6 Wedding Shoe Hacks for Pain-Free Feet

On your wedding day, your feet will be doing more than just walking you down the aisle. From tiptoeing to your first look to dancing up a storm, you’ll need to pretty genius wedding shoe ideas to ensure your feet aren’t wrecked by the end of the night. Ironically, running sneakers rarely make the cut for wedding shoes. But that doesn’t mean you have to suffer in pointy-toe-stiletto heel hell throughout the best day of your life.

We’ve rounded up the very best wedding shoe ideas and hacks to help you put your best foot forward all day (and all night) long. No flip flops needed.

Resist the rub.

Blisters are caused by friction—certain trouble spots of your shoes (like straps or the heel cup) have near constant contact with your foot, and, when you add the heat of a hot dance floor, multiplied by the airlessness of being trapped under your dress, you’ve got a recipe for blister blitzkrieg. Creating a barrier between your skin and these friction areas is one way to keep blisters at bay. One of our favorite wedding shoe ideas to ensure comfort is rubbing a stick of deodorant or some vaseline on the inside of your shoe wherever you expect rubbing to occur, and covering your feet in a coating of deodorant too.

Don’t sweat it.

In addition to friction, there’s one more big culprit for wedding day blisters: Sweating. Hot, damp skin is extra-sensitive and prone to irritation and swelling, which means more rubbing against the trouble spots of your shoes, and more pain, and, well, you get it. A simple hack? Talcum or baby powder! Shake some generously into your shoe after you complete hack #1, above, then on the soles and sides of your feet. It’ll absorb moisture caused by sweating and keep your feet and shoes drier, longer.

Spring for leather.

You may be tempted to save some cash by buying fast-fashion heels in faux leather (there are so many cute options out there right now that look like a million bucks!) but if comfort is a top priority, real leather should be on your list. You’ll pay more, but you’ll feel the difference. Faux-leather may look the part, but it’s essentially plastic, meaning it won’t stretch, break-in, soften or breathe on your big day. Your feet will sweat more, blister more, hurt more. Leather, on the other hand, gets more comfortable over time, molding to fit your feet—and will last longer, so even though you’ll pay more, you’ll get to wear them for years to come.

Make the stretch.

A snug fit isn’t necessarily a good thing, so beware if your heels fit like a glove. That just may mean more gripping, swelling, blistering and other painful stuff. If you pop your shoes on and feel an immediate vise-like sensation (especially in the bony area right before your toes), try one of our favorite wedding shoe ideas: the blow dryer hack to help stretch and mold the shoes to your feet. Simply blast the shoes with medium-heat for a few seconds, put them on and walk around, and repeat a few times until you notice a bit more give. Don’t apply the heat source too close—you could scald your shoe! One more thing: This hack will won’t work as well on synthetic materials.

Don’t sink in.

Walking in heels is hard. Walking in heels in grass is nearly impossible. If your wedding has an outdoor element, grab one of these clever heel caps to keep your spiky stiletto heel from sinking into soft ground (like grass, sand, gravel, etc.). They’re hardly detectable, protect your shoe from getting filthy, and super cheap. Throw a pair in your bridesmaids’ gift bags, too!

Block it out.

Want the height of a heel without the pain of a stiletto? Platforms and block heels are your friend! The reason this wedding shoe idea works is simple: The wider the heel, the more surface area there is to support your body weight (and all that tulle..), the less pressure ends up on the balls of your feet. Chunkier heels also offer more stability for days when you’ll be doing a lot of walking, standing, and dancing (like, oh, I don’t know… your wedding day). Platforms go the extra mile by giving even more height at the heel while elevating the entire foot, so you can be walking 4” taller but only feel like you’re walking 2.5” taller. Best of all? The chunky look is totally in right now, and options abound! Trust me: You won’t miss the stiletto spike when you’re walking tall during hour seven of your wedding and still feeling fine!