Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
Something Borrowed?
November 21st, 2007 @ 4:56 pm by Mrs. Toucan
A little while ago, I was reading Darcy Miller’s blog about how the Today Show bride, Jessica, got to borrow jewelry from Tiffany’s!
Jewelers are alway dying to let celebrities to wear their jewelry, and they lend it out to them all the time for big award events. But, how about for us mere mortals? I was curious. I scoured the internet looking for rental jewelry.
Here is what I found.
OldCities.com sells antique and estate jewelry, but also gives customers the option to borrow the jewelry. Customers pay for the full value of the piece, and upon return, OldCities refunds all but $100. The $100 covers the rental cost as well as FedEx insured shipping both ways. Additionally, this system allows you to keep the jewelry if you find it too hard to return (you obviously don’t get refunded if you keep it). At a $100 rental fee, I think it’s only worth it for the more expensive jewelry (but then again, you do have to front the cost initially). Here are some goodies from the site.
Solid 14K Yellow Gold Emerald Bead Necklace
Solid 14K Yellow Gold 16” Three Strand Rubellite Tourmaline Necklace
Solid 14K Yellow Gold 17” Three Strand Pearl Necklace
With each of these necklaces costing about $1K plus, $100 might be well worth it!
Bling Yourself Inc. offers rental jewelry for both men and women, as well as sunglasses, watches and cufflinks. Prices vary depending on the value of the piece, and they’re available for weekly or monthly rental. While jewelry here is available for cheaper prices, I’m not sure I found anything impressive.
I’m Over It was created for people who love to accessorize but get tired of their own jewelry. I’m Over It is a monthly membership to a service costing $29.99 to $49.99/month depending on how many pieces of jewelry you’d like to take out at one time. Essentially, this works just like NetFlix. The lowest costing monthly plan allows members to take out 2 pieces of jewelry out at one time. When you return it, you can get another, and there is no limit to how many you pieces you can take out in one month.
While I, personally, wouldn’t consider any of this wedding jewelry, some of their stuff is quite lovely, and would be worth it for some one who likes to change their jewelry often.
Adorn Brides offers exclusively diamond and pearl jewelry for rental. Rental prices are dependent on the retail value of the jewelry. Prices here are a bit higher than some of the other sites, but the jewelry is a little bit more luxurious as well. Some favorites:
While I’ve put in quite a bit of time looking for all this, I’m not sure how I feel about rental jewelry. On one hand, I don’t want to spend that much on my wedding jewelry. On the other hand, there’s that stigma that is tied to rental… well, rental anything, actually. I think I’ll keep looking around for special jewelry that I can keep, however, I think I’ll still keep this rental idea in mind.
So, what do you think? Would you consider renting jewelry for your wedding?
*all pictures taken from respective websites
10 Responses to “Something Borrowed?”
Call me sentimental, but I don’t think I’d like wearing rental jewelry.
I’m not much of a jewelry wearer and definitely not a jewelry shopper. Most of the pieces in my collection are gifts from family or FH, so there is some sort of memory attached to them.
I think of my wedding attire and jewelry as heirlooms, and hope that one day I would pass them onto our children.
There’s also http://www.bagborroworsteal.com that does jewelry and handbags!
I agree with the previous post, for my wedding I want something sentimental, but for everyday its kind of a fun idea!
It might be a good idea for “something borrowed” but it’s definitely an investment upfront! I’d be afraid of breaking/losing something cause I’m clueless like that. Plus, the idea of earrings that other people wore is kinda strange to me!
I looked into finding something from Bag, Borrow, or Steal myself (see link from Alissa above), but never could justify spending so much as was required on the pieces I really, really wanted to borrow. (I was looking for earings to match the necklace and bracelet I had borrowed from my dad’s collection of mom’s old things.) Plus, the stuff I wanted wasn’t available when I looked for it, and when I went back closer to my wedding, they were gone completely!
I wish I’d known about these other sites that make jewelry rental available. I didn’t even think to look it up on the ‘net! I’m a dope. 
I borrowed my boss’s necklace and earrings. I also borrowed the hair clip she used in her second wedding. Yay for free!
I am renting a diamond necklace from Adorn on the recommendation of a photographer. She said that real diamonds show up much nicer in photos. If you sign up for Adorn’s email list, they will send you a discount code for a percentage off their rental fee. Plus, they recently lowered their deposit requirement, which is nice.
I would encourage any woman to get jewelry she’d wear for her wedding, that she can also wear “in real life.” 
I received a great pink sapphire necklace for Christmas before the wedding, and then matching earrings for a shower, which completed my accesories. I wear them once and a while, still!
[…] Last week, I talked about renting jewelry. Today, I’m going to talk about getting jewelry “cheap” (I should say cheap-ER). I’m a frequent Overstock.com “window-shopper.” I think I’ve only bought something from there once (and it happened to be pearl earrings for my mom). […]
I’m so amazed..i love the business ideas people come up with. I checked them all out and find them all interesting. Adorn Brides has lovely pieces. I did notice that on the “about us’ page on im over it, that they will start renting prom/wedding jewelry in January. Good to know!
[…] Miss Toucan did a post on borrowed jewelry awhile back too, so be sure to check it out for other similar sites. […]
