the bottom and start folding the strips outward one at a time, securing each one with your fingers as you go along.

Once all but the middle strip have been folded out,  make sure the bottom edges are relatively aligned and staple together!

Since I didn't want the staple showing, I went one step further and used my favorite stand by, washi tape, to cover the staple and add a nice little finishing touch.

Overall, a relatively easy DIY, and one that definitely added a little something extra to our wedding decor!

Photo by Exclamation Imagery

Did you decide to add something - decorations or otherwise - to your wedding just days or weeks beforehand?