When it comes to wedding planning, if it’s not one thing, it’s another thing.

Everything I try to do with this wedding seems to end up with just a smidge of drama along with it, but I am trying to look on the bright side of things and remind myself that first of all, it will all be over in 45 days, and second of all, first world problems! I should be so lucky as to have a meltdown over Stuart Weitzman heels.

Anyway, as most of you have read over the course of the last month, I have been on a quest for purple heels. Not too high (Erik is only about an inch taller than me), not too weird (I don’t want it to clash with my dress) and not too expensive (because I am not made of money).

Soon after I started my hunt for purple heels, I realized that there was a severe shortage of purple heels. If you take a look on Zappos or Endless, you’ll see what I mean. There are only about 10 purple heels out there, with 6 of them being over 3 inches in height, 2 of them being totally fugly, and the other 2 not in my size. Harumph!

Slowly I began abandoning my dreams of purple heels and then I just started hunting for anything that would look good. My initial first pair of shoes were a pair of Stuart Weitzman’s (hey – it comes in a purple box! That counts, right?) Gemmamid. They were cute, but the champagne color turned out to be too yellow for my ivory dress.

Then I contemplated dying the shoes. Although there were several dyeable shoes that I liked (including the Gemmamids, if you buy them in white satin), I heard nothing but horror stories about shoes that stain feet or if they get the slightest amount of water on them, the color starts to run and fade. Ick. Not for me. Especially for a girl getting married in Oregon, you do not want to tempt the Gods of Rain. They will bite you in the ass.

Desperation was starting to set in. Erik and I combed through several department stores at the largest mall in New Jersey and yet came up empty handed. All the shoes were either too tall, too short, not in purple, not in ivory or just… not right! I was starting to feel like Goldilocks trapped in a shoe store.

By chance, we stopped by Stuart Weitzman, where I tried on a size 10 version of the Chantelle. It was $200 more than what I wanted to spend, but I was fed up. I just needed a pair of bloody shoes! And you know what? The size 10 actually fit. They did! Because I had been trying on all my heels in size 9.5 (which is my normal size), I began reconsidering my search perameters.

When we got home, I went on an online shoe shopping binge. I plugged in “wedding shoes” and “size 10″ and went to town, spending over $1,000 in one night (don’t worry – all the shoes except for the winners will be sent back!). Most of the shoes were Stuart Weitzmans, but that’s just because those shoes came in heel heights that weren’t too tall. Kate Spade and Bagdley Mischka were knocked out of the running simply by being 4 inches and higher. No thank you!

While searching, I discovered something: the only pair of Stuart Weitzman heels that came in purple also came in a size 10. So what if they were almost as much as the Chantelles? I needed shoes! Something! Anything!

And they were purple. Sometimes you just gotta give in to temptation.

A few days later, and the enormous box of shoes arrived and I began trying them all on. A few of them actually worked and became “contenders.” Then I slid on the pair of Stuart Weitzman Turalus. And I knew I had found The One(s).

::Angels singing::

Yes, they are a smidge taller than I want. And yes, they are a smidge more expensive than I want. But they are the best.

And that’s not all! I had also ordered a pair of ballet flats in purple that I was sort of mixed on. I thought they were a little too funky to be my bridal shoes. But, like I said, I was on a shoe shopping frenzy. I bought anything that I thought might work. I slipped those babies on and they were… almost perfect. Yes, still a little casual, but everyone and their mother has told me to buy flats for the wedding, so I think this is a good compromise.

I will wear the Turalus for photos, the ceremony and the first dance, but as soon as the crowd starts jamming to the tunes, off go the heels and on go the flats!

I think this will work out wonderfully.