Another option: keep a spare pair of white shoes in your car or at the ceremony site. In case of any emergency, you can swap your shoes out for the second pair. You can buy an identical pair, but if your shoes are on the expensive side, you may want to buy a very basic pair of shoes as your backup.

Ballerina shoes are fun and flirty, and very feminine. If you want to wear flats, whether because you are having an outdoor ceremony, because you are taller or close to the groom’s height, or just because you want to, they are a great option. The shoes are very comfortable, and if you buy a pair like this example, you can even wind the ribbon up your leg for a beautiful and special touch.

Wipe the shoes with a dry cloth to get off any dust or debris, then mix the soap with warm water. Dip your white cloth in the water, and gently rub the stain out. Gently is key here. You will want to stuff the shoes with tissue to dry so that they keep their shape. Let them dry in an area out of direct heat or sunlight.

Beware, home cleaning satin shoes, it is very, very easy to ruin them. If you love the shoes but don’t need them white, consider having them dyed to a darker color that will hide the stain rather than trying to clean them.

Finding the perfect pair of shoes is the mission of many brides, and if you have that on your to-do list still, you may be seeking the perfect pair online. Is that a good idea, or a bad one? If you have several months before your wedding, the Internet might be a great idea, as long as you are careful. Allow plenty of time for false starts, returns, and other emergencies. Leaving deliveries until the last minute might see you walking down the aisle in a pair of shoes that don’t fit right, or worse yet, you might not even get your wedding shoes until you’ve come back from the honeymoon!

Before you buy, check for the return policies of any shoe stores you are thinking of shopping online. If they don’t accept returns or exchanges, don’t buy! Once your shoes arrive, try them on immediately. Wear them around the house (but not out – some stores won’t return dirty shoes) for several hours at least, and see if they are comfortable. You should be standing or walking for most of this time, since you will be on your feet during the wedding. If the shoes aren’t perfectly comfortable, or if you think you can’t stand them all day, it’s time to find a new pair.

If you don’t like wearing stockings, make sure that your legs are totally clean shaven and preferably tanned (artificially, not in a tanning bed, please!). You may look best in oped toed shoes or sandals, which are a big no-no for anyone in stockings. Also, the lack of stockings can provide you with the perfect opportunity to show off a pedicure.

Really, there is something to be said for either mode of dress!

Don’t like this pair? There are tons of other shoes with gorgeous toe accents, from floral embellishments like this pair to ribbons and bows.

Did you know that silk will stain if you walk through grass with it? If you’re buying silk shoes, make sure that they are not going to be around anything that might compromise their shining white. Love those leather bridal boots? Keep in mind that they will not breathe well in the summer air; you may be asking for sweaty feet and discomfort if you go that route.

You will also want to make sure that you shoes match your dress, so choose then after you have already worked out most of the details. Making the shoes fit the wedding will save you a lot of trouble.

A difficulty of choosing the shoes for the flower girls is that you might not be able to get shoes that fit each girl perfectly, particularly when  their feet are always growing; you can alter a dress or buy it too large and pin it, but shoes are less predictable and can be harder to measure, too.

Choose a basic color (white if you want the match to be perfect) and set down guidelines (no sandals, no open toes, or whatever else you want), and give the requirements to the parents, who can buy similar, if not perfectly matching shoes, just before the wedding to ensure a perfect fit. Want things to match exactly? Send all the parents out together on one big shoe buying trip, but go with them to offer an opinion and maybe even foot the bill if you are demanding such complete control.

However you go about it, giving the flower girls and their moms more control over their shoe purchases will ensure much better behaved flower girls on your wedding day, and happier ones, too.