Wedding Jewelry on a Budget: JewelMint

Since I started this blog while planning a recessionista wedding, I wanted to get back to my roots with this post and focus on wedding jewelry that is truly budget beautiful. I love browsing JewelMint, which recently celebrated it's 1st anniversary bringing you fab accessories. In case you live under a rock, JewelMint is an online jewelry club. For $29.99 per month, you can purchase a piece from their exclusive collection, designed by Kate Bosworth and stylist Cher. They introduce new pieces each month, and provide recommendations based on your personal preferences after you take their style quiz.

It's free to join, but the only catch is that once you purchase a piece of jewelry, you become automatically enrolled in their club. So if you are making a one-time purchase (like for your wedding) make sure to cancel your account immediately afterwards. If you want to remain a member, you can skip being charged $29.99 for that month as long as you select to do so within the first 5 days of the month. Needless to say, this club is best suited for those with good memories (or iPhone alerts), to ensure you don't get charged each month unless you intend to purchase a piece!

While some may find it to be too much of a hassle, I guarantee that it is worth the effort if you want a piece of statement wedding jewelry for a bargain. So without further ado, here are my top picks this month, based your your bridal style (categories created by me!).

Join JewelMint through my personal link by clicking here!

For the classic bride, I love the Forever Audrey earrings, which are glamorous yet simple:



Forever Audrey Earrings



A romantic bride would look wonderful adorned with the nostalgic Gatsby bracelet:

Gatsby Bracelet

I absolutely adore the Versailles earrings, which are perfect for the bride who loves to be the center of attention, and wants to look like a princess on her wedding day!

Versailles Earrings

For the retro bride, my pick is the Savoy bracelet, inspired by the art deco designs of the 1920's.

Savoy Bracelet

Finally, for the outdoor bride looking to incorporate the beauty of nature into her ensemble, my pick is the pearl Calla Lilly earrings.

Calla Lilly Earrings

What type of bride do you identify as, and which piece would you choose to wear on your big day?

BHLDN On A Budget!

Like many women, my heart swoons whenever I step inside Anthropologie. Sadly, I cannot afford to shop there regularly, especially on a grad student budget in the middle of a recession! However, I was thrilled to recently learn that the team behind Anthropologie decided to venture into another one of my passions, the wedding world, with their new store, BHLDN.

A great feature of the BHLDN website is that it offers more than just a shopping experience for brides. It includes free interactive experiences to help inspire you while planning your wedding, and provide another great way to procrastinate ;-) For example, I took a fun quiz called "What Kind of Bride Are You?" and discovered that I am a Romantic Nostalgic bride, which was a very accurate portrayal of my vintage Cape Cod wedding. The website also offers MoodBoards, aka inspiration boards, where you can view their products based on themes or color palettes, or even create your own board!

Disclaimer: I guarantee you will love everything BHLDN offers, but like it's sister store Anthropologie, products from here do not come cheap. Since one of my goals is to provide wedding inspiration for brides on a budget, I have scoured the site and chosen the best wedding attire and accessories for budget-minded brides.

Here are 2 boards featuring my favorite dresses, that are all an amazing steal at $1600 or less!

Finally, another great way to incorporate the romantic, unique, and vintage products BHLDN offers while not breaking the bank is to carefully choose more affordable accessories for your big day. Here are my top picks:

Images from center, then clockwise from top left: Choose a lovely silk hat/birdcage veil for a vintage vibe ($120); Love coasters provide a romantic touch ($14 for 10); Don polka dot gloves for a unique look ($40); Brighten up your fete with colorful straws ($6 a pack); Eat your cake with a pair of engraved love forks ($24 a pair); Serve treats on lovely pedestals ($68-$88); Statement earrings are great bridesmaid's gifts ($66); Accessorize your cocktail hour with love stirrers ($22 for 24); Use adorable mini teapots as escort card holders ($52 for 6); Glam a simple pair of shoes with colorful pom poms! ($25 per pair); Choose simple but sophisticated letterpress invites ($26 for 8); Chalkboard vases make unforgettable table numbers ($18); Faux flowers are a great way to save money without compromising on style ($32 for 5).

Transportation on a Budget

Cape Cod Groom and I lamented over what to do regarding our wedding transportation.  We considered renting a traditional limousine, but the prices in our area to transport us and our wedding party were outrageous.  Plus, given that Cape Cod Groom loves cars, he wanted something more flashy than a typical limo.

Given that we were also having a vintage theme to our wedding, I suggested renting an antique car for the day.  My groom was pleased with this suggestion, until I looked at renting the antique cars through valet/limo companies.  They were just as expensive, if not more costly than renting a limo, and held far fewer people! I was beginning to feel a bit discouraged, but, knowing that Cape Cod has lots of wealthy retirees with car fetishes, I decided to post an ad on Craigslist to see if I could negotiate a price with someone who owned a vintage ride.

