Follow these tips on giving a ring, necklace, bracelet, or earrings a makeover before your wedding day.
Something New: ✅
Something Borrowed: ✅
Something Blue: ✅
Something Old: MOOOOOOM, WHERE IS NANA'S SILVER NECKLACE? OH, NO. THE CLASP BROKE!
If your heart is set on wearing an old piece of jewelry for your nuptials, be sure to give it some love prior to the big day. Whether it's vintage or antique (antiques are older than 50 years, but less than 100), the piece deserves to be restored to a glistening sheen or perhaps placed in a new setting to be treasured and shared for years to come.
A visit with a jeweler qualified in custom work can renew older metals and stones and offer suggestions on new settings to suit your tastes. It is recommended that independent jewelers be chosen as they can provide the one-on-one experience that many big-name jewelers can't.
Restoration
Before and after of a ring restoration
For jewelry with a sincere amount of sentimental value that you wouldn't dream of altering, consider having the piece restored to its first-day-on-the-shelf vibrancy. A jeweler may suggest that the stones be recut as they have the tendency to take on abrasions and over the years and can look dull with time. As for the setting of the piece, have the jeweler check to ensure the structural integrity of the metals for the sake of the stones.
Resetting
Using special design software, jewelers work with clients to visualize and construct an ideal new setting for their stones.
Since many older jewelry pieces possess rare stones or expensive metals, resetting jewelry allows you to retain the best of the item while reformatting it into a design that is more modern or unique to your style. You may love the emerald in your great aunt's ring, but the setting no longer does the stone any favors. Sitting down with a jeweler and re-homing the stone will give your "something old" a new debut.
Some brides may feel a bit guilty for altering an heirloom, but remember, just because it is an older piece, doesn't mean that it has to look old. After all, even the Hope Diamond gets a new setting every once in a while.
