Mr. had a hard time with the fact that I did NOT want a diamond. He thought I was only trying to be nice and “settling” for an aquamarine since a diamond was too expensive. Not at all. I completely trusted his judgment on what he wanted to spend. Even if I could have any ring in the world, regardless of price, I would *still* choose an aqua. Aside from the fact that I love the color, I love having something a little bit different, and it means a lot to me that my aunt has an aqua engagement ring as well. Finally I was able to convince him and I’m so happy with the final product!

{ photo by me }

It’s certainly not traditional, but it seems like it’s not as unusual as I had originally thought. Ever since we got engaged, I have noticed blue engagement rings all over the place!

Liz Taylor and Princess Diana had one? According to Issue 10 of Wedding Style Guide…

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image from mondera.com

I’m not sure how to feel about the whole men wearing wedding rings deal. My dad has always worn his and my mom always wore her matching one, both plain yellow gold bands. I was actually pretty surprised to find out that women (now at least) tend to match their wedding band to their engagement rings, and that the husband’s ring doesn’t always match. I was probably just not that observant.

I think my thoughts on marriage have been greatly influenced by the people I grew up around and media. Thus, men wear rings if they are married, women look for the wedding ring when they are out hunting for men (this is where movies come in, and every conversation I ever had with another female about some adult male that is considered attractive), and men who don’t want to wear a ring or who take their rings off are up to no good. I’m sure lots of men have gotten in trouble for wanting to look single for whatever reason, or forgetting to put their ring back on after some physical activity, or just not wanting to wear one.

This brings me to a personal question: why do I want to wear a ring? I’m really not sure. I know part of it is because they are so pretty (my e-ring is a permanent fixture on my hand at this point), because I like jewelry, and because it signifies to other people that I am getting married. Which might be because I like for people to ooh and ahh and ask questions, and because it’s like an entry to the engaged club. I’m not saying I’m proud of the reasons, but they are there amongst the more noble ones. I never even thought about not having a ring. Partly because I do want people to know I’m taken. Women wear fake rings to ward off men they don’t want to approach them, and it’s kind of a polite signal when you are actually married (hey, don’t bother, I’m married).

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Now that I’ve figured out the style of veil I want, I think what I need is one amazing necklace to finish the whole look!

I have scouted blogs, Etsy and shops for inspiration.

Here is what I have found so far that has caught my eye.

via Olivet

via Weddingbee

via The Bridal Wishlist

via The Bridal Wishlist

I love the chunky feel and the bold colors of all these necklaces. They really make a statement.

Has anyone seen a great necklace that might look good with my wedding dress?

My original plan for bridesmaids gifts revolved around fantastic jewelry. I also have had a few other things safely nestled up my sleeve for months now, but jewelry was the focal point of what I wanted to give my girls. However, after we all fell in love with incredible bridesmaid dresses that cost a bit more than I had hoped, I decided to take care of the girls’ shoes to help reduce their financial obligations. In doing so, I vastly increased my budget for bridesmaid gifts, which gets pretty expensive times seven bridesmaids. Needless to say, I had to scale back the jewelry portion of their gifts, which seemed to be ok given my love for several incredible Etsy sellers. Specifically, in recent months I have really taken a liking to Mia Beads and this amazing necklace in particular.

Golden Shadow Necklace by Mia Beads, $28.50

Last week I found myself hemming and hawing about this issue of necklaces and really couldn’t find it within myself to drop another $28.50 per girl before shipping. Because of this I decided to stop and spend some time attempting to figure out whether or not it might be possible for me to make a necklace of some kind for my girls. After some trolling about the internet I ended up stumbling upon a series of tutorial videos on YouTube by JewelrySupply.com which proved really helpful. I already knew I wanted to use a Swarovski briolette like in the inspiration necklace so I found this video especially helpful even though I didn’t end up doing any wire wrapping.

After watching a few videos and spending a solid 2 - 3 hours researching supplies and parts, I ended up realizing I could likely produce a fairly accurate replica of the inspiration necklace for just a fraction of the cost.

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Samantha sent over her beautiful DIY bridesmaid jewelry!

She created them using a tutorial from Heather’s Road to the Aisle blog.

Supplies:

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that no matter where you are or whether or not you celebrate the holiday that you are having a wonderful day!

Amanda sent us a gorgeous DIY toggle necklace, which would be perfect for a bridesmaid gift!

You will need:

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Amy submitted her beautiful bridesmaids’ gifts - handmade earrings!

You will need:

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For my wedding, I wanted to make sure that each of my bridesmaids received not only heartfelt gifts from me for all their hard work, but something that I had made with my own two hands. After planning on making them a set of matching earrings and necklace to compliment their fab dresses from Vera Wang Bridesmaids, I went to work on getting all the supplies and brushed up on my jewelry making skills.

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