I still had plenty of time until my wedding, so I wasn't worried about taking my time to find the right vehicle.  I got a few responses right away from the Craigslist ad, but they were muscle cars and convertibles at that, which would not do for my December nuptials. I was beginning to think that old men with nice antique cars probably do not have any idea what Craigslist is, nevermind frequenting the site regularly.

At the suggestion of my friend at Cupcake Wedding, I contacted a local antique car club on the Cape to see if any members would be interested in renting me their ride for the day.  To my dismay, I got no response from them! Now I was starting to panic, because there was not much time left until the big day, and I feared that I would end up riding to the ceremony in my father's Buick.

Miraculously, about 8 weeks prior to our wedding, I got an email via the Craigslist ad from a man who owned a 1948 Dodge.  He said he had chauffeured a couple of weddings before, sent me tons of pictures, and after seeing the car in person, my groom and I knew this was it! It was way cooler than any limo we could afford, and about 1/3 of the cost!

Here are some pictures of our ride, taken on our wedding day by our photographer Seth Kammueller.

Car with a view of the Chatham Lighthouse in the background:

 The grill!

 Waiting for the bride:

In the end, we were really happy with our decision. The car fit with our vintage theme perfectly, I loved the color, and my groom loved riding inside an antique car.  Plus, since we saved money on not having to rent a limo, our parents decided to rent a couple of large passenger vans to transport guests to and from the reception.  While it is by no means necessary to provide transportation for your guests, I will say that this gesture made guests really happy since that they could drink as much as they wanted without having to have a designated driver.  Plus, the cost of the vintage car plus the two vans was still lower than renting a limo for the day!

I highly recommend doing something similar if you are in a similar situation and have a tight budget. My only advice would be to start your search earlier than I, to avoid the stress of all of the last minute negotiation and planning!

Going Against the Grain (literally!): DIY Sand Ceremony

I am so excited to share another one of my wedding DIY projects now that we have received our professional wedding photos!

I had always liked the idea of incoporating a unity ceremony into the religious service, and had often seen this done with the lighting of unity candles. Since we were getting married on the coast of Cape Cod, and the beach has always been special to me, my fiance and I decided that we preferred to do a unity sand ceremony instead.

Being the researcher that I am, I instantly began scouring the Internet for where I could purchase the nicest sand ceremony set for the lowest price. However, I was quickly dismayed, and rather taken aback, by the ridiculous prices for these sets. "Are you freaking kidding me?? $65 for a couple of vases? Sand NOT included?" I said to myself.

I decided that there was no reason that I could not make a sand ceremony set myself, for a fraction of the cost. So when my then-fiance and I were on Cape Cod in October doing some last minute wedding plannning, we stopped at Michael's to see what we could find. We were pleased to discover the small heart jars pictured below to hold the sand, and bought 6 of them (2 for my sand, 2 for his sand, and 2 for my dad's sand, who was also our officiant), for only $0.99 a piece!

Next, we needed a large vase or jar into which we would pour our creation. Since I knew we would want to take it on the plane back to Chicago, we decided to purchase an apothecary jar with a lid so our sand wouldn't spill. I also like apothecary jars because they are pretty and have a vintage vibe, which was also one of our wedding themes. We found one that fit the bill for less than $10.

We then purchased some white and dark blue sand (our wedding colors) at Michael's for only a few dollars a pound. Since we still needed sand for my father, we thought we'd go to the beach and collect some local sand for free, which would incorporate a more sentimental touch as well!

Here is the final product:

Photograph by Seth Kammueller

And here it is after the unity sand ceremony:

Photograph by Seth Kammueller

Overall, we were very pleased with how our DIY project turned out, and many of our guests commented on how unique and special the unity ceremony was. My father also gave a nice speech before we poured the unity sand to explain the symbolic meaning behind it, and our pianist played "Claire de Lune" by Debussy to add to the ambiance of the moment.

Bridesmaid's Dress Inspiration

It can be so challenging to find high quality, pretty dresses for your bridesmaids in your wedding colors that are also affordable.  Whether you are kind enough to pay for them or your ladies are buying the dresses themselves, bridesmaids' dresses can be a major part of a wedding budget.  Of course, JCrew and Ann Taylor are two reliable sources for fabulous attire, but most of their dresses average at least $200 a piece.  In this economy, being sensitive to the financial situation of your bridal party is a must.  That's why I just had to share this great versatile dress from Miss Brache with all you brides who have not yet outfitted your bridal party.  At only $98, this dress is not only gorgeous but budget beautiful too.  For a fun vintage vibe, have your bridesmaids channel the 1950's by wearing it with a belt and petticoat (also available for purchase), as seen in the top picture.  Or wear it plain for a more classic or formal event (bottom picture).  Even better, the dress can be created in a variety of colors to compliment your color palette, and is also custom sized, so your girls will not even have to pay for alterations! I only wish I had found this sooner so my girls could wear it!