Always a Bridesmaid...

A few weeks ago, I was commissioned by my friend, Jacqueline, to make some jewelry for her bridesmaids for her upcoming wedding. Well, with short notice and being the perfectionist that I am, I have stressed myself out for the last week, thinking about nothing but the necklaces, earrings and bracelets that needed to be done for tomorrow's ceremony!

Of course, I really had nothing to worry about. It's only one of the most important days in my friend's life!
Jacqueline described the dresses as being a beautiful sage green, so immediately I thought that I would incorporate peridot into the design. With only a few weeks to make the jewelry, I wanted to get started as quickly as possible. (Jacqueline lives three hours south of Napa in Monterey, and would only be in Napa on the weekends. So, we only had a couple of times that we could get together.) Since she was busy planning the wedding, I didn't want to have to bother her with every little detail of the jewelry design. But after buying a whole handful of gemstones and pearls that I wanted to use, I still needed to see the dresses and make sure the greens didn't clash.
Fortunately, I am innately intuitive (or perhaps just lucky) and the beads that I picked matched spot on! Immediately, I began to piece the design together and was able to get all of the earrings done, and the necklaces half done. The design style that I intended required exact measurements for all of the bridesmaids (and the bride), so I needed to wait another week to get Jacqueline in town and measuring necklines (and wrists)!
Meanwhile, I prepped the beads for bracelets so that they were ready for assembly. I also needed to order a few last minute jumprings and clasps, and in order to save a bit of money, I wanted to order in bulk from my favorite online bead store (Fire Mountain Gems). Of course, this meant that I was now stressing that the items wouldn't get delivered on time, even though the estimated delivery date was Wednesday. (I gave myself a deadline of Thursday.)
Everything arrived on time, I worked all night Wednesday, and everything was finished by Thursday. So....


After work last night, I was able to gather the boxes and head up to Jacqueline's grandmother's house on the hill. I presented the boxes to her, and the anticipation grew as she ate the rest of her late dinner and talked about last minute preparations and showed me some of the gifts her mother has been showering on her. She did notice that there was one extra box fairly quickly.
She has four bridesmaids for the wedding, so she asked for four sets. But, I couldn't imagine seeing all of my bridesmaids with such beautiful jewelry and not having a set to match! So, I felt inclined to make a special set for her as well.


Yes, I'm very happy with the outcome. But, more importantly, Jacqueline is happy. And I know of at least one bridesmaid that approves as well. I can't wait to see the whole ensemble all together at the ceremony. Now, I can relax and think about what I'm going to wear. But, really, who's gonna notice what I'm wearing anyway, right?