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Did you wear heirloom jewelry on your wedding day?

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jewelerman

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Did you wear an inherited piece of jewelry on your wedding day or did you pick new pieces especially for the wedding or to specifically go with your dress? Do you plan on passing these pieces down to your children on their wedding day?What makes these pieces special?
 
I wore a string of pearls (given to me by my mother) on my wedding day and passed them down to my daughter for her senior pictures. So far they are in 2 important photos and I hope the tradition will continue.
 
My original ER was made of my hubby''s grandmother''s ER diamond. This diamond will be passed on to my daughter on her wedding day either for her ER or as a pendant or other piece of jewelry.
 
My string of pearls is an add-a-pearl, so some of the pearls were given to my grandma from my grandpa after he served in the south pacific during wwII - so, technically, yes, I wore heirloom jewelry. My mom bought me my earrings as an engagement gift, so those were new..er/wband were new..so most of what I wore was new. I also carried a wedding fan that all the women in DH''s family have carried since 1840, which I absolutely loved, so while it''s not jewelry, it was an heirloom :)
 
I wore my grandmother''s engagement ring embroidered between my breasts on my weddin day/
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I wore my great-grandmother''s pearl brooch. (I also carried a lace handkerchief that had belonged to another great-grandmother).

Here''s the brooch. It also has a loop on the back, so I wore it as a pendant.

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My "something borrowed" was a family heirloom from my maid of honor. My maid of honor was my college roommate and her father was from India. She had two solid gold beautifully carved bangle bracelets that belonged to her grandmother in India. I wore one on each wrist.
 
I wore a carved ivory rose pendant from about 1919 on a silk ribbon. My grandmother gave it to my mother. I wore it to my proms, and was wearing it the night I kissed DH for the first time. Lots of meaning in it!
 
At a recent family wedding, almost all the cousins (and some of the aunts) were wearing pieces of my late grandmother''s jewelry. I had a great time identifying all the pieces and reminescing about grandma!
 
I wore all heirloom jewelry (diamond earrings from the 19th century that were brought from Russia when my great-great grandparents came over to the US). They matched the dress well. I also wore my grandmother''s baptism cross which is russian orthodox (I am catholic). It did not match at all, but she wore the cross from her baptism until the day she died, and my mother asked me to wear it for her...and I did...
 
SanDiegoLady-I promise to post pics as soon as I get them (in fact, that is stressing me out more than you know! I am dying for pics!!!!)....
 
I wore a diamond bracelet that DH gave me while we were dating. It had belonged to his grandmother, and she gave it to him when he was still in high-school and told him to give it to whoever he marries. (His ex-wife didn''t get it . . . can''t imagine why!
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)

Sadly, it broke a little while ago, and I''ve had it fixed twice, but the fix didn''t last and it keeps re-breaking. So, it''s just sitting in my jewelry box right now.
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I bought mostly new jewelry for my wedding. We got married in Maui, and I was in a really breezy silk dress, so I didn''t want anything overpowering. I ended up with a pearl drop necklace on a multistrand white gold chain, and simple pearl drop earrings. I have 2 holes in each ear, and had totally forgotten to get small studs, so my sister ended up buying me little pearl studs on the beach as we were walking to get my hair done.
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My somethin new was REALLY new, LOL.

I did have my grammy''s star sapphire pendent on an anklet as my something old and blue. I wanted to have it on me, but it didn''r really go with the rest of the jewelry.
 
My grandfather gave my grandmother a beautiful gold and enameled compact for a wedding gift in 1922. My mother carried it in her wedding bouquet in 1961, and I had it in my bouquet in 1987. My daughter is already talking about carrying it in her wedding.
 
My grandmother has a silver pin she considers "lucky". On my wedding day she was resolved to stick that pin somewhere on my dress but I offered resistance since at that point we were running late and plus I didn''t want to be accidentally pierced by the pin and instead of "I do" to scream "Oh no!" After a brief but fierce struggle my grandma managed to stick the pin...in my bra. lol Well, I gave up and decided to take the pin off when she is not looking but I completely forgot about it. My hubby saw the pin later and the look on his face was just priceless. He was like "Wtf?!" Seconds later we were laughing so hard we alsmost suffocated. So yes, after all I did wear a heirloom piece of jewellery on my wedding day
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No, everything that I wore was new.
 
I don''t have any heirloom jewellery. I''m now making up for it by collecting other people''s. I wanted to wear something but there really just isn''t any. My grandmother gave me a purse to carry as she''s collected family''s wedding purses over the years so I got my pick of those. I didn''t carry it though, I''m not a purse person - DH has jacket pockets for a reason!
 
I dont have any heirloom jewelry either, but I did wear my mother in laws pearls, so it covered my sometime borrowed
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My "something old/borrowed" (can I combine? eh, I'm not superstitious--it's just fun!) is my great-grandmother's wedding ring (wearing it as a RHR), but other than that my stuff will be new.
 
