Bridesmaid Shoes and the Drama that Ensues

Melinda and I prefer maids to have matching shoes if the dresses are short. It is less distracting and provides a more cohesive appearance - wonderful things except dictating shoe choices means an extra cost for the maids. The bridesmaid dress Melinda picked out (which, btw, is beautiful and I am so excited to wear it!) is short, thus began the shoe search. She wanted to keep our overall costs down since she is a considerate bride and not a bridezilla at all <3

Melinda did a wonderful job in finding beautiful shoes at a great price. Check them out below! The color is slightly more pink than it appears. Melinda found them for $55 at DSW, but since they were not available online, she got all of the maids' shoe sizes and purchased us each a pair.

I decided to run out to my local DSW to get my own pair so that Melinda could return my pair instead of shipping it to me. That exact day I went to DSW, the shoes had gone on clearance - I found my size and two sizes for my sister Natalia, also a bridesmaid, for $40. I was going to see her in a few weeks and then still be able to return the size she did not want. Excited with my purchase and the extra discount, I dropped off the giant bag of shoes at J's apartment for safe keeping. This is all wonderful and great, but here is where the story gets messy.

As I was prepping for traveling to Florida a few weeks later, I realized that I could not find the giant bag of shoes. J and I tore apart his apartment looking for the bag and also the boxes, but to no avail. I sent Melinda an email hoping and begging that she had not returned the shoes she had snagged for Natalia and me. Fortunately, Melinda still had our shoes but my pair was a half size bigger than the size I preferred so over the next few days, Melinda and I called around searching for the shoes in Florida while J continued to look for the shoes. In the end I decided to stick with the pairs Melinda had for us, but we never did find those shoes! I have absolutely no clue what happened to him. It is possible that they got left on the bus between the shop and J's apartment, but that is doubtful. Another option is that J and/or his roommate threw them out with the trash.. I am not sure how someone could throw out a shopping bag with three full shoe boxes inside, but you never know when it comes to men. 

Anyway, long story short: Melinda found awesome shoes for a great price and I somehow lost three pairs of them. Are y'all doing matching bridesmaid shoes? If so, where did you find them? I have not decided yet if my maids will have matching shoes since I want their dresses to be long, but I think my eight bridesmaids plus a junior will be too many to take Melinda's route :)