Bridal and Wedding Tips

I love creating jewelry and I work in a variety of styles using bezel set gemstones in silver and gold. Many of my pieces incorporate weaving in very fine silver or gold wires. The photo shows a delicate necklace with a woven silver focal highlighted with a facted red Mozambique garnet. This piece is part of a line of jewelry - perfect for the bride (the gemstone of your choice can be special ordered) and matching earrings are available.

According to wedding planners, nine months is about the average time required to plan your wedding. You may choose to hire a wedding planner, but you can do everything yourself if you pay attention to the details. There are a number of good checklist type wedding planning guides available. These checklists can be invaluable. Using a lead time of 6-9 months, list all the things that need to be done and prioritize them

First on the list - how much money will you want to spend? Create a budget that will cover at least the "must have" things. If you're trying to economize, add in other things one at a time and look at how they affect the overall cost.

You must choose a wedding date, of course, and it doesn't hurt to have some alternative dates, too.

How many guests will be invited? The number of guests will affect where you hold your wedding and reception as well as the overall costs for catering, etc. Are you going to have a "destination wedding" that will require travel or will you be getting married close to home? Booking a wedding venue, arranging for entertainment, and securing a caterer generally require making arrangements months in advance - more than a year ahead for many venues. If you plan an outdoor wedding and/or reception, be sure to make alternative plans to allow for inclement weather. Make arrangements for everything you can book in advance - flowers, cake, photographer, etc. Choose colors for your wedding, pick out wedding outfits, and your dress. Get friends to help you with some of the details.

My artisan jewelry includes woven handcrafted pendants with a variety of gemstones, gemstone earrings, bracelets, and more - gorgeous pearl art jewelry that you will love to own and wear or to give as a gift. I love to work with pearls and crystals - freshwater pearls, natural clusters of crystals, or individual crystals and pearls wrapped in silver and gold. I place individual pearls and crystals in handcrafted silver or gold settings then mount them in my one-of-a-kind pendants or weave them into exotic earrings or my art jewelry necklace designs. Each piece of my artisan jewelry is handmade - lovely handcrafted jewelry using gemstones, Swarovski crystals, and freshwater pearls in hand-woven silver and gold settings. I've just added a couple of pearl necklaces to my website store and there are matching earrings available.

Recently, I've been inspired to include wonderful pearls and pendants in my art jewelry designs. I have little button pearls, potato pearls, and stick pearls available in a number of colors. I also have a great selection of coin pearls in some fantastic colors that I'm using in pearl earrings and handmade pearl necklaces. I team the pearls with gemstones and Swarovski crystal.

What do you look for in handcrafted pearl jewelry? My artisan jewelry provides quality, beauty, elegance and more. My handmade pearl jewelry is all handcrafted designs, many of them one-of-a-kind. The handmade pearl jewelry for sale on this site is guaranteed to be handcrafted from the finest pearls and materials. I use sterling silver, pure silver (called fine silver), gold-filled and karat gold along with freshwater pearls, and precious and semi-precious gemstones-superb materials and quality workmanship.

For the discerning handmade artisan pearl jewelry buyer, I offer a selection of AAA and AAA+ pearls. My unique handcrafted pearl necklaces include mixtures of blister pearls, round pearls, and potato pearls, sometimes with a focal accent of little keishi pearl flowers - all accented with Swarovski crystals or gemstones. I'm currently working on a pendant of keishi pearls with rose quartz beads and brios to match earrings I created earlier.

I include lots of gemstones, pearls, and beads in my unique handcrafted bracelets and my handmade necklace and earring designs. Some of my bracelet designs involve yards and yards of coiled silver wire which is wound around a silver bracelet and accented with pearls and gemstone beads. I create handcrafted wound silver beads for my necklaces and some earrings, too. These beads are terrific paired with the lovely freshwater pearls I'm getting these days. My handcrafted artisan jewelry is high quality jewelry that will last a lifetime.

Why select handcrafted artisan jewelry for your wedding? Sometime ago, I realized that my handcrafted jewelry designs would be perfect for brides, since many brides prefer handmade and handcrafted items for their wedding and reception. My handmade bridal jewelry offers a beautiful high quality alternative to mass-produced pieces. My bridal jewelry designs are one-of-a-kind, handcrafted for you - no two pieces are exactly alike.

