How to Choose Jewellery for Your Wedding Dress

You’ve found the dress. Now, what jewellery do you wear with it?

The neckline is a useful place to start. It can quickly narrow down your options, but it doesn’t give you the whole answer.

The details of the dress, the pieces you are drawn to and how you want the complete look to feel can all shape your choice.

The Neckline Edit

A starting point for choosing necklaces and earrings.

These are starting points, not rules. The fabric, detail and overall shape of the dress can completely change the answer.

Same Neckline. Different Answer.

Imagine two strapless dresses.

One is simple satin with clean lines. The other has a detailed lace or beaded bodice.

Same neckline. Different answer.

The neckline tells you where the jewellery will sit. The rest of the dress can help you decide how much presence it should have.

The simplicity of the first dress gives jewellery more room to stand out. With the second, the dress is already bringing plenty of detail to the look, so something more understated may feel right.

There is no need to match or add to every detail. If the dress is already doing something beautifully, let it. And if the complete look feels too busy, try taking one piece off.

Decide Which Piece Leads the Look

Once you have considered the dress as a whole, begin with the piece you know you want to wear.

It might be earrings you love, an heirloom that means something to you or a necklace that works beautifully with your dress.

Build the rest of the look from there. Another piece may bring everything together, or it may begin to compete with what is already there.

You don’t need a complete set of jewellery simply because it’s your wedding day. Not every empty space needs to be filled. Sometimes earrings and a necklace work beautifully together. Sometimes one piece is all you need.

See the Whole Look and the Details

Once you have chosen your pieces, look at them from two perspectives.

First, step back from the mirror and take in the complete outfit. Notice how the jewellery works with the dress and whether it has the presence you wanted.

Then move closer. Notice the sparkle of the stones, the shape of the setting and the finer details that will come through in close-up photographs.

Both views matter. Throughout the day, your jewellery will be seen as part of the complete look, while closer moments will capture the details at their best.

Choose something you love from both perspectives.

One Last Question

Before you decide, ask yourself. 

If you took the dress away, would you still love the jewellery?

The dress is an important part of the day, but the jewellery is still for you.

Choose something you will love wearing on the day and want to return to long after it.