So many images to love this week on Pinterest! Check out just a few that Junebug readers have been pinning, and come follow along with us for more!
What a brilliant perspective in this wedding ceremony first kiss photo by Daniele Del Castillo! It was originally featured on our Photobug blog back in June, but I still can’t get enough of it.
What were the top three priorities for you in planning your wedding?In terms of decor, my main priority was integrating colors and patterns to the max! I had a few vendors tell me that mixing so many patterns would look too busy, and there were a few times I questioned my choice to do a blue and orange color scheme (particularly when I realized I was entering into Knicks and Mets color territory), but in the end Im so happy with how it turned out. It was important to me to have a day that felt like us, so I spent a ton of time on DIY projects to make sure personal touches were integrated wherever possible, and I did a lot of the little crafts myself — this included covering frames with printed paper, making labels and wrapping the little ships in bottles that we used as favors, creating signs with drinks named after my dogs, and many other things. I used my glue gun so much that I barely had fingerprints left by the time the wedding came around! Lastly, I was obsessed with making the DJ playlist, and I wanted to make sure there was music that would appeal to the broad range of ages at the weddingI spent a year building up a running list of songs for the cocktail hour and reception part, and I have to say that I think our DJ nailed it! It was very fun to dance around for hours with our favorite people in the world.
What wedding traditions or cultural traditions did you incorporated into your wedding and what did they mean to you?It was very important to Mike to get married in a Catholic church, and he actually has a retired priest in the family, so that became a priority for us. This created some stress for me due to the fact that Catholic churches have Saturday afternoon mass, but we made it happen even though we knew our 5:30pm ceremony timing would likely cause us to miss the beautiful sunset at Belle Haven. Of course, as it turns out, it did not end up being a particularly sunny day, so there was no sunset to miss! So that actually turned out to be perfect. Regarding wedding traditions, we felt like we were actually breaking a tradition by doing our wedding photos before the ceremony, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made because it allowed us to get amazing photos with lots of afternoon light, and we also got to enjoy cocktail hour with our guests!
Were there any places where you broke the rules in your wedding planning? Why and how did you do that?We did not have a cake topper…my cake was busy enough with the ombre stripes and ornate tentacled cake stand, and I just couldnt find one that I thought was not cheesy. I dont regret it at all, but in hindsight I do wish I could have the 20+ hours back that I wasted on etsy looking for the perfect topper!
What was your biggest wedding planning success?That it didnt rain! Weather was the one thing we couldnt control, of course, and it drove me nuts knowing that a storm could roll in at any time. Luckily, while it rained buckets the night before, we had no rain on the actual wedding day, and for that I am so incredibly grateful.
What was the most important thing that you learned through the wedding planning process and what would you tell other brides-to-be?While Im thrilled with how everything turned out, I think there were several points where I may have bitten off more than I could chew in terms of the DIY projects. I truly have never been as exhausted and stressed as I was in the pre-wedding weeks when Id regularly stay up until 3am finishing the many crafts that I thought were *so* critical to the wedding. I forced Mike to spend every weekend working with me on these projects, and my poor family also suffered through Saturdays full of DIY activities…for example, Mike and I spent 20+ hours working in an assembly line fashion with my mom and sister in Connecticut to finish the ship-in-bottle favors (which I admittedly turned into a 7-step process). We spent several days roaming through Chinatown hunting for blue and white chinoiserie vases, and other weekend days spray painting candlesticks and table numbers, and covering glass vases with paper. It was a lot to do and took a lot of time even in the hours leading up to the wedding, my bridesmaids and I were still finishing up tying together the programs with ribbon! In hindsight, I put myself and everyone I love through a lot of stress getting every project done to perfection, and that was probably not necessary. Some of this was driven by fear of regret — I had constant anxiety that I would think of a million great ideas right after the wedding was over, and of course at that point it would have been too late. Looking back, I probably should have spent a little less time with my die cutting machine and spray paint sets and a little more time enjoying the actual engagement, because it is a uniquely wonderful time that only happens once!
Selecting your perfect wedding ring is an exciting and important decision after all, you want it to be something that reflects your personal style as well as your commitment as a married couple! Whether you gravitate toward jewelry that’s vintage-inspired, modern, classic or glam, custom designing your own unique ring is a fantastic way to ensure you get exactly what you want. And contrary to what you might think, if you work with the right artists, custom design doesn’t have to be complicated or overly expensive.
