Matching your wedding shoe material to your wedding dress

Many brides focus on getting the right colour bridal shoes to match their wedding gown, but don’t forget that material is just as important. The texture of your shoes will be picked up in your photos so make sure you get the material right. Here are a few top tips for matching your wedding shoe material to your wedding dress.

Tip 1: Think outside of the (shoe) box

There are quite a few beautiful bridal shoes available in leather, cotton, and other fabrics, and if you pick something completely different to your wedding gown it won’t look as if you were trying to match them to start with. If you can’t find shoes that entirely match your wedding gown, and the ones that are close just aren’t close enough, you might as well just try an entirely different material.

Tip 2: Utilise extra gown fabric

If your wedding dress is made from an unusual fabric, see if your designer or bridal store can provide you with some of that material. You can get a plain pair of shoes professionally covered or you can get your bridal shoes made from scratch utilising that material. This might be expensive but it should still cost less than purchasing shoes from your gown designer as you will be able to shop around for a suitable supplier.

Tip 3: Ask your gown designer

Perhaps the easiest way to get wedding shoes that perfectly complement your gown is to get them from the same designer. The downside of this is that shoes designed by wedding dress designers can be very costly but at least you’re guaranteed that the fabric used is exactly the same, and the style should work seamlessly with the dress.

Tip 4: Go with matt bridal shoes

If your shoes have more of a sheen than your gown they will stand out a lot more, especially when the sun is shining. Your ideal may be to find shoes that pair with your dress material exactly, but if that isn’t possible, try to find shoes made from a fabric which is slightly more matt than your gown fabric.

Tip 5: Keep a piece of wedding dress fabric

It is easy to forget exactly how fabric looks unless it is in front of you, so having a small piece with you will help you to get a more suitable match. You should aim to buy your bridal shoes in between picking your gown and your first fitting. This way you can ask for a tiny sample of the gown material to take with you when you go shoe shopping, and you will have your shoes for the fitting to get the right length for the dress.

Tip 6: Pair with accessories

Get miniature fabric corsages made in your gown material, or accessorise your shoes with crystals or pearls, depending on the detail on your gown. Shoe accessories are currently popular, and if you can’t find shoes in exactly the same fabric as your gown, you can disguise that by utilising accessories in the same material.