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Archive for the ‘Bespoke Bridal Accessories’ Category

Bespoke Hairvine – Full of Sparkle

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Hair vines seem to be one of the things that brides request often as a bespoke item.  This one was a pleasure to create and it was something different to the norm.  It’s a lot wider than I usually design and a lot longer.  What made this challenge easy is that I had a bride to be who had a good idea of what she wanted and how she was planning on wearing it.

If you’re not aware of my normal process for creating bespoke wedding accessories then after the bride has given me a broad idea of what they’re after, I’ll create rough sketch and which is emailed with a quote. If they’re happy with the design and price, I’ll take a deposit and crack on with the work.  When it’s completed, I’ll take a photo and send it to the bride and if she’s ecstatic, the remaining money is paid and it’s posted out to her.

So now I’ve explained my process, I’ll show you the hair vine.

bespoke hair vine

This vine has a total length of 12 inches and a width of 2 inches.  It’s been designed to wrap around a lose bun that the bride was wearing at high at the back of the head. It helps that the bride had a good idea of how she wanted to wear her hair.  For me this is one of the things that should really be decided before shopping for wedding hair accessories as it gives you a good idea of the size the accessory needs to be and what type would be best suited.

If you want something created for you then this page explains my process in full: Bespoke Hair Accessories.

Wedding Jewellery – From Something Old to Something New

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

I love creating new pieces of wedding jewellery, in fact, it’s the designing and the reaction I get from brides that I love the most. My most recent design challenge was to take something old and turn it into some new, incorporating something blue as well.

I was given 2 crystal necklace which belonged to the brides grandmothers. They were broken and the crystals needed a good clean, so I didn’t bother me to destroy them further to get at the crystal beads.

I always have a few questions for the bride before I suggest anything, these are normally along the lines of the style and embellishments on the dress, the type of jewellery they normally like, for example chunky or delicate and most importantly their budget.

After plenty of emails, I had a good idea of exactly what she was after, she loved the sparkle of the crystals but we thought pearl would also look great with her dress and tie in with the crystal and fresh water pendants she’d previously purchased from me for her bridesmaids. Her dress was embellished with tiny Azure Swarovski crystals so I added those to the design too, giving her the something blue.

I sometimes start with a design that I have on the website and we take it from there, so her tiara was based on the Crystal and Pearl Bridal Tiara but the Swarovski crystals were swapped for the crystals from the 2 necklaces and the tiny Azure crystals were also added in. You can see the finished image below:

 

pearl and crystal tiara

After the tiara was created I moved onto the bridal necklace which was losely based on the Crystal Fountain Necklace.

Pearl and Crystal Necklace
The round clear AB crystal are from the old necklaces which had graduating sizes of crystal so I’ve used a mixture of different sizes in this wedding necklace.

The design of the bridal bracelet and earrings were completely new designs and you can see them below
pearl and crystal bridal earrings
pearl and crystal bracelet

If you want me to create new wedding jewellery for you out of old jewellery or something completely bespoke then drop me an email by using the contact form

Bespoke Calla Lily Headband

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Our calla lily side tiaras as quite popular with brides and bridesmaids, infact Julie had bought 2 calla lily hair vines and a side tiara before she contacted me to make her a bespoke calla lily side tiara with more calla lilies and more crystals.

I adapted this design of the calla lily headband

calla lily headband

To the one below with more frosted calla lilies and Swarovski crystals. Here’s the only photo I managed to successfully take of it.  You might not be able to see but the calla lily headband in the photo above has a single row of Swarovski crystals along the band where as the one I created for Julie has double crystals along the band in various sizes adding extra sparkle.  There are more crystal branches too with crystals between the calla lilies as well as after to decorate the area directly above the head.

Calla lily side tiara
As always I sent a photo to Julie before I posted it so she knew exactly what she was getting. Julie emailed me after she received the wedding headband to say:

“Just received my headband it’s just what I wanted,and looks perfect on. Thanks for all your help and communication, your service has been first class and I will be sure to recommend you”

If like Julie you want something bespoke created for you then feel free to contact me and we’ll work together to create something within your budget.

More Bespoke Bridal Accessories

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Last month I seem to get snowballed with bespoke orders for bridal accessories, but I wanted to blog about this one in particular for 2 reasons, the first is why the bride in question wanted bespoke bridal accessories, the second because this bride (like most of the others) was a pleasure to work with.

About a month ago I receive an email from Linda asking whether I could make a bespoke bracelet and earrings to match a necklace that she had already had.  The necklace was her fiance’s late grandmothers and she couldn’t find anything to match it anywhere.  The reason for this was probably the unusual shape of the crystal. She emailed me this photo so I could see for myself and I offered to see if I could find something similar.

I have to admit, it wasn’t a shape of Swarovski crystal I was familiar with and I was also aware that since this was an old necklace this crystal shape was probably discontinued, but I continued searching and after spending hours on the internet, I’d found a shape of crystal similar to the ones in her necklace and located a supplier in the states.  I emailed Linda with front and side images of the crystal and advised they weren’t an exact match.  She was more than happy to go ahead with her bespoke bridal accessories, I’ve posted the images below.

If you’re looking to match your bridal accessories around a particular item such as a family heirloom or your wedding colours, then feel free to contact me to discuss your needs for bespoke bridal accessories.

Bespoke Bridal Accessories

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

April brought more requests for bespoke bridal accessories then ever before so I’ve been working closely with a lot of brides.  One bride in particular, wanted to keep the same design of the Crystal Sparkle Tiara, the Woven Swarovski Crystal Wedding Bracelet and the Emma Crystal Wedding Earrings but wanted them mainly in clear with a few clear AB crystals incorporated in to give extra sparkle but without being over the top.  The difference between the clear and clear AB Swarovski crystals is that the clear AB have a coating on them which reflects a rainbow of colours and increases the sparkle.  Many brides love these while others prefer to tone down the sparkle by using the Clear crystal.  I’m often asked which is better but it’s down to personal preference and the crystals should match any that you have in you other wedding jewellery or on your wedding dress.  I’ve posted an image of all the bespoke bridal accessories that she bought.

The clear AB crystals aren’t so obvious in this photo but that’s what the bride wanted, just a smattering to increase the sparkle, they are mainly focused around the bottom of the tiara, the middle of the bracelet and the larger crystals on the earrings.

I’m also waiting on specialist Swarovski crystals from the States to create a matching bracelet and earrings for a bride who is wearing her fiance’s grandmothers crystal necklace as part of her wedding jewellery, so I’ll post a photo once the crystals have arrived.  I thought it was a very nice touch to wear her fiance’s family’s heirloom and I’m sure it will help to make them feel like his grandmother is still with them on their wedding day.

Another bride wanted to incorporate two different hair vines and make it longer as she wanted to wrap it into her hair in a particular way.  At the moment I’m waiting on diamante flowers from China, so again I’ll post a picture once that’s made.

I think one of the reasons I love making bespoke bridal accessories is that it provides me with a new challenge and enables me to design something new with a particular person in mind, so if you are looking bridal accessories that will be unique to you, why don’t you email me and see what can be created for your budget.