The Perfect Gatsby Wedding Heels

First off, Happy New Year!  Hope your celebrations were full of cheer and laughter!  With 3 kids in bed and the temperatures in the low 30’s, we (hubby and I) celebrated at home with a bottle of champagne and watched the ball drop on TV!  And speaking of celebrations, I’m back to continue our Real Wedding story of Kat and Barjes!  In my previous blog post, I shared my favorite photos from their 1920’s Gatsby themed wedding day.   Now, it’s time to share where they got all their glamorous wedding details like those stunning Gatsby wedding heels and their fur baby’s cute neck collar accessory!   Kat’s heels were PERFECT in every way!  They screamed “The Great Gatsby” …and if you are unfamiliar, check out The Great Gatsby movie trailer to get a feel for the fashion and style of that era.  They were the perfect height at 3 inches tall and had all the bling a girl could ask for!  I love the neutral color and all the silver studded embellishments, crystals, and bead-work.  These designer bridal shoes are designed by Emmy Scarterfield, Creative Director of luxury shoe and accessory brand, Emmy London.  There are SO many stunning bridal shoes on their website and each design is finished with a crystal on the sole!

And when your fur baby is in your wedding, you MUST accessorize!  After all, he and/or she needs to look just as fabulous as you!  Kat and Barjes chose a handmade, blush pink leash and collar set that was soft, subtle, and simply sweet!  As promised, here are the “Questions and Answers” to help inspire you and guide you towards your Gatsby themed wedding!  Be sure to visit my previous post to see all their wedding day photos and how we customized our Jacqueline Wedding Invitation in their navy blue and gold wedding colors.  High five to their Wedding Planner, Ashley Espinal of Dulce Dreams Events, as she did an amazing job on everything!  Photography by Michelle Jonne Photography.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

1. What was your most memorable part?

Answer:  (Katherine aka Kat) – the ceremony.  I thought I’d be nervous up there with everyone watching us but it really felt like it was just us up there.  As if no one else was watching and that was pretty amazing considering we had a full ceremony.   (Barjes) – the anticipation getting ready during the prep and leading up to the rest of the day.  The ceremony and saying our vows as well. 

2. Was there any unexpected surprises on your wedding day? If so, how did you handle it?

Answer:  There sure were!!!  First hiccup – Somehow our videographer had the wrong date for our wedding and ended up missing the prep and first look.  He was there for the ceremony and on.  Unfortunately, we don’t have footage of that first part of our wedding.  We came to an agreement with him afterwards and we did a “post wedding” video and got dressed up completely differently.  And he put the video from the wedding together with the post and created an incredible highlight for us.  We were happy with the end result.  Our video is still pretty amazing considering the missing footage.

Second hiccup – We sent a colored picture via email of the wedding cake we wanted to our cake vendor, told them it was exactly what we wanted (colors and all).  A few weeks before the wedding something in me said to email them and confirm we would get that EXACT cake, colors and all.  We were assured we would.  Well, whoever printed it did so in black and white and never relayed the message about the colors.  They did what was supposed to be the navy part of the cake…in black!  So, here we get to our cake cutting and our cake was black and gold and not navy and gold…our wedding colors!  Sigh, wooosaaa!!

What did we do…between talking to each other and our wedding planner walking us through the day, we let it go.  I in particular told myself I wasn’t going to let these things get in our way of enjoying such a special day.  They were small when we looked at the bigger picture.

3. What was your favorite part(s) of your wedding day?

Answer:  (Katherine) – my favorite part was our first look followed by our formal pictures.  We actually got to spend some time alone and really take in everything we had put so much time and energy into for the past 18 months.  My dress, keeping it a secret, his suit and the small details, our overall look, the place we picked for our formals, the build up to the first look, and all the technicalities of “Planning” (so we don’t “bump” into each other beforehand, etc).  Having some alone time can be hard to do during the reception.  (Barjes) – having everyone that we love and care for and vice versa at our wedding.  Having that many people you care for under one roof is powerful.  It created an incredible energy in the room that cannot be described.

4. Do you have any helpful advice for our Brides-to-be?

Answer:  First things first, keep a united front and make decisions together.  In case some family members want to influence certain decisions, having to consult with your better half let’s people know it’s not “just you”.   Second, don’t let the small stuff ruin your day and don’t let people push you around and try to force things upon you that you don’t want to do.  This is your and your partner’s day.  And the guest list, details like chargers and flowers, etc shouldn’t consume you.  It’s so easy to let that happen.  Don’t.

