Celebrate Your Love! A guide to finding the perfect jewellery for your wedding
04 Aug 2020
With weddings back in the diary – whether IRL or courtesy of Zoom – we reckon that some of us may be more than ready to put a ring on it! Then add some earrings, perhaps a necklace… Yay!
The last few months have seen all of our lives put on hold, in all sorts of ways, many of them tragic of course. But love finds a way through the toughest of times and we will always want to celebrate it. They may be last-minute, they may be rather scaled-back, they may even be unanticipated… but weddings can now go ahead. All across the country you can almost hear stops being pulled out!
You may be doing a hurried search for an engagement ring or wedding bands, perhaps the dress has been chosen and hair-do decided on and you need the perfect ear candy (definitely the case for Zoom nuptials). And then there’s the bridesmaids’ jewellery, trinkets for flower girls and the groom’s cufflinks and tiepin… oh, and a little sparkly something to say ‘thank you’ to your mother for doing the flowers at scarily short notice, plus the lady next door for rustling up the cake!
And breathe.
Image: Gold vermeil and pearl earrings by Kate Wood
UK Jewellers are ready and excited to be able to help you once more. They have not been idle during lockdown – beautiful new collections are adorning windows and displays, boutiques have been given fresh new looks, staff are Covid-Safe trained and shop floors are, naturally, squeaky clean in line with government guidelines.
To be absolutely certain of the best possible service and welcome, look for those jewellers who are members of The National Association of Jewellers (NAJ), the UK’s leading jewellery trade association. Every NAJ member abides by its Code of Conduct based on honesty, integrity and professionalism. Peace of mind and confidence are worth their weight in gold – at any time, but especially now. Check out www.naj.co.uk/find-a-jeweller to discover NAJ members local to you, whatever it is you’re searching for.
However, if your head is full of flowers, favours and frock-fitting and you’re stressing about the venue, choosing jewellery may have crept down the to-do list. Which is why we’ve down a little scouting and surfing for you – no, don’t thank us… we’ve really enjoyed shopping for you.
Image: Hockley Mint wedding bands and commitment rings
1. Timeless classics
As jewellery choice is an intensely personal business, our reflections and suggestions are merely nudges in appealing and appropriate directions. Pearls, for instance, have long been associated with weddings – symbols of love and purity they are also incredibly flattering to all skin tones and compliment most styles of dress. And should you be thinking that they are rather old-fashioned or traditional… not so.
Pearls have been enjoying a fashion revival and should you wish for something more extravagant than simple studs (as lovely as they are) there are myriad pretty, elegant and stylish earrings and necklaces out there.
Lorna Haddon, head of Diamonds and Jewellery at national jewellery retailer Beaverbrooks agrees,
“If there’s one piece of jewellery perfect for weddings, it’s pearls. Once just a timeless classic, this beautiful gem has now become a modern icon.”
Left: 9ct white gold, diamonds and freshwater pearl pendant and earrings from Beaverbrooks; Right: 18ct gold, diamond and Akoya pearl earrings by Yoko Londo; Below: 'Emma-Kate' bracelet by Jersey Pearl at Ainsworth Jewellers
2. Engraved wedding rings
The colour, fabric and neckline of your dress will be decider and an NAJ jeweller is the perfect person to help you find the ideal accessory. They will also go the extra mile.
“We have had between 10 and 20 couples who had weddings booked this summer and had bought rings from us early in the year,” says Adam Jacobs of Jacobs the Jewellers in Reading.
“In trying circumstances for them, we felt it only right to re-engrave their wedding dates for them with our compliments. As an independent jeweller our remit goes above and beyond the normal expectations – we're looking after our clients all the way through their lives.”
Left: Platinum and black diamond wedding ring from Beaverbrooks; Right: Rose gold engagement ring from Laings; Below: Brown & Newirth eternity rings
3. Tokens of gratitude
If you had no choice but to cancel a Spring wedding, you were probably buoyed up by an army of friends and family members… maybe some were poised to be bridesmaids. So, say ‘thank you’ now with a gift to express love, friendship and gratitude. Vixi’s ‘Good Vibes’ Superstar friendship bracelets, for instance, are perfect gifts to remind how precious friend connections are. They come in different colours each with a meaning, adding a deeper significance to the bracelet.
Left: Freshwater pearl charm bracelet by Little Star; Right: Friendship bracelet byVixi Jewellery; Below: Little Star
4. Re-worked inherited jewellery
There’s little more meaningful and poignant than precious jewellery inherited from a loved one… but it may not always be quite right for its new owner. Like more and more jewellers today, Wakefields of Horsham has its own workshop and has the solution. “Re-working parents’ or grandparents’ gold and jewellery is a huge trend,” says owner and qualified gemologist Melanie Wakefield. “To many of our clients the meaning and sentiment is almost more important than the look – it’s the story behind the piece!”
Image: Yellow gold three-stone ring with matching wedding band and gent's band, from Jacobs the Jewellers
Stockists Details
All the jewellery featured here can be found in selected NAJ-member jewellery stores across the country, as well as on-line. Visit naj.co.uk/find-a-jeweller to find one close to you.
Find a Jeweller
You can also visit these designers directly: www.kitheath.com www.littlestarjewellery.com
For Kate Wood Jewellery: Alum & Sidaway, Dorchester; Diana Porter, Bristol; Element jewellery, Hebden Bridge; Goodman Morris, Brighton; Christopher Wharton, Cambridge and St Albans.
Source: The NAJ