DIY wedding shoes!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE a good DIY craft project! When we first started planning our wedding, I knew that that was a factor I really wanted to include. I spent most of my childhood crafting and creating with my mom, so I knew that we would want to have a big hand in what goes into the big day.

This is no professional tutorial! I will admit. And it may not be the most long lasting of paint jobs, but I know that it will do the job for the day AND it was really fun! So I'm sharing my process in case you're curious. Super cheap, super easy, and super fun! This is just one way to help make our wedding more affordable.

Creating your own pieces is awesome! It allows you to control the cost, the look, and so many other aspects. One little money saving hack I've come up with for our wedding is DIY shoes! I had searched and search the internet and just couldn't find anything that I absolutely loved. They were either too high, not the right color, very expensive, or a whole slew of other nos. When my mom suggested I transform a pair of shoes I already owned it just seemed like the perfect answer! This way I could have a pair of shoes that I knew were comfortable, worn in, and worked for our venue. (We will be getting married on grass so I need something with a block heel for the walk down the aisle)

We started the project at Joann fabrics to grab a couple colors of acrylic paint. It's quite cheap (think $1.59 a bottle and you can often use a coupon from their app or ad #savings) and lasts a long time, so we got a few different colors. I knew that I wanted a particular dark teal and pearly white, so we purchased a few different colors. This would allow me to create my preferred shade. I honestly LOVE blending colors! It feels like science. Experimenting with the ratio to mix to achieve a particular shade. OR being completely surprised by the shade that appears. It feels like magic. We used a variety of different brands and colors for this particular project. Some old and some new. Pictures below with the particular paints I used for each shoe.

Now onto the shoes themselves! This would work best with some kind of fabric shoe. Something leathery/shiny would be a bit more difficult to cover with this particular kind of paint. I used favorite A New Day suede block heels from Target. I had an old well loved blue pair plus a nude pair that I used.

First things first, tape! I used paint tape to tape off the sole and all other areas of the shoe I wanted to remain untouched with paint. I am not very neat, and like to have a bit of freedom to be messy, so if you're the same, I would recommend taping off EVERYTHING.

I started with the nude shoe and coated with white. Since it was quite a dark shade of nude with pink undertones, that base layer was key. Mixed some of this Behr house paint with water and did a good solid layer all over the shoe to start.

I then created my first mix of teal and did the same with my old blue pair. Mixed my color with water and coated the shoe all over. Once that layer went on, I realized that it was exactly the color I was looking for, so I mixed in a few more colors to my blend and tried that on the second layer. These colors, with a bit of shimmer, made the shoe look magical.

I then proceeded to do 2 additional coats on top of my base coat for each shoe. I then added one last layer to the white shoe with a pearl paint to give it that shine! They actually almost looked like a satin fabric when they were finished.

I wanted to add a little something to my blue shoes. (These will be the ones I will be wearing down the aisle!) I found some old belts I had from Jenny Yoo and removed the beautiful rhinestone piece. It was the PERFECT size to fit over the toe bar. Once the shoes were dry, I used Jewel-It glue to adhere the sparkly piece on.

They turned out beautifully and I had so much fun! Painting can be so meditative and satisfying! I am happy to have had a hand in my wedding day. I can now say I "made my wedding shoes" (annnnd saved a lot of money) They are beautiful, comfortable, and exactly what I wanted. I can't wait to start wearing them in for the big day!