Morning Dress - Footwear

[floatinjoe]

I am getting married this July and will be wearing Morning Dress. I still need to secure footwear. Originally, I wanted a pair of balmoral boots, but between the relative unavailability of “off the shelf” pairs, the cost of special order ones and the overall time those require, I have to seek out other options.

Currently my plan is to purchase a pair of black balmoral punched captoes. The ones I have in mind are from Alden. They have both the Alden Men's Perforated Straight Tip Bal Calfskin, Style #: 901 and the Alden Men's Perforated Cap Toe Bal Oxford Shell Cordovan, Style #: 9016.

The #901 costs $406 and the #9016 is $527.

I guess I have two major questions, and one minor one. The first major, Are these even the right types of shoes I should be looking at, for use with Morning Dress?
The second is, Is it worth the extra $121 to obtain these shoes in Cordovan compared to the Calfskin?

The minor question is, Does anyone have any pictures of cap toe shoes being worn with spats?

Thank you for your help, any and all feedback is appreciated.

Mike

 

[AlanC]

I think that is what you should be looking at. Shell cordovan would be a matter of preference.

FWIW, Allen Edmonds is coming out with a punch cap bal boot, but I don't know that it will be available in time for your wedding.

Congratulations!

 

[floatinjoe]

AlanC,

Thanks for the congratulations.

I just read about the Allen Edmonds the other day and was so disappointed about the timeline. They would have been perfect. So I will have to go the other route.

In regards to the cordovan vs calfskin, I will have to do some research into the pros/cons of cordovan. I plan on turning these into my "go-to" black dress shoes after the wedding. So I do believe that they will be worth the investment. I just really need to figure out exactly why I'd want the cordovan over the calfskin.

Mike

 

[mattfink]

Did you mean "mourning" dress?

 

[floatinjoe]

Did you mean "mourning" dress?

Nope, I'm not wearing this to a funeral (though I've been told by some folks that a wedding is a funeral). It's morning dress.

Mike

 

[davestlouis]

Better get all the guy toys ya want prior to the nuptials...get a Corvette and new golf clubs, because after she gets her hooks into you, you'll be mowing the lawn on Saturday, no time for golf, and you'll be driving a beige minivan...ask me how I know?!

On the subject of shoes, I detest cordovan, my feet get too hot.

 

[Cobden]

Slightly different thing, and more curiousity about attitudes over the pond, but I'm not sure about the broguing/perforations on formal footwear. Maybe purely a British thing, of course, but with it's origins in (specifically Scottish) country footware, I've always considered brogues and half brogues and other peforated footwear informal [huh]

 

[Charlie Huang]

Slightly different thing, and more curiousity about attitudes over the pond, but I'm not sure about the broguing/perforations on formal footwear. Maybe purely a British thing, of course, but with it's origins in (specifically Scottish) country footware, I've always considered brogues and half brogues and other peforated footwear informal [huh]

No, punched toe-caps are perfectly acceptable for morning dress.

 

[mattfink]

Nope, I'm not wearing this to a funeral (though I've been told by some folks that a wedding is a funeral). It's morning dress.

Mike

Just pulling your chain a bit Joe! Congratulations! I've been married 8 years this May and it's the best decision I've made yet.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

No, punched toe-caps are perfectly acceptable for morning dress.

I would think the more important qualification would be that it is a boot or worn with spats. I'm not sure I've ever seen a vintage photo or illustration of morning dress being worn with shoes.