Pretend diaminds are a girl's best friend.

Sometimes I make a big deal out of nothing. Unfortunately, my wedding jewelry turned into one of those things.

I guess the real problem is that I was very torn about what kind of bride I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be all glitz and glamour. I also didn’t want to be boring. A friend of ours who got married in New Orleans wore a beautiful purple necklace and it was a very fun and refreshing part of her wedding attire. The problem with not doing something classic is that you run the risk of looking back at your wedding photos and saying “What was I thinking!” I was nervous that I would regret my decision later... as we've discussed before, I am not very brave. I found something that I thought was a perfect balance of glamour and simplicity at Ann Taylor.

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It seemed too soon to buy it and I wanted to wait until I had a coupon or something. Then, out of nowhere, Ann Taylor pulled it from their stores and website. 

Cue the bridal mania.

I looked everywhere to find a replacement. I looked over hundreds of pieces of jewelry on the internet and went to Bloomingdales and Nordstrom countless times… I found one (just ONE!) bracelet and one pair of earrings that I thought I liked. It turned out that Wes didn’t like them together. I know it shouldn’t matter what he thinks, but it does. So, I returned a bracelet and kept these earrings.

I really wanted a specific kind of bracelet and in my head I could imagine what I thought it should look like. I found similar things, but nothing was quite right. That would be the only time that Etsy sellers have ever failed me. So, I decided to make it myself. I bought beads from China which took a month to get here. Then, I taught myself jewelry making. But, all the effort was worth it because it came out beautiful. See?

I used 8mm and 10mm beads on Eightjewelry's shop on Etsy. I purchased the jewlery tools from Artbeads.com. I bought silver wire (half hard, 22 gage) with a coupon at Michaels. And finally, I used this tutorial from Artbead.

THEN, the original jewelry I loved came back to Ann Taylor. I was pretty aggravated about it. I had to order the jewelry because I had a 20% coupon and more importantly, I would never be able to relax if I didn’t see them in person. I got them in the mail and… they weren’t what I expected. They were much more glitzy than the website lets on. I returned them and the good news is that it made me feel that much more confident about my DIY bracelet.

I also found another pair of earrings to wear during the ceremony because I want something simpler with my veil. My veil will come off during the reception and I will change into my party earrings.

So, here it is all together.

I don’t know why, but the things you least expect to drive you crazy during the wedding planning process always end up being the “thing”. I care too much – that’s my problem. But, I guess I wouldn’t be Megan if I wasn’t like that.

If you need me to make you some jewelry, let me know! Because I have some crafty wire curling skills now. J