From Dress to Design: Creating Custom Mother of the Bride Jewelry

There are some occasions when the jewelry isn't simply the finishing touch. It becomes part of the story.

When I was asked to create custom jewelry for a Mother of the Bride, I knew immediately that this wasn't about finding something that simply matched the dress. It was about creating jewelry that felt worthy of the occasion, looked incredible with what she was wearing and, just as importantly, still felt like her.

I've designed jewelry for many Mothers of the Bride over the years, as well as brides, bridal parties and women dressing for all kinds of special occasions. But I love this particular story because I wasn't designing for just one look. There were two - two different days of the wedding celebration, two completely different outfits and two opportunities to create jewelry that made each one feel complete.

It Usually Starts With the Dress

When I'm custom designing for a client, I don't immediately sit down and start creating something entirely from scratch. I start by looking.

What is she wearing? What's the neckline? The color? The silhouette? What shoes is she wearing? How is she wearing her hair? What jewelry does she normally gravitate toward? Does she want something understated, or is this the moment she's ready to make a statement? And, of course, what does she want to spend?

Most of my custom pieces begin with designs already in my collection. I know how those pieces move on the body, how they catch the light and how they work with different necklines and proportions. From there, we can change the colors, scale, length or combination of crystals - or alter a design until it becomes uniquely hers.

Sometimes I may suggest several pieces that work together. Sometimes one design is exactly where we need to begin. And sometimes the jewelry comes first. I've actually helped clients think about what they might want to wear based on the jewelry they already love. Fashion doesn't always have to begin with the dress.

But in this case, it did.

Two Outfits. Two Completely Different Designs.

For this Mother of the Bride, I was designing jewelry for two completely different looks, worn on two different days of the wedding celebration. Each called for its own jewelry, its own palette and its own personality.

From statement earrings and necklaces to bracelets and stackable rings, each piece was designed around what she was wearing — and with life beyond the occasion in mind.

The first paired a lavender-and-cream floral top with navy pants. I loved the contrast, but I also immediately saw an opportunity: the jewelry could become the element that pulled the two colors together.

Rather than designing only to the lavender, I brought navy into the jewelry along with different shades of lavender, violet and blue.

While going through my crystal collection, I found an incredible rare discontinued cube crystal in a beautiful purple with a satin finish that coordinated almost perfectly. For the wrist, I designed a structured statement cuff using purple through the center with navy framing the outside, visually connecting the lavender top and navy pants.

Because of the higher neckline, I didn't want to compete with the clothing by adding a necklace. Instead, I suggested bold statement earrings. Even the placement of color within those earrings was intentional. I worked with the layout until the balance felt right, ultimately finishing them with navy drops that fell against the lavender of the top.

Suddenly, the lavender and navy weren't simply two coordinating colors within an outfit - the jewelry connected them.

The second look presented a completely different opportunity. It was a beautiful summer floral dress filled with color - pink, red, aqua, blue, lavender, violet and so many shades in between.

This was where I could really have fun.

Instead of choosing one or two colors from the print, I began pulling crystals in as many of those shades as I could find, searching through trays for colors that felt almost as though they had been taken directly from the fabric.

With its more open neckline, I suggested my signature V necklace, along with statement earrings and a coordinating signature Martini Flapper Bracelet.

The different colors, cuts and shapes of the Swarovski crystals became almost an extension of the floral print itself - taking a beautiful summer floral dress and elevating the entire look for the wedding.

That's where custom design can become a little magical. When the colors, proportions and placement are right, the jewelry doesn't look like something that was added afterward. It looks like it was always supposed to be there.

Finding the Color Is Only the Beginning

Color has been at the heart of my work since I started my company. In fact, one of the reasons I originally chose Swarovski crystal as my medium was the extraordinary range of colors, shades, cuts and finishes it gave me to design with.

After decades of collecting, my archive now includes rare vintage and discontinued crystals in colors and shapes that simply aren't made anymore. Some even date back to the 1930s.

I love combining the softness and character of a vintage crystal with the contrasting sparkle of a more modern one. I love that a crystal can come with a bit of history, and I love having collected so many unusual shapes, cuts, colors and finishes that I can go searching for something very specific when a design calls for it.

When I'm coordinating jewelry with a particular fabric, that can mean spending a lot of time going through my collection looking for exactly the right shade.

There are warmer lavenders and cooler ones - violet, amethyst, smoky purple, blush and lavenders with blue undertones. Then there are different finishes, from classic crystal to satin to Aurora Borealis, and a color can read completely differently depending on its cut, finish and the way light passes through it.

Finding that perfect match is an art in itself. But finding the color is only the beginning.

I'm a Colorist. I Want Dimension.

Depth has always been an important part of my design language. Even when I'm working within a very specific palette, I want variation - lighter and darker values, transparent and saturated colors, different shapes and finishes, and sometimes just the right accent color to make everything else come alive.

Accent colors are incredibly important. One unexpected crystal can change the way you see every color around it.

And when I'm working with a multicolor fabric like this floral dress, placement becomes just as important as the individual colors I've chosen. I can move crystals around my worktable over and over - changing the order, balancing one shade against another, adding something, taking something away. With that many colors, shapes and cuts, even moving one crystal can change the way the entire composition feels.

I want depth, movement and for the eye to keep discovering another color or another reflection.