To show us exactly how that’s possible, the experts at Seattle’s Joseph Jewelry are letting us go behind-the-scenes of their design process and showing us all the fascinating steps along the way. If you live in the Seattle area, you can work with the Joseph Jewelry team in person, but if you don’t, you can just as easily design your dream wedding ring on their simple, user-friendly website. Check it out!
Step 1 – Design Ideas: Whether you choose to design your piece online or in-person, youll first consult with a team of highly skilled artisans who are completely devoted to understanding your needs and preferences. To decide exactly what you want, youll see a variety of ring styles and precious metal qualities, and youll have the opportunity to decide what you like down to the tiniest detail, from shades and colors to artistic techniques and finishes. Once we get to know your unique style, our jewelers will then create sketches or computer-generated images to show you how your design might look.
Step 2 – Your Free Quote: Once your choice of design, gemstones and metal quality is determined we will be able to provide you with an estimate for the finished product. This is an easy and simple process, and if necessary, we are typically able to work within your budget by manipulating the grade of material.
Step 3 – 3D Modeling: Next, one of our talented artisans will begin creating a 3D model of your design. During this step, you are easily able to make any changes or modifications you like the only change that will affect your original price estimate is if you decide to add extra materials or gemstones. Rendered images of your 3D model can be emailed directly to you, posted to your online design account, or can be viewed in person by visiting the store. The computer-rendered images allow us to show you realistic views of your design as it will look when finished in the exact metal and gemstones you have chosen. This is an exciting step of the design process, where you will get to see a very real interpretation of your future wedding ring!
Step 4 – Wax Molds: Once you approve the 3D model, we will then use stereo lithography technology to “print” a full-size wax version of your design. This technology allows us to create the most intricate and complex details possible in the jewelry industry, within an accuracy of two hundredths of a millimeter. This means you can literally expect perfection from our workmanship!
The prototype is full-scale and will show you the exact detail and dimensions of your project. If you would like to see the wax prototype, you are welcome to stop by for viewing or we can mail it to you anywhere in the world. If, after viewing the prototype, you approve the final design, we are then ready to start the final design stage production!
Step 5 – Production: Our highly skilled jewelers each possess at least 15 years of experience and are masters at what they do. In this final custom design stage, they begin to actually create your ring. We use stock metal fabrication or metal casting – whichever will yield the finer quality to complement the complexity of your unique design.
If your design involves Stock Metal Fabrication We start by tracing your design on the stock metal of your choice. Then, we cut out the traced section and begin to shape or forge it according to your design. In some cases multiple pieces must be cut and shaped then soldered together. Other detail-oriented techniques like filigree, repoussé, inlay and more may be required in order to form your perfect finished product.
If your design is better suited for Metal Casting We use a state-of-the-art computerized casting machine that negatively vacuums all oxygen out of the casting chamber and replaces it with released argon gas to purify the environment for casting. This closed environment eliminates all porosity that would otherwise occur naturally due to oxidization. Porosity (tiny air bubbles in the metal) is a sign of an inferior casting and is normally seen on the surface of high-polished metal and will always occur during open-air casting. This is why our argon-gas vacuum chamber is so important.
This casting machine also allows us to pre-program the perfect temperature for any given metal to prevent the overheating of the metal we are casting. Because different metals become malleable at different temperatures it is important to be precise when heating. Too much heat could damage the metal, while too little could produce an incomplete result. Our computerized casting machine eliminates all of the guesswork that would otherwise occur when a jeweler is casting, creating a perfect casting of the chosen metal every time.
After we have cast your design our master jewelers will finish and polish your piece. Many styles of finishing can be applied to a piece of jewelry. The most common is a high-polish finish, but the options are endless (matte finish with various grades of texture, vintage hand-engraving, and so on).
Your diamonds and gemstones are set by our most experienced jewelers, resulting in a beautiful piece of heirloom-quality jewelry that youll enjoy for generations.
And voila! Your personal and one-of-a-kind ring is complete. Thank you for the behind the scenes look Joseph Jewelry team!
Readers, you can learn more about custom designing your own dream wedding ring on the Joseph Jewelry website!
This post is sponsored by Joseph Jewelry, and chosen for Junebug for it’s value to our readers – who doesn’t love to learn about jewelry and see behind-the-scenes?
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