If your wedding is coming up, there’s no better time than now to start thinking about what you are going to wear. Most women’s main concerns are either their dress or the shoes they are going to wear. However, jewelry and accessories deserve just as much attention. Rather than buying jewelry that is available to everyone, however, why not get yourself something a little more special? Handcrafted jewelry is without a doubt one of the best ways to accentuate your wedding outfit, and this post plans to tell you why.
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Higher Level of Care
Most jewelry is made using machines. Jewelry that has been manufactured by machine does not tend to last as long as handcrafted pieces do. This is because a higher level of care is put into handmade jewelry and materials are of a higher quality. For example, handmade designer jewelry by John S. is made out of sustainable materials by skilled artisans. Because of how expensive jewelry is, you need to do everything you can to get the best deal possible. Jewelry that is made by hand out of high-quality materials is obviously better than mass-produced pieces made using unsustainable materials, i.e., precious metals mined unethically.
In addition to a higher level of care, buying jewelry from a producer that makes all of their stock by hand has the added benefit of being repairable. If you buy jewelry directly from the artisan that made it, they should be able to repair it for you either free of charge if you have a warranty, or for a low cost. Sending jewelry directly to the manufacturer for repairs is obviously better than taking it to a high street jeweler. Manufacturer repairs are typically cheaper than jeweler repairs, too.
Personalized Designs
One of the greatest advantages of buying handmade jewelry is that it’s often possible to personalize designs. You can ask the jewelry designer you plan on purchasing something from to personalize an existing piece for you (or to make one from scratch). By ‘personalization,’ this post is referring to the act of having names or characters etched into jewelry. Etching a person’s name into jewelry is something an independent jeweler will be able to do quickly and affordably. Large multinational companies still offer services of this kind, but they tend to charge a lot more, not to mention they have longer turnaround times.
Make sure that if you are going to personalize jewelry you take time to think about what you are going to have engraved. The worst thing you can do is rush the selection process and request a design that you haven’t thought through. If you have a design that you don’t like engraved on a piece of jewelry that is supposed to be meaningful, the chances are you won’t ever wear it, which defeats the point of having custom jewelry made for you.
Support Artisanal Businesses
Artisanal businesses are dying out all around the world. Large chains and corporations have made it almost impossible for small businesses to sustain themselves. Buying handmade jewelry from a small company is a fantastic way to support the economy and people who care about their customers. Small, artisanal businesses tend to put a lot more effort into crafting products than large ones do. This means you get a better product. Something else worth noting about small businesses is that it is possible to build relationships with them, which you cannot do with large corporations.
If you are looking for an artisanal business to buy jewelry from, one of the best things you can do is read online reviews. Conduct a basic internet search to find jewelers, then see what people are saying about them online. A business’s reviews can tell you a lot about them and make it much easier to decide whether or not they are right for you. Their reviews will give you insight into the quality of the jewelry they produce, their customer support, and their prices. In addition to reviews, check out a business’s star rating on Google and Trustpilot. Star ratings can tell you whether a business is trustworthy or not.
Wedding Customization
If your wedding has a specific theme, a small artisanal jeweler may be able to create jewelry that adheres to that style for you. Something to note about commissioning bespoke pieces is that they take a little while to be manufactured. If you want to order custom jewelry to match your wedding’s theme, you need to make sure that you give your chosen jeweler enough time to be able to make your order for you. Don’t leave it until the last minute, because then you put them under pressure, which could cause them to either turn you down or accept the job and make mistakes.
In terms of wedding themes, there are many different ones you can choose from. The most important thing for you to do if you want a themed wedding is to talk through your ideas with your partner. Your partner should have just as much say as you. If you are going to order themed jewelry, consider buying some from your partner, too. If you and your partner both wear themed jewelry, your photos will look fantastic and you will both have special pieces of jewelry to hold onto for the rest of your lives.
Ethical Sourcing
As mentioned above, the jewelry industry is awash with unethically sourced precious metals and gems. Some metals come from mines staffed by literal slaves, and some gems are sourced from parts of the world where violence is an everyday part of life. If you are going to buy jewelry, you need to know that the materials used to create yours haven’t come from an unethical source. Why wear jewelry that has come from a place of suffering on your wedding day? Plenty of jewelers, especially artisanal ones, are now making an effort to buy materials from sustainable sources, where miners are paid fairly and violence is not involved.
If you are unsure about the sustainability of the jewelry you plan on buying, get in touch with the jeweler and ask them to tell you where they sourced the materials they used to make it. Most jewelers will be open about where they buy raw materials from. In addition, it is also commonplace for jewelers whose products are fully sustainable to use sustainability as a talking point on their websites, so check your chosen jeweler’s website out to see if they mention anything about sustainability on it.
Emotional Connection
One of the biggest advantages of buying handmade jewelry from an artisanal manufacturer is that the chances of you developing an emotional connection to it are much higher, mainly because you know how much work went into it. When you buy something that has been mass-produced, you know that no care has gone into it. There is nothing inherently special about it. However, when you buy something made by hand, you can feel how special it is. When you know something is special, you take better care of it. Then, when you wear handmade jewelry on your wedding day, it becomes even more special and you develop an emotional connection to it.
If you plan on buying handmade jewelry, you need to make sure that you shop around and find a design or style that’s right for you. Not all handmade jewelry is bespoke. Bespoke refers to commercial goods made exclusively for specific consumers. Handmade jewelry is made in batches and then sold. If you want to commission a bespoke piece, you will have to pay a lot more than you would for an item that has been handmade. If you are going to buy something that’s available to everybody, you need to shop carefully, so you can find a design that stands out to you. Some jewelers have catalogs with designs they can make that are only available in-store, so if you are shopping online, get in touch and ask if there are any other designs (beyond the ones on their website) that you can see.
Family Heirloom
Finally, one last benefit of handmade jewelry is that it can become a family heirloom. The good thing about handmade jewelry sold by artisanal designers is that it is very unlikely you will ever see anybody else wearing the same piece as you. This means that, in many ways, the jewelry you buy is unique to you. Over your life, if your loved ones see you wearing a specific item of jewelry, they will begin to associate it with you. When you pass away, they will then keep that and treasure it. It will become part of your legacy. This again is why you need to put a lot of care into buying handmade jewelry. You need to find designs and styles that reflect your personality, which should not be hard to do if you work with an artisanal jeweler.
Handcrafted jewelry is, for all the reasons mentioned here, the perfect choice for your wedding. Make sure that you shop around and find the best jeweler you can. The guidance given above will help you to do that, so be sure to use it. Pay particular attention to reviews, as they can tell you a lot about a jeweler.