In wedding jewelry designs, I offer made-to-order handmade tiaras and headpieces for the bride and also for her attendants. I have several tiara designs in the Bridal/Wedding area of my website - tiaras created in pearls and crystal or in rhinestones - but these one-of-a-kind tiara styles are really just suggestions. I can create the design you see in your choice of silver or gold with your favorite gemstones and crystals or I can design a tiara just for you. My silver tiaras can be created in sterling silver and also in long lasting quality silver plate. My 14/20 gold-filled handcrafted tiaras are an elegant alternative to karat gold. All of these choices are heirloom-quality bridal jewelry that you'll treasure for a lifetime.

My headpieces are delicate lightweight art jewelry creations handcrafted in your choice of gemstone beads braided and twisted with gold or sterling silver and Swarovski crystal. These headpiece designs range from garland-like designs in beads and silver or gold to smaller pieces that are designed to pin into your hair or anchor your veil. These art jewelry hair accessories can be as simple or as elaborate as you desire. I can design individual handcrafted pieces for each member of the wedding party or coordinate designs for a "sophisticated" look .

Don't forget the other members of the wedding party - a small piece of jewelry makes a wonderful gift for the bridesmaids and attendants and the mother of the bride would look wonderful in a handcrafted pearl and crystal necklace.

Since I began my handmade art jewelry bridal line, it's grown to include several styles of handcrafted art jewelry crystal and pearl necklaces, a large variety of gorgeous crystal and pearl earrings, and gemstone bracelets. I create the handcrafted bracelets one link at a time in silver and gemstones.

Plan your wedding colors around your birthstones!

When it comes to birthstones, there are a lot of choices. Some birthstones are traditional favorites while others have come along from mystical or other influences. There are a number of versions of each list, too.

Here's one version of the traditional list - January/garnet, February/amethyst, March/bloodstone, April/diamond, May/emerald, June/alexandrite, July/ruby, August/carnelian, September/peridot, October/tourmaline, November/topaz, and December/ruby. There are multiple alternative stones for some months: jasper for March, sapphire for April, emerald for June, onyx for July, or aquamarine for October.

Modern birthstones have similar lists - January/garnet, February/amethyst, March/aquamarine, April/diamond, May/emeral, June/pearl, July/ruby, August/peridot, September/sapphire, October/opal, November/citrine, December/blue topaz. Once again, there are multiple alternatives: moonstone for July, tourmaline for October, or topaz for November. According to some sources, this list is the currently preferred US birthstone list.

Here are some tips for taking care of your jewelry. These tips apply to all jewelry, not just my handcrafted silver and gold pieces.

Don't exposre your jewelry to perspiration and dirt. You should remove your jewelry before working in the garden or engaging in other physical labor, exercising, swimming, bathing, etc. Avoid exposure to household cleaners and chemicals that can damage your jewelry - remove your jewelry before dealing with chemicals. It seems logical that pearls and other porous stones can be damaged by chemicals, but even karat gold can be discolored by chemical exposure (to chlorine, for example), even from something like a soak in a hot tub.

Apply your cosmetics, make-up, hair spray, and perfume before putting on your jewelry. Remove bracelets and rings before applying hand lotions and creams. Remove earrings when you have your hair done, especially if you are having it colored.

Jade, turquoise, malachite, and lapis are among porous soft stones that should not be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner or soaked in jewelry cleaner solutions. Softer, more porous stones such as these require extra careful treatment. Avoid using hot water on these stones.

Remember that pearls are precious gems, too. No ultrasonic or soaking in jewelry cleaners - just wipe off with damp soft cloth. If more cleaning is required try soapy water (Ivory flakes) on a soft cloth and dry thoroughly.

Jewelry often comes in a protective bag or box. Store your jewelry flat in a plastic bag. Store pearls in soft bags away from other jewelry which might scratch the pearl's surface. Never put your jewelry away wet - wipe it off with a damp cloth and air dry.

Store your jewelry in a clean dark dry place. Don't just toss your jewelry loose into a jewelry box or drawer. Your pieces will scratch each other. A fabric lined jewelry box is ideal and individual bags and jewelry boxes are excellent, too. Store your silver jewelry in a tarnish resistant bag.

The tarnish that forms on silver pieces is silver sulfide, which is black. A thin coating of silver sulfide on silver will darken the silver surface. Cleaning the silver using most cleaning methods removes the silver sulfide coating, but polishing and most jewelry cleaners also remove some silver during the cleaning process. Here's an approach to cleaning that does not remove any silver, but converts the tarnish back to silver.

