Very Special Shoes

I am well known in our office as a shoe addict. I just love shoes. My husband is well versed in the saying “you can never have too many shoes”. Unfortunately he says the same for bikes.

Shoes are a necessity and what shoes are more important than your wedding shoes? They have to have the wow factor but they also have to be comfortable, after all you are going to be on your feet for most of the day and who wants wedding photos with the bride grimacing in pain because her feet are killing her?

Emily and I had a trip to Hawick, the largest town in the Borders, to Border Bridesrecently taken over by new owner Trisha Paterson. As soon as I walked in the shop I knew this was going to be a fun morning. I was in shoe and dress heaven! Trisha has the patience of a saint and was full of great advice. Her shop is centrally located in the town, right next to the Slitrig Water, so while you are trying on your dresses, which let's face it is slightly stressful, the running water provides a tranquil calming effect. Indeed brides-to-be travel from far and wide to come here to buy the most important dress they will ever buy in their life.

The current wedding dress trend is ivory and the majority of the dresses in the shops are in ivory however they can of course be ordered in in white. It’s a matter of personal choice and expert Trish advised that:

Wedding Ideas Magazine have a full guide to finding the right colour wedding dress to match your skin tone as they say when it comes to Wedding dresses white and ivory are just the start!

My wedding shoes are in my loft along with my dress, they still fit but are ivory and I have never worn them since my wedding day. Had I gone for a tartan shoe then the cost per wear ratio would have been dramatically reduced and I could have justified the wear against much more expensive shoes. Recently Vogue magazine featured their 30 No Fail Wedding Shoes for the Ceremony and After.

We couldn’t agree more.

We took with us a range of our shoes and boots from flats to platform heels, appropriately in tartans from the Borders and Scottish cities. Border Brides have a fabulous range of bridesmaid dresses too, in a rainbow of colours and our Bell of the Borders Tartan Platform Court Shoes were the perfect choice for the cobalt blue dress.

The cerise of the Romantica dress named Muriel matched perfectly with the Aberdeen Tartan Pumps. So many brides contact us looking for flat shoes for their wedding day either because they are tall and don't want to overshadow their new husband or just because they want to dance the night away in comfort. The key to comfort? Our cobbler Marsha makes all our shoes with extra padding in the sole so you are walking on air. You might think it is love but really it is our fabulous shoes!

My personal favourite was the Jora dress in coral teamed up with our Galloway Hunting Modern Tartan Platform Court Shoes. The prize for the most comfortable footwear however had to go to our Tartan Chelsea Boots, pictured in Edinburgh tartan with the Romantica white wedding dress.

With hundreds of tartans available the possibilities are endless! And the very best thing about it is that you can wear those very special shoes time and time again and every time you will be reminded of your special day. Shoes as a keepsake - brilliant - wish I’d thought of that years ago!