My Jade Bridal Jewellery

Choosing your bridal jewellery can be a real thinker. Do you go for something sparkly and obvious, or do you have something sentimental you want to include, or do you think completely outside the box and wear something uber trendsome like pompoms? 

It was a bit of a no brainer for me though. My beautiful jade stone and leopard print 18ct yellow gold engagement ring, designed and made especially for me by the amazing Wongs in Liverpool, has basically been the inspiration for our whole wedding since Tim popped it on my finger 2 years ago, so I decided to extend the look to the rest of my bridal jewelz. Isn't it just amazing? We went through the entire design process with Wongs and as I've never had bespoke jewellery made just for me before, I couldn't believe it turned out so perfectly! It's literally everything I love in one piece of jewellery and has totally turned my head to the joys of one off designs.

My mum passed 15 years ago, and amongst her possessions was a tubular jade bracelet. My grandad was Chinese, and as a kid I just remember jade being everywhere in our family. We all had various pieces of jade jewellery from pendants to bangles, in gorgeous greens and pretty pinks, and rather recklessly we pretty much all accidentally smashed a few of those delicate pieces over time. Yet here it was in her jewellery box, this one remaining piece and I don't even remember seeing her wear it, so I kept it safe but I never wore it because it was too small for me. Anyhoo, while considering my 'something old', I remembered my mum's bracelet in my stash and decided to ask Wongs to extend it for me so I could wear it on my big day. Wongs has been making Liverpool sparkle for 35 years and they are just the loveliest gem of a team that you'll ever meet, so there's no-one else I would go to even for such a simple job. You're always greeted with a hug and they are always personally invested in your story no matter how small the job or purchase. As I explained to Jenny in the store, this way I feel like my mum would be with me on my special day. As always, they did a beautiful job constructing a matching gold tube link rather than just adding a few links, and it's just perfect! Tim bought it as my wedding gift, sealing the deal on the special link from her to us :)

Since Tim gave me the ring, I've always said I'd love matching earring studs in either jade stone or leopard print gold to match it. 18ct gold bespoke jewellery isn't cheap though, so while it's something that will always be on my wishlist, I'm now thinking maybe for a future anniversary because I can't justify us spending that much on frosting for my ears right now. Regardless, I needed wedding earrings and I kind of wanted jade to give it that triangle look of hand - hand - head (I'm not wearing a necklace as my dress has a high neck, and that's all the clues you're getting!), so I started searching the internet. There were a few interesting (but scary!) stores online but I very quickly found that jade is often paired with the most bizarre designs and not all of them are very stylish (flip flop shaped jade earrings anyone?), which is such a shame as the stone itself is so beautiful! I was simply after a pair of jade cabochon gold studs, to give the illusion of matching my ring despite not being the same gold or stone. Then I found Gemondo, gemstone specialists from Surrey, and they had exactly what I was looking for. Sure the stones are different in colour again from both my ring and bracelet, but this is the beauty of jade and as each piece will be a small distance from each other I know we'll get away with it. The earrings arrived boxed and accompanied with a certificate of authenticity, which is a nice touch when you're buying online. I would definitely buy from them again, they have some really pretty pieces.

So this is my bridal set, what do you think? Obvs my wedding ring isn't here, but you get the idea, I'm all about the gold and green and I'm really happy with how they look together! 

We now have just over 2 months to go to our Chester Zoo wedding! Pretty much everything is sorted with just a few final appointments left to do like food tasting, the pre-wedding photoshoot, hair and make-up trials and another dress fitting with Steph of FAIIINT, but overall I'm feeling pretty relaxed about it all so far. Exciting stuff huh?! 

J xoxo