Choosing the Right Bridal Accessories

Photos provided by the couple

Some brides prefer to wear traditional jewelry for their wedding. However, we sometimes encounter brides-to-be who prefer customized costume jewelry instead. Jem and Teng tied the knot last December, kindly Melai Creations, their wedding coordinator asked us to be their supplier for the bride's accessories. 

Initially we were only supposed to make Jem's hairpiece, but eventually she decided to have her earrings and bracelet customized as well, when she couldn't find designs that she fancied at retail stores. To tailor costume jewelry to be more appropriate for a formal wedding, we diversified the materials by including Swarovski Crystals and rhinestones.  

In designing her accessories, we made sure that it fit her style, preferences, and most importantly, for them to be in sync with her gown design and hairstyle. 

Here are some tips in choosing your bridal accessories: 
1. Make sure that the design is consistent with your bridal gown design and hairstyle.
2. Choose comfort. In Jem's case, knowing that it will be an all day event, she wanted her earrings and bracelets to be light and not cumbersome. 
3. Base the design on your preferences. There are so many bridal accessories offered in the market, but the key is to choose a style that reflects who you are and what makes you feel beautiful on your special day. 

We have a new blog focused solely on weddings and debuts.  

Visit http://www.weddingsanddebutsbypjv.blogspot.com 

Filipiniana Wedding

We were inspired by the Philippines' National Flower, the Sampaguita, in making these accessories for the Tan-Asinas wedding. Their theme was a celebration of their roots: Filipiniana; with a motif of silver, brown, and sapphire.

We first met the soon to weds during a Bridal Exposition two years ago. A brief chat with the bride, Marx, revealed that she booked us as their primary supplier for their wedding. This truly warmed our hearts. She ordered a complete set of accessories for her entourage, including her own bridal hairpiece. Each hair piece came with its very own customized pouch, customized specifically in detail, to match their wedding theme.

Bridal hairpiece; final sketch

We used rhinestones and Swarovski crystals as features of our wiring technique. 

Hairpieces for Flower Girls, using craft beads and acrylic crystals.

Hairpieces for the female entourage

Two different designs for the mothers of the bride and groom.

All accessories were based on the Sampaguita hairpiece, for the sake of consistency.

Mad for Fascinators

You'd be amazed by the number of requests we get for custom made accessories. Early last year, a soon-to-wed couple asked us to make hat fascinators for the bride's entourage. Honestly, we knew nothing about making one.

Thank God for YouTube tutorials. Our hats off to these people who take their time to document and post tutorials for if not, we'd still be clueless.  

The very first hat fascinator we made was a mini top hat. Luckily, the materials were on hand so after watching this video, we began our mini top hat project.
Amazingly, it was simple enough to do; by nightfall we finished one!

 Learn about May here.
P.S. If you don't have E6000, you can always use glue stick with the aid of a glue gun. 

Take a look at our own mini top hats!
We added a rustic colored lace and tied it up into a ribbon on one side. Secure it by either gluing the lace or stitching it on the felt.

Here's a tip: you can do a blanket stitch around the edges of the large circle. Use a different color for the thread for the stitch to pop up.

Alice Wears the Hat Head band  was inspired by Alice in Wonderland. We thought, what if Alice wore a hat instead of the Mad Hatter.

This mini top hat on the other hand was covered with black lace then we stitched chains with linked charms on one side of the hat where the laces draped.You can also use other fabrics to cover your top hat. We like working with velvet, soft tulle and dull satin fabrics.

Here's another used for a fashion photo shoot  featured on 

TrendHunter.

Credits

Photographed by MELSON BOLONGAITA
Styling / HMUA by ROSHEL ESTERON
Model: JESSICA CHIAO-HAN YANG

 Our search was not over. We continued to look for noteworthy tutorials. Our favorite so far was this video from Threadbanger. 

Unlike making a mini top hat, making a pill box hat needed assistance from our sewing machine. 

The output:  a clip on pillbox hat adorned with feathers, sequins and a lace birdcage.

There is always pleasure in discovering new projects. Go mad and enjoy making your own hat fascinators!