My mikimoto pearls were from the 1940''s but they were my own. The tiara was from 1923, but again I bought it.

The pendant from them and the earrings were wedding presents from FI.

I lent my mother my second set of mikis for my wedding day though!
 
Pandora,
please post pictures!
 
Here''s a photo from the wedding.

My earrings are sphene studs with pearl drops.

The necklace is my mikimoto pearls with a sphene pendant. I had to attach the pendant with silk as I couldn''t think of another way. I used a piece of very fine gold wire to attach the pearls to the earrings.

The tiara is made of wax flowers and is incredibly fragile. Queen Victoria wore a similar one for her wedding. I have a second one that is much taller, which I''ll post a close up of.

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Close up of tiara:

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BEAUTIFUL wedding jewelry!
 
Wow, Pandora-that is just beautiful!

I wore an antique pin of my grandmother''s with a blue stone (not sure what it is, probably not financially valuable) pinned about my train as my ''something blue''. I also wore a diamond bracelet of my husband''s aunts as my ''something borrowed''. I was so scared of losing it that I gave it back to her at the reception.
 
I wore my grandmother''s rose gold and Alexandrite ring which she brought over from the USSR sewn into her clothes. As a kid, I would stare at it for hours and I was honored to wear it in her memory at my wedding.

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scuna,
What a great story!...and a great ring.Tell us more about the ring and more about your grand mothers story!
My grandmother was a farmers wife and lived through several wars and the depression, having her hushand in WW1,her oldest son in WW2 and youngest in Vietnam.She lost her home and possessions in two disasters(1917 and 1976)and buried 2 of her children and husband before 1965....the single pearl pendant and 10 point diamond engagement ring that survived through the years were cherished because they represented everything she went through.
Date: 8/25/2008 11:07:46 PM
Author: scuna
I wore my grandmother''s rose gold and Alexandrite ring which she brought over from the USSR sewn into her clothes. As a kid, I would stare at it for hours and I was honored to wear it in her memory at my wedding.
Click to expand...
 
Jewelerman,

I actually choked up at your story. It''s true....memories survive when so many other people and things may get lost.

Well, my grandma died in 1985 (at a young 58 years old) just a few years after we came to the US. From what I know about her jewels, my grandpa bought some beautiful pieces for her, this one being the one I was given upon her death. I''d ask my grandpa about them now, but, at 80, he doesn''t remember very much anymore.

Rose gold tends to appear frequently in Russian/Ukrainian/pretty much any Slavic country jewelry. I don''t know much about Alexandrite, but, being borne of a superstitious people, I was always told that Alexandrite is the stone of "solitude". Meaning, if you wear it, you''ll stay single. So, unable to help the creeping superstition, I rarely wore it...plus, it''s rather huge and takes up a knuckle. But, for one day, the day I got married, I had to honor her memory in some physical way and this was the only way that felt right. Because she wore it for special occasions.

There I go tearing up again....

She also had two antique marquise style rings, one only diamonds, and the other, with sapphires. One went to my mother and the other to my aunt. I will be getting those two, also (eventually)....
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Thanks for the interest, as this was my very first post on PS.
 
My grandmother wore a headpiece much like Pandora''s when she married my grandfather before WWII. He died during the war and she never remarried. My sisters and I wore pieces of that headpiece in our hair and veils at our weddings. For the ring exchange, DH gave me a ring that he "purchased" from my grandmother, (Jewish ceremony dictates that your ring be worth more than two silver pieces) I purchased my father''s ring from him to give to DH. Dad had never worn his ring. I also had a pin of my Nana''s in the bouquet and used her purse for asprin and lipgloss that day. I really wanted to use things from everyone...but I learned my lesson at a sister''s wedding, don''t carry a handkerchief of a recently departed loved one...it just makes you cry more when you take it out.
 
Date: 8/28/2008 7:29:54 PM
Author: swimmer
My grandmother wore a headpiece much like Pandora''s when she married my grandfather before WWII. He died during the war and she never remarried. My sisters and I wore pieces of that headpiece in our hair and veils at our weddings. For the ring exchange, DH gave me a ring that he ''purchased'' from my grandmother, (Jewish ceremony dictates that your ring be worth more than two silver pieces) I purchased my father''s ring from him to give to DH. Dad had never worn his ring. I also had a pin of my Nana''s in the bouquet and used her purse for asprin and lipgloss that day. I really wanted to use things from everyone...but I learned my lesson at a sister''s wedding, don''t carry a handkerchief of a recently departed loved one...it just makes you cry more when you take it out.
Click to expand...
SWIMMER,
Great story.So how did you determine how much to offer your grandmother and father for their rings?
 
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