5. Was it difficult to have your fur baby in the wedding? Any hiccups, things another Bride & Groom should know about before hand.

Answer:  Thankfully, as far as having her there for the ceremony, it was easy and the venue was accommodating.  When we told the hotel that our pup was part of the bridal party they allowed her to stay in the hotel although they are not normally a pet friendly hotel.  We found that some places will accommodate you if your pet is part of the “bridal party” (and well behaved) so it doesn’t hurt to ask.  Unfortunately, after the ceremony was over she had to go straight back to the hotel as she wasn’t allowed in the venue due to health code rules.  We’d say the “hardest” part of accommodating a fur baby in for the wedding (depending on where you live) would definitely be getting them back to the hotel if they aren’t allowed to stay after the ceremony.  Find someone who may be willing to do this during cocktail hour.  My brother did for us and our hotel was just five minutes away.   Also, ensuring they get their walks or attention they need on such a busy day (especially during “prep”, as Wrinkles was definitely a bit nervous with so much commotion and all the in and out of the room), and walking her after the whole thing is over.  I took a nice walk with her pretty late and although it was nice to breath after the day, I was exhausted and my feet were killing me and to now go for her walk.

6. How did you guys come about choosing a Gatsby theme for your wedding?

Answer:  We both love that period, so it was a “no brainer”.  We toyed with not doing it at all but we figured it would be fun and also fun for the guests who would choose to participate.  This part was def fun!

7. Where did you get your Gatsby wedding heels!?

Answer:  Man, I searched long and hard for the RIGHT shoe!!  I tried on several and all the typical wedding brand shoes.  Initially, I was adamant about wearing blue shoes and only looked for those but none fit our Gatsby theme.  I also knew I wanted to be comfortable and therefore didn’t want to wear anything higher than a 3 inch heel.  Many, many, typical wedding shoes have a humongous heel.  As I pinned and searched on for the perfect shoe, I came across my shoe on a Pinterest search.  I went to the website and found they are actually a British designer.  Only ONE store in New York carries them…Kleinfeld’s.  So, to Kleinfeld’s I went and I fell in love!  After a bit more research, I found that if I purchased them through Emmy London directly, I could purchase them in pounds with a card that has no international fees and save about $250 USD.  I did exactly that and had my shoes in about 2 to 3 days via DHL.  I also wore them around the house and broke them in as much as possible prior to the wedding, so that my feet wouldn’t be killing me on wedding day. 

8. Where did you get the accessory for your fur baby?

Answer:  After searching on and on and on for what we thought would be perfect for her, we kept coming back to this one leash and collar set on ETSY.  It was a bit more than we wanted to spend but it was beautiful and the best one after months of searching.  So, I bit the bullet and just bought it and was happy with it.  The quality and detail were beautiful and well worth the spend.

9. Do you have any advice to give in regards to wedding stationery?

Answer:  This one was just a tad bit hard for us.  We requested the freebies from Wedding Paper Divas, Minted, etc, and although we liked them, none of them were quite what we were looking for, nor stood out.  We definitely wanted something to go with our theme that was beautiful but not overly elaborate.  I’d say with respect to wedding stationery, get what suits your style and personality and it doesn’t have to be overly embellished in order to accomplish that.  I’d also look more to ETSY and individual sellers like My Lady Dye, if you want to get a bit more creative with your stationery (a more personalized look), which is something you can not accomplish with the larger online sites.  One thing we did, was have My Lady Dye design the matching menus and seating chart cards.  We typed and printed those up ourselves once those details were ready.  They came out beautiful and it gave us a chance to do some things we enjoyed.

10. Where did you find your dress?  Where did Barjes find his swanky Grooms’ attire?

Answer:  I got my dress at Lovely Bride here in NYC.  The designer is Theia.  My veil was gifted from my aunt and the hair comb was borrowed from a friend.  My silver clutch used to be my grandmother’s and has been in the family for many, many years.  I have it and used it that day.  

Barjes’ suit is custom made, along with the other guys.  His spats are from a vintage store in Midtown and his bow tie was custom made, as well as their shirts.  The guys got their bow ties and his dad’s tie at Lazy Jack Press here in NYC.