rI’m inclined to believe that when you throw something casual into the mix, like Nantucket reds, the best way to dress it up is to take extra care coordinating. I love a fun, casual wedding, and I plan to have several key elements of one, but I do want to keep some level of formality. I hope short dresses with perfectly coordinated accessories will give the bridal party the perfect balance.r
I have been in several weddings and not once have I been asked to buy a particular shoe. Color? Yes. Shoe? No. And while I am a self-admitted idezilla (It takes the burn out of the craziness when you're upfront about it…right?), I do want to be reasonable. After all, I have the most lovely—and have I mentioned patient?—ladies supporting me in this, and I want them to still like me when this is all over.
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Now if there's one thing I can do, it's bargain. So in keeping my idezilla-ness bearable, I did my best to find savings on the dresses, ultimately striking up an Ebay deal to get them half off. Score one for the controlling ide. And for the shoes, I wanted to do the same thing. (Finally, to the point of the headline…)
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I found these adorable shoes on Zappos.com on sale for $60, from $71. Pretty pricey for a pair of shoes that are perceivable only worn once, but given the deep discount of the dresses (and the cuteness of the shoes) the girls seemed to be on board. But naturally, I kept shopping, making sure there weren't better shoes out there. So yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and collect the girls' sizes to make sure that Zappos had enough of each. Surprise, the sale was over and the shoes were back up to $71. It's only an an $11 difference, but I didn't ask the girls if the shoes were $71 worth of cute, I asked if they were $60, and I wasn't about to conduct another poll.
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So I strapped on my sweetest smile (you write sweeter if your heart's really in it), and wrote an email to Zappos explaining my situation. I took full responsibility for dragging my feet and told them that while I didn't expect them to do anything about it, I would so appreciate it if they would throw me a bone in the form of a coupon code. I also gave them the sizes I thought I'd need.
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In a matter of minutes I got an email back that totally made my day. Zappos agreed to honor the sale price that I'd initially seen, and even referred me to Amazon.com for the sizes that they didn't have in stock. (So Miracle on 34th Street of them, right?) I decided to explain the situation to Amazon as well, (I couldn't have four girls paying $60 and four paying $71, right?) and after receiving a standard no-reply email that didn't address the issue, I moved on to Endless.com, who also emailed me back within minutes to let me know that they too would honor the Zappos sale price. My faith in people, and the shoe industry, skyrocketed. It’s amazing the kindness (and deals) you’ll find if you just ask nicely. To top it off, Zappos bumped me to VIP status, meaning that instead of the regular FREE 2-day shipping (already amazing), I now get free overnight shipping! I placed an order at 11 p.m. last night and was informed this morning via email that the shoes should arrive no later than 3 p.m. today. Wow!
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I love to promote people and companies who demonstrate good will, so naturally, I came to work this morning and blabbed about my experience to Weddings Editor, Kelsey. She said that she had a similarly wonderful experience with Zappos during her wedding planning when she was trying to choose her shoes. Apparently, their free return and exchange policy (yep, they offer that too) came in pretty handy when she was selection the kicks for her assemble. She's a Zappo VIP too!
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Aside from Zappos having great customer service, the wedding planning takeaway is this: if you're looking for shoes for yourself or your idesmaids, consider the benefits of buying in store or at a site that offers free shipping and returns. It's nice to be able to change your mind without adding to your bottom line. And when you're buying in bulk, ask nicely about potential discounts. Be polite, and prepared to hear the word “no." But if you get an unexpected "yes," be grateful and refer a friend—it's a great way to say thank you.
