Mara
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 31,003
After agonizing for about 7 months on what to wear for the wedding...I finally bit the bullet and bought the set today.
As some of you know, most of my agony stemmed around not being able to find a 'set' that worked for me. I didn't want to piecemeal the earrings with the necklace, I wanted them to really match.
At first I wanted to have real diamonds, and use the set as an heirloom for our kids, or if not...my sisters children or similar. In the family. Plus it gave me a great excuse to spend more $$ on real diamonds.
I found a beautiful set at Fortunoff but it was $800 for both pieces. I could have most likely had my mother buy me one piece and Greg the other (for gifts), but I decided to look around some more and see what else I could find that would be 1/2 that price...more easily justifiable.
Nothing surfaced. Alj and I spent many a night online together searching out piece after piece after piece. We traversed every internet site known to man and woman to find the perfect set. I knew what I liked, what I didn't...but either what I liked didn't have a matching set of earrings or necklace OR was too pricey.
The wedding is 7 weeks away...and I have had to start making some quick decisions because I have procrastinated so long (e.g. I just bought a cathedral veil on eBay a week ago for $40...) about not knowing what to do for certain small details like this. I work best under pressure like this because it forces me to make the hard decisions rather than letting me view 'all the options', esp when I have exhausted 'all the options'...
In the recent weeks I have been looking at crystal jewelry, in particular aurora borealis crystals and similar, because I love the sparkle of crystals, the price is right, and it doesn't *scream* typical wedding jewelry at me. Had a few options online but nothing solid yet.
So today my MOH and I went shopping for BM shoes (and my wedding shoes as a side project), at Nordstrom, an upscale department store. They also have a great costume jewelry section, so I wanted to see if anything popped at me while we were looking at shoes.
While waiting for my MOH to arrive, I checked out the jewelry and immediately a few pieces struck my eye. I had never seen aurora borealis crystals in person, only online and one of my concerns was that they would be TOO colorful and sparkly. For those who don't know what they are, they are crystals which look infused with all the colors of the rainbow.
The ones that caught my eye at the store were AB crystals. There were a few beautiful necklaces on display, and one in particular. I tried it on and loved it. Tried on another one as my MOH walked up and loved that one more. Got her opinion, we settled on the first neckalce (the 2nd was amazing but it was more *striking* rather than *romantic*), and then set out in search of earrings. Here is where I'd always been foiled in the past.
We looked around, asked for help, etc. Seemed like all the earrings we found were in other colors, or regular crystals, but nothing in AB! There was an amazing drop set we loved but only in other colors! I was starting to feel discouraged again...we had enlisted the help of a saleslady who found a pair by another maker, we tried them and agreed that they looked too 'strong' compared to the delicacy of the necklace. At this point, I was trying to figure out if I could deal with them NOT matching exactly...AGAIN....just for the sake of buying something, esp since I loved the necklace.
Then the saleslady held up a pair in front of me. The matched set!! They were perfect! She found them over by the necklaces, I said "HOW did I miss that?!" She just smiled. Tried them on. PERFECT.
So I bought the set and that just made my afternoon. We also found some cool BM shoes that we may get, and I also found my wedding shoes that I am picking up tomorrow from another Nordstrom. But the jewelry was the BIG coup.
YAY!
Thanks to everyone who tried so diligently by giving suggestions on this particular issue the last few months, and especially Alj for the thousands of hours of work...I know she was hoping to be the one to find THE set to repay me for helping keep her sane during the choosing of her engagement stone, but I've got other projects for her now.
So I'll post a few pix next. Yay! I showed it to Greg and he loved it too (but has not seen the dress!).
Oh and the set was only $145.
As some of you know, most of my agony stemmed around not being able to find a 'set' that worked for me. I didn't want to piecemeal the earrings with the necklace, I wanted them to really match.
At first I wanted to have real diamonds, and use the set as an heirloom for our kids, or if not...my sisters children or similar. In the family. Plus it gave me a great excuse to spend more $$ on real diamonds.
I found a beautiful set at Fortunoff but it was $800 for both pieces. I could have most likely had my mother buy me one piece and Greg the other (for gifts), but I decided to look around some more and see what else I could find that would be 1/2 that price...more easily justifiable.
Nothing surfaced. Alj and I spent many a night online together searching out piece after piece after piece. We traversed every internet site known to man and woman to find the perfect set. I knew what I liked, what I didn't...but either what I liked didn't have a matching set of earrings or necklace OR was too pricey.
The wedding is 7 weeks away...and I have had to start making some quick decisions because I have procrastinated so long (e.g. I just bought a cathedral veil on eBay a week ago for $40...) about not knowing what to do for certain small details like this. I work best under pressure like this because it forces me to make the hard decisions rather than letting me view 'all the options', esp when I have exhausted 'all the options'...
In the recent weeks I have been looking at crystal jewelry, in particular aurora borealis crystals and similar, because I love the sparkle of crystals, the price is right, and it doesn't *scream* typical wedding jewelry at me. Had a few options online but nothing solid yet.
So today my MOH and I went shopping for BM shoes (and my wedding shoes as a side project), at Nordstrom, an upscale department store. They also have a great costume jewelry section, so I wanted to see if anything popped at me while we were looking at shoes.
While waiting for my MOH to arrive, I checked out the jewelry and immediately a few pieces struck my eye. I had never seen aurora borealis crystals in person, only online and one of my concerns was that they would be TOO colorful and sparkly. For those who don't know what they are, they are crystals which look infused with all the colors of the rainbow.
The ones that caught my eye at the store were AB crystals. There were a few beautiful necklaces on display, and one in particular. I tried it on and loved it. Tried on another one as my MOH walked up and loved that one more. Got her opinion, we settled on the first neckalce (the 2nd was amazing but it was more *striking* rather than *romantic*), and then set out in search of earrings. Here is where I'd always been foiled in the past.
We looked around, asked for help, etc. Seemed like all the earrings we found were in other colors, or regular crystals, but nothing in AB! There was an amazing drop set we loved but only in other colors! I was starting to feel discouraged again...we had enlisted the help of a saleslady who found a pair by another maker, we tried them and agreed that they looked too 'strong' compared to the delicacy of the necklace. At this point, I was trying to figure out if I could deal with them NOT matching exactly...AGAIN....just for the sake of buying something, esp since I loved the necklace.
Then the saleslady held up a pair in front of me. The matched set!! They were perfect! She found them over by the necklaces, I said "HOW did I miss that?!" She just smiled. Tried them on. PERFECT.
So I bought the set and that just made my afternoon. We also found some cool BM shoes that we may get, and I also found my wedding shoes that I am picking up tomorrow from another Nordstrom. But the jewelry was the BIG coup.
Thanks to everyone who tried so diligently by giving suggestions on this particular issue the last few months, and especially Alj for the thousands of hours of work...I know she was hoping to be the one to find THE set to repay me for helping keep her sane during the choosing of her engagement stone, but I've got other projects for her now.
So I'll post a few pix next. Yay! I showed it to Greg and he loved it too (but has not seen the dress!).
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