I’m sorry I’ve been a little missing in action of late. If you’ve been here for a while, you may have noticed that we were pretty quiet all December, and there is a good reason for that-
My long-time partner Ani, and I returned to our homeland of India to get married!
Just us both grinning like little kids 🥰
As any bride can attest, the weeks leading up to the wedding were some of the busiest I’ve ever experienced, and it took every bit of energy I could muster just to make the wedding a success which, thanks to help from some amazing friends and family, it definitely was!
It is a tradition in many Indian families for the bride’s family to gift her a jewelry set (usually made of precious materials like gold or diamond) that she takes to her new life. It is common for this set to be made of precious materials because it serves as emergency capital - to be used in case of serious financial hardship or if she needs to up and leave her husband in the middle of the night 😬 (look at that cutie face though - I could never!)
As a jewelry designer, I was resolute that I would design my own set, gifted to me by my lovely grandmother (thanks mimi!) 😊
There is a jewelry shop in New Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area that my family has been going to for four generations (my great-grandfather was friends with the proprietor at the time) whom I worked with closely to have it made.
In a process that involved many weeks, sketches, and rounds of review, I obsessed over every detail of the piece —
- how the upper choker would lay across my neck
- how its shape and cascading strands would compliment the neckline of my wedding lehenga
- whether I could wear it again (Indian jewelry can be very heavy and intricate, making it not always practical to wear with a lot of outfits, especially Western ones)
- and many more!
Here is a look at the final design broken down!
- I went with a flowers-and-leaves-inspired design for the upper choker. As someone with fairly pronounced collarbones (thanks mum 😊) chokers suit me well, and I like their shape too.
- The blouse of my wedding lehenga had a sweetheart neckline, so I knew that just a choker-style necklace would leave an awkward hole across my chest. To solve this and give the whole piece some dimension, I went with a triangular silhouette by adding some cascading strands that complemented the shape of the neckline. These strands had fleur de lis-like elements to keep the floral theme going.
- I went with all gold on the material (no stones) both due to my love of the color (have you seen my shop? 🙃) and to give the whole piece a clean and smooth look overall
- I added mini pearls in trios to the ends of the strands and the bottom band of the choker, which lent a lovely finished look to the piece, and became the element that really brought the whole design together!
- Long earrings can be fairly heavy (especially when you’re already wearing an elaborate outfit!), so I went with a stud-like floral base for a secure fit and added a shorter version of the necklace strands to the base to tie the whole set’s look together.
The final result! 🥰
All in all, I had a terrific amount of fun designing such an elaborate piece entirely from scratch! I’m incredibly grateful to my grandma for letting me run wild with this one, and to the folks at Kumar Jewels for being such great partners to work with.
Have you ever wanted to design an entirely unique or heavily customized set for a special occasion in your life? Tell me about it by replying to this email! We take custom orders at LucyKitty too 🙂
love and sparkles,Sanjana