The chemical reaction between the silver sulfide and the aluminum only occurs when the two are in contact while in the baking soda solution, so the silver has to touch the aluminum foil. The silver sulfide is converted back to silver and the sulfur is deposited on the aluminum either as yellow flecks of sulfur or as aluminum sulfide. Warming the water speeds up the reaction and the solution carries the sulfur from the silver to the aluminum. Tarnish will begin to disappear within a few minutes. You may need to repeat the process for badly tarnished pieces, reheating the baking soda and water mixture.

You will need a container lined with aluminum foil. The container should be large enough to totally immerse the silver you want to clean. Heat the water and mix in the baking soda at the rate of a cup of baking soda to a gallon of water (adjust the amount of water to the size of your container and silver piece, then add the correct amount of baking soda for the amount of water used). Place the jewelry directly on top of the aluminum foil and add the water and baking soda solution. Some bubbling may occur during this reaction, so you might want to place your container in a larger pan or somewhere where some overflow won't matter.

Caution is needed when cleaning jewelry set with stones. Some stones are porous and should not be immersed in water or any cleaner. Examples are opals, turquoise, malachite, lapis, or pearls.

Your wedding reception is a very important part of your Special Day and you want to be able to relax, enjoy your guests, and have fun at your reception. Planning out all the details in advance is crucial. Here are some initial questions to answer about your reception:

- Will it be a morning, afternoon, or an evening event? Is your wedding formal, casual, or somewhere in between? The "tone" of your reception is connected to that of your wedding. If your wedding will be formal, your reception will probably be a formal affair.

- Will you be getting married in the summer, fall, winter, or spring?

- How many guests will attend?

- What is your budget for the wedding and the reception?

Once you've answered these questions you are ready to look at potential reception locations. Start your search well in advance. Lots of locations are booked months in advance.

Finding the ideal location for your reception is important. There are many choices - at a church, in a hotel, in a hall, in a restaurant, or at the country club. You can even choose a museum or a historic building. Each venue will provide an ambiance all its own and the costs of each of these sites will vary. Do you want an indoor or outdoor setting? Outdoor weddings and receptions take a lot of planning and can involve much more work than something held indoors and you need to be sure you've secured an alternate site in case of bad weather.

To help compare locations, create a list of the features and services that you want a reception site to have. Try to include everything you can think of. Prioritize your list so the things you think are the most important are right up front. Take your list along when you visit reception sites.
Some things to consider when visiting reception sites:

- Consider the services offered by a facility - large hotels or restaurants can provide everything you'll need. You might also find a garden setting for an outdoor wedding and reception at a hotel or restaurant. Costs for services at this type of facility are generally priced on a per person basis.

- How far is a reception site from the wedding site? Is there adequate parking at the reception site? Your guests shouldn't have to travel far between the wedding and the reception and there shouldn't be a problem parking at the reception.

- Is the room large enough for the number of guests and the activities planned? If you plan to dance, is the floor suitable for dancing and is there enough room? You don't want your guests in a crowded space.

- Do you like the décor of the room? What about decorating?

- If there will be other events planned the same day as yours, determine how these events (and services being provided to them) might impact your reception. Will your guests and your event have a private setting?

- Private halls and other facilities may offer nothing other than the room itself. You will have to arrange for everything else.

Careful planning of every detail will help to assure that everything goes smoothly on your Special Day. You may want to consider the services of a wedding planner. A professional wedding planner might actually save you some money (and spare you a lot of headaches).

There are a variety of apps available for smartphones that can really help in planning your wedding and reception. Some apps are Brides Wedding Genius which runs on Apple devices, iWedding Deluxe for Apple devices, Wedding Organizer for Blackberry, and Wedding Plan-It for Android phones. There are a number of others and you can choose from a variety of free apps.

According to a recent New York Times review, "Wedding Genius is a reasonable mix of comprehensiveness and simplicity - nicely laid out and easy on the eye, with magazine-quality photos throughout. The "Guides" section features ideas for gowns and bridesmaids' dresses, jewelry and travel. Users can touch a button and store their favorite ideas in folder which can also store photos from other sources. There's a Task Tracker option available that can present a planning calendar based on wedding date, and a fairly easy way to e-mail tasks, ideas and status updates to others, and allow them to update their progress."

