Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Shoe Quest

There is something about wedding planning that has made my decision making skills get all out of whack. Making a decision about anything external to my look for the wedding has been relatively easy, and caused me little stress. The same cannot be said for anything to do with my bridal look. I struggled with my dress decision. I have waffled on my hair for months and months.

And... I nearly went crazy shoe shopping.

This is one of those situations that started off innocent enough, but when nothing felt right, I continued to search, and look and search and look and search. As time went on, I was getting nowhere closer to what I was looking for. So much time and energy had gone into such a simple task, that the amount of time spent looking had led to even more pressure to find the right shoe. After all of this time, I couldn't just settle on something just for the sake of finding something.

So let us back up and walk down shoe searching memory lane. I looked at every single shoe website I could think of, and did many laps around different malls looking for the perfect sandal for our wedding day.

I knew I wanted a pair of flat sandals. We're getting married outside in August, and the ground is not barefoot optional. I wanted something that suited my style, something I would wear again (and again) and something that was a step up from my every day look.

Apparently not an easy task.

I had considered Birkenstocks (something I would definitely wear again) and moccasins (same deal), but they just felt too everyday.

After months of searching I stumbled on Free People's website. I found a pair of sandals that felt close enough, and I was ready to throw in the towel settle. Somehow in the checkout process I got stuck in a weird loop of hitting the purchase button and my order wouldn't go through. I took it as a sign and decided to keep looking.

The sandals that almost were / Henley Beaded Sandal via Free People

More time passed and I ended up on Anthropologie's website. The heavens opened up and there they were. The perfect sandal. With no deliberation, I was just ready to hit the purchase button. Except... they were out of stock. I called Anthropologie and they told me they had no way of knowing if the sandals would ever be back in stock again and suggested I look for something else. Sad face.

The Cocobelle Arrow in Grey

I continued to look around the site, and found another pair of Cocobelle sandals that were the next best thing. I decided to just push the purchase button and be done with it. I was ready to be off of this ride.

The Cocobelle Coco Beadwork sandals in Ivory 

They finally arrived a couple weeks later (after $60 including shipping and duty)... and they didn't quite fit. As it turned out the website sizing was incorrectly labelled and the sandals were a half size too small for me. They didn't feel right on my feet, and after a few phone calls with Anthro, before I could just process a return, the lady on the phone had ordered a new pair for me in the correct size.

A week later my new pair arrived, and I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment when they were the same half size too small size again. I believe in signs from the universe, and at this point I knew these sandals were not meant to be. They were already slightly over my budget (after shipping/duty and the exchange rate I had spent over $200). I went on the Anthropologie site, and on a whim looked at the original sandals I wanted. And, wouldn't you know they had them back in my (new) size.

I called Anthropologie and explained that they had mistakenly sent me the wrong size again, and that I wanted to return the sandals in exchange for the ones I really wanted. The girl I talked to was incredibly nice and said she was going to try and allow me to keep the ones I had, and have the ones I wanted sent to me (to save on shipping back again). Anthro then emailed me and said I needed to return the sandals, and they would reimburse me up to 20% in shipping fees for their mistake.

While the mess of shipping is still waiting to be resolved, the new beauties arrived! They fit me perfectly and I am so relieved that my ridiculously long searching quest is finally over!

Please excuse my gross toes! I'm waiting to get a pedicure for MOH L's wedding next weekend!

Did you have a seemingly easy wedding task drive you crazy?

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