And then there is that moment when I pull out a rare vintage crystal in exactly the shade I've been searching for - sometimes a color that hasn't been produced in years - and suddenly everything around it makes sense.

That's a pretty fabulous moment.

One Occasion. More Than One Way to Wear It.

This is something I care about enormously when I'm designing for a wedding or another important occasion. Yes, I want that wow moment, but I don't want to make jewelry that only makes sense for four hours on a Saturday.

Made for the occasion. Designed for what comes after. That idea has always mattered to me.

When a client is putting together a complete statement look - perhaps a necklace, bracelet or cuff, and statement earrings - I will often suggest adding a second, simpler pair of coordinating earrings. I make that recommendation whether I'm creating something custom or she's choosing pieces that already exist in my collection.

That one additional pair can give her so many more ways to wear everything she loves. The full statement set may be exactly right for the wedding. Another evening, she might want the necklace and bracelet with the smaller earrings, or she may wear the statement earrings with the cuff and leave the necklace at home.

Of course, she can always wear her own diamonds, pearls or other favorite jewelry. But having a simpler earring created in the same crystal palette gives her another perfectly coordinated option.

And when I'm working with rare vintage and discontinued crystals, there is another reason I recommend thinking about this at the beginning: I may not be able to make that perfectly coordinating pair several years from now. Once some of these crystals are gone, they're gone.

I'd rather know that she has the pieces she loves and the freedom to wear them differently for years to come.

I handcraft my jewelry in New York City, and when I'm working with beautiful materials - sterling silver, 14k gold-filled metals, crystals by Swarovski and, in some cases, rare vintage and discontinued crystals I've collected over decades - I want the finished piece to have a life.

Wear it, restyle it, mix it with the jewelry you already own. Add a coordinating bracelet later and layer it with your own sterling silver or gold pieces. Wear the statement earrings one night and the quieter pair the next. And years from now, perhaps pass a favorite piece down.

The occasion may be what inspired the jewelry - it shouldn't be the end of its story.

And perhaps the best proof of that came from Judy herself:
“I wear all of the jewelry all the time…to work and when I go out…just love it!!” - Judy

The Best Part? Her Reaction.

There is a point in custom design when everything changes.

I've seen the dress, pulled the crystals, moved colors around my worktable approximately a thousand times, made the piece, adjusted it, looked at it again and probably changed one tiny thing that no one else would ever notice.

And then she finally sees it.

Whether I'm able to share that moment with her in person or I hear from her after she receives the finished pieces, that first reaction is incredibly special for both of us.

Then, later, I get to see the photographs.

With these two looks, I could finally see the life of everything I had been working on and how beautifully it all came together - the colors, the proportions, the placement of the crystals and the relationship between the jewelry and the clothes.

She wasn't wearing jewelry that happened to coordinate with her outfit. She was wearing jewelry designed for her. And there's a difference.

Designed for Brides, Mothers of the Bride - and the People Beside Them

Custom design certainly doesn't stop with the Mother of the Bride. I've designed for brides, Mothers of the Bride and Groom, bridal parties and other special occasions.

For bridal parties, one of my favorite places to take inspiration from is actually the bouquet. Flowers create such a beautiful and specific color story for a wedding, and pulling those colors into crystal can create jewelry that feels connected to that particular day without becoming traditional "bridesmaid jewelry."

The flowers may only last for the celebration, but the jewelry doesn't have to. It can become a meaningful gift in the colors of a very special day - something your bridesmaids can genuinely wear again, cherish and perhaps eventually pass down themselves.

And for the bride, jewelry can be one of the few elements of the wedding that continues to live with her. A necklace or pair of earrings may become something she wears on an anniversary or even something she reaches for regularly. A crystal hair piece or tiara doesn't have to spend the rest of its life tucked away in a box either - bring it back out for New Year's Eve, a black-tie evening or another occasion worthy of a little extra sparkle.

Special pieces can become part of your life long after the event they were originally created for, and perhaps one day, someone else you love will wear them too.

Custom Should Still Feel Like You

You don't need to know exactly what you want before contacting me. Actually, I'd rather you didn't.

Show me the dress. Tell me the occasion. Tell me what you normally wear, what you never wear, what colors you love and what you're comfortable spending. Then let me start pulling things out.

We may begin with one of my existing designs and customize it. We may alter the proportions or colors. We might create an entire set. Or what starts as one idea may evolve into something completely different once I begin putting everything together.

And sometimes, we may discover that you don't need something custom at all. The perfect piece may already be sitting in my collection, and I'm just as happy to help you find it.

That's part of the fun of working directly with a designer. You don't have to know which necklace works with your neckline or whether the statement earrings are enough on their own. That's my job.

It isn't about choosing Option A, B or C from a customization menu. It's a conversation.

And somewhere between the dress, the woman who's wearing it, my trays of crystals and probably a few unexpected ideas, we find the piece.

You put it on, you look in the mirror and there it is - Oh. That's it.

Considering Something Custom?

Whether you're dressing for a wedding, searching for jewelry for the Mother of the Bride or Groom, creating something meaningful for your bridal party, or simply have an occasion when nothing you've found feels quite right, I'd love to help you create something personal.

Every custom project begins differently - sometimes with a dress, sometimes with one of my existing designs and sometimes with nothing more than an idea.

Explore Custom Designed Jewelry →