Features vary by product - iWedding Deluxe asks for the gender of both parties, then asks for a budget and wedding date. From there, you can select a detailed planner or a simpler version. You can enter cost estimates or the app can provide them. You can use your phone contacts list to create a guest list in Wedding PlanIt. You can also post photos linked to a wedding vendor. There's a free version that has the same features but comes with ads. Wedding Countdown is another free app. Wedding Organizer for Blackberry is comparable to Wedding PlanIt. It offers 17 categories of tasks and suggestions for prioritizing their completion. The app is less elegant than Brides Wedding Genius, and the photography is decidedly less impressive.

I'll be including more gemstones in my 2010 designs and also an assortment of CZs in some new pieces. In addition, I will offer several ring designs as well as new earrings and bracelets.

My aqua chalcedony pieces were big hits at the shows this Fall and there will be more designs for next year. There's a luminous quality to the aqua chalcedony and everyone seems to love the color. This stone would make terrific bridal jewelry, too - perfect for a winter or a spring wedding!

Many brides are interested in more economical wedding arrangements, but they still want to have a lovely special day. Since I design jewelry for brides and attendants, I'm often asked for suggestions on the wedding and reception. Here are a few ideas:

- Rent a gown or wear a pre-owned dress. There are a number of websites that offer good values on gowns and accessories.

- Consider a wedding planner-a good planner might actually save money. Also,having your event in the off-season can save big bucks in both the cost of the venue and associated costs. Hotel accomodations for your guests will cost less, too.Facilities that offer wedding coordinators and other services can save you a lot of money over hiring these services separately.

- Limit the number of guests and attendants

- Prioritize your to-dos and recruit your friends to help you. Do as many things yourself as you can.

- Forget the engraved invitations in favor of less formal notes. Choose a limited color scheme for your invitations, etc. - you'll save a lot on printing costs. Another way to save - don't have a program. You can also use the fonts on your computer and design your own invitations, etc., then get them printed at an on-line printer.

- Create your own dot.com - I'm seeing a lot of these and they really make sense. You can post all the details, photos, and more and e-mail to your friends and family.

- Gardens are great places to get married - but have a fall back in case of rain.

- Choose your own spot for the reception. Try a restaurant which already has all the facilities - not a rented hall.

- Forget the limo - it's an unnecessary added expense

- Make a checklist for everything that needs to be done - vendors, guests, venue, etc.,and check things off as all the details are completed. The checklist will really help you to stay on track with your planning and can save you from overlooking things that need to be done.

- Consider handmade decorations and jewelry

- Be creative with food ideas to reduce costs. You don't have to have a fancy wedding cake. You can use something else in place of the cake - a tower of pasteries, for example. Consider pre-made sheet cakes in different sizes that can be stacked and decorated economically. You can also get a small cake just for the bride and groom to share. Consider having a wedding breakfast instead of a fancy reception. One of yesterday's tips applies here - consider a restaurant instead of a rented hall.

- One of Martha Stewart's suggestions that I hearily second: buy the booze yourself and keep the champagne at the bar for those who request it (many people don't drink champagne so open bottles just go to waste. Alternatives - limit the bar to one particular signature "drink-of-the-day" or serve a really yummy punch instead - alcoholic and non-alcholic.

- Make-up tip: Martha Stewart suggests that if you use a make-up artist, you should ask them to leave you a touch-up kit (rather than having them stick around for hours). If your wedding look is done at a cosmetic counter, buy only the products that you'll use again and purchase sample quantities.

- You can rent your jewelry or use vintage pieces from your family and friends. Martha Stewart suggests borrowing something - a veil, earrings, etc. that will add meaning to your celebration while keeping costs contained.

Consider some of my vintage jewelry pieces.

- Look for a photographer whose work you like, but one who isn't in high demand for weddings. This goes for the band, too. Try a non-wedding band - it's generally cheaper. Plan to use taped music for parts of your big day.

- Use smaller flower arrangements and vases, even bud vases, rather than large showy baskets of flowers. Use large flowers to cut down on the number of flowers and look to local farmers for flowers for your arrangements. Attractively packaged potted plants will make great flowers for the tables and they can become take home gifts for your wedding party and guests. Use small corsages for bridesmaids and attendants rather than individual bouquets.

- When you select shoes and accessories, pick items that you will actually wear after the ceremony.

- Another idea from Martha - get on wedding gown designers' e-mail lists for updates on trunk shows and sample sales.

The New York Times recently ran a great article on rental runway fashions - a terrific way to save on fantastic clothes for a wedding or any other special occasion.

Rental and/or lightly used pre-owned dresses are great money saving options to consider when planning your wedding budget. There are a number of shops online that specialize in pre-owned wedding attire and accessories.