Wedding Blog

To complement my dress sash, I have amassed a mini-collection of brooches. It was difficult to find just the right brooch since they weren’t a popular fashion item. Now they’re making a comeback! Some of my best finds were from vintage/antique shops. Other places I looked were accessories shops, duty free shops (in airports all over Asia!) and eBay. Like my dress, I just knew when I found the one. I also bought most of these before my dress arrived so I had no idea what to look for in scale and size… I just picked up pieces I thought would fit. I’ll probably have to sell off most of these unless I plan on wearing 30 pieces of flair* every day. *(Points if you know the movie!)

My first gasp-y brooch encounter was with Russell Trusso pieces at Gump’s, a department store in San Francisco. They were so artfully crafted and just mesmerizing, but each piece cost at least 4x the price of my dress. No good. But they make for some nice eye candy! Russell Trusso also has some beautiful necklaces worth looking at.

Images from russelltrusso.blogspot.com 

Here are the other ones that I’ve crazily collected while traveling and scouring eBay.

Pink and white flower bouquet from Korea. This one is really well made. I’d like to incorporate it somehow if not on my dress. Maybe in my hair? Or would that be too much?

Crescent with pearls and rhinestones from a specialty shop in San Francisco. This one is a little small for the dress but may also be another option!

Floral wreath with rhinestones from Shanghai. Delicate and elegant, but also a little small.

Gold swirl vintage brooch I found on eBay. Kinda cool, but the gold may clash with my sash.

Joli flower from Stylism.com. I really like this one, but it may not show very well because it doesn’t photograph well. It’s from a company called Joli Jewelry. The designer collects vintage enamel and beads and creates these awesome brooches. Her site isn’t up yet, but you can find her pieces in different web stores.

Floral rhinestones, a bit more abstract that I also found in Shanghai.

This one is another vintage eBay find. I like the design– very different, but since it’s older, it’s a little yellow. But it photographs well, and you can’t really see the missing stones or yellowing unless you’re up close.

The original! A gift from my fabulous dress consultant, Bridget. This is the original brooch she pinned on my dress at my first fitting.

Vintage shoe clip from an antique shop in Olympia. I absolutely love this one. It’s prefect in size and just ornate enough without getting gaudy. But it needs polishing and I’m not sure if it obviously looks like a shoe clip!

Then, right before my big vacay, MOH and I headed to the Alexis Bittar sample sale and found the brooch of my dreams. Perfect in size, shape, color, and detail! It was modern without being too weird or embellished. I fell in love with it and the price (70% off the retail price). I had been eye-ing Bittar brooches but wasn’t too keen on paying $200-400 for a brooch and couldn’t find one that would fit. Thank goodness for sample sales and older stock because this one is just right. I’m super ecstatic because it’ll also complement my Alexis Bittar earrings perfectly.

Here it is:

And in case you need some more brooch inspiration, here’s a great spread from Elegant Bride (Fall 2007) for your browsing pleasure. Too bad most of these beauties are way out of my budget… but it doesn’t hurt to look!

Now that the brooch search is over, what do you think I should do with the other brooches? Give them away as BM gifts (no one really wears brooches these days), sell them, or wear one in my hair? Anyone else a brooch bride? Did you have a hard time finding one?