The right jewelry can add personality and style to your wedding dress, ensuring it looks like it’s truly your own. It’s an important part of your wedding day attire, so choosing the right pieces is crucial. But how do you know which jewelry is perfect for your big day?
To help you find your wedding day jewelry, we’ve rounded up some dos and don’ts from our jewelry experts. These tips will help you learn what you should be looking for, as well as how you’ll know when you’ve found the right combination of pieces.
Keep in mind that these aren’t rules you need to follow. The most important thing about bridal jewelry is that you love it. These dos and don’ts are simply designed to help you find what you love more easily.
DO Embrace Your Jewelry Favorites
Not sure where to start when shopping for wedding jewelry? Try looking for elevated versions of jewelry you already know you like to wear. For example, if you always wear stud earrings, consider wearing studs, but choosing a more intricate or eye-catching pair than you typically would. Or, if you always wear chandelier earrings, now is an excellent opportunity to wear your most dazzling pair yet.
Wearing the types of pieces you already know and love can help you feel more comfortable on your big day. While it can be tempting to reach for jewelry that’s different from what you usually wear, most people find that they prefer the look of jewelry that suits their personal style. Don’t feel pressured by trends or traditions. Just focus on finding pieces that speak to you.
DON’T Go Overboard
When it comes to bridal jewelry, less is usually more. Your wedding dress probably already makes quite a statement, so you don’t necessarily want to layer up on bold jewelry that might compete with your dress.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to wear either all simple pieces or one statement piece alongside simple pieces. For example, if you want to wear a statement necklace, keep your earrings and rings more understated.
Wearing multiple bold pieces of jewelry can still work if you have a minimalist wedding gown or a maximalist sense of style. Just be mindful of how everything you choose to wear works together.
DO Use Your Ring for Inspiration
If you’re looking at wedding jewelry options and aren’t sure where to begin, take inspiration from your engagement ring and wedding band. Look for pieces with the same precious metal, gemstone color, stone shape, and design style as your bridal set. While you don’t have to choose bridal jewelry that perfectly matches your wedding rings, exploring similar designs is a great place to start.
DON’T Buy Jewelry Before You Have Your Dress
It’s not a good idea to buy your wedding jewelry before you’ve found your wedding dress. The details of your dress are going to dictate which jewelry looks best with it, so buying jewelry beforehand is often a waste. You could buy a beautiful bracelet, but then end up choosing a long-sleeved bridal gown that you wouldn’t want to wear a bracelet with.
Your dress’s sleeve length, neckline, hemline, color or shade of white, and overall style can all make a big difference when it comes to the types of jewelry you want to wear. The hairstyle you want to wear with your dress can also affect your jewelry choices. So, while you don’t want to wait until the last minute to buy your jewelry, you should wait until you’ve picked your dress.
DO Consider Other Accessories
Thinking about how your bridal accessories will work together is an essential aspect of creating a wedding outfit you love. This includes not only your wedding jewelry, but also your shoes, wedding veil, bridal bouquet, and any additional hair accessories. Be sure to try on everything together to see how you feel about the combination of tones, stones, and styles.
DON’T Wait Until the Last Minute
If you start thinking about your wedding jewelry early in the wedding planning process, you’ll have plenty of time to find pieces you love. Ideally, you want to have jewelry options to try on at your wedding dress fittings. This will help you see what does and doesn’t work, and give you time to find alternatives if needed.
DO Take Pictures Before the Event
How can you tell when you’ve found the right wedding jewelry? You may know right away once you’ve tried everything on together. However, if you’re at all unsure, we recommend doing picture tests.
Take pictures of your wedding day attire options at your fittings. This will give you an idea of how each piece of jewelry will look with your gown. Additionally, it can help you see your look a bit more objectively. Maybe the dangly pearl earrings you thought were too much actually look perfect in pictures–or maybe you were right to think the classic pair of diamond stud earrings looked much better.
Even if you’re fairly sure you already found the right jewelry pieces, it’s a good idea to take pictures of your wedding attire before the event. Seeing how your jewelry choices photograph might change your opinion on them. Wedding photographs last forever, so you want to love how your jewelry looks in person and in photos.
DON’T Let Others Pressure You
People have a lot of opinions about what others should wear on their wedding day. However, try not to let other people pressure you into wearing what they think you should wear.
This issue often comes up due to generational differences, but it can also be the result of someone simply wanting you to adhere to their own personal preferences. Someone might tell you the bride must wear simple diamond earrings, a strand of pearls, and a diamond tennis bracelet. Or they might tell you that you need to match your yellow gold engagement ring, so you can’t wear the white gold or silver jewelry you’ve been eying.
But, really, you don’t need to follow anyone else’s rules when it comes to your wedding day look. Yes, your wedding is a formal event, but you don’t have to wear a specific type of jewelry based on someone else’s idea of tradition or formality. Don’t feel pressured to wear or not wear something based on someone else’s opinion.
There is wedding etiquette that some people may want to follow when choosing their jewelry–but we’re talking about wedding guest jewelry etiquette. Wedding guest attire should follow the golden rule of dressing for a wedding, which is making sure it doesn’t look like you’re trying to outshine the happy couple. But when you’re a part of the happy couple, you should feel free to wear whatever you like on your big day.
DO Go With Your Gut
Last but not least, remember to go with your gut. There is no one-size-fits all wedding day jewelry. This is a very personal decision for an incredibly special event, and only you can know when you’ve found the perfect piece. If something doesn’t feel quite right, keep looking. You’ll know when you’ve found the one.