Beautiful wedding accessories handmade from Swarovski crystals and crystal pearls for the perfect finishing touch

Make with Mum Royal Wedding celebration tiara

April 15th, 2011
Make a tiara with your favourite little girls

Make a tiara with your favourite little girls

In the final installment of our crafty Royal Wedding inspired blog posts we’re delighted to bring you the opportunity to get making with your little ones and create a Princess style tiara with little more than a cereal box and some pipe cleaners!

We hope you enjoy this fun half term project for your favourite little girls. We would love to see the results from anyone who makes one so please don’t be shy, upload a photo of your finished tiara, or even pictures of the whole process to our facebook album

You can download full instructions in a word document here Make with Mum Royal Wedding Celebration Tiara We’ve kept photos to a minimum so that it downloads quickly but you can find more helpful images to guide you in our photo album on facebook

Make your tiara from pipe cleaners and a cereal box!

Make your tiara from pipe cleaners and a cereal box!

Will you go for Princess Pink or more traditional Red, White and Blue? Maybe decorate with glitter paint? Be sure to put your own stamp on it! If you have little boys you can include them by making a crown using the same techniques to go around the whole base. They may be more interested in a sword though!

Enjoy! We hope you have as much fun making yours as we did creating ours!

Who needs a Prince? Make your own sparkly ring!

March 25th, 2011

Sparkling ring

Make your own sparkler

Another opportunity to get making today in the second of our Royal Wedding inspired craft ideas! This one is simple yet striking and something you can do at home with the help of our instruction sheet and surprisngly few materials. Wire wrapping is a great way to start learning to make your own jewellery and that’s how we’ve created this gorgeous ring from one Swarovski crystal Filigree and some wire. Okay it’s not quite the Sapphire Kate has but hey, she didn’t make if for herself!

You can download the instructions sheet here, How to make a sparkly ring for all the information you’ll need and you can find the Filigree and wire at most good beadshops. Best of all, it should cost you less than a fiver! If you are having any trouble locating the materials do drop me a line and I will be sure to help, email jen@radianceboutique.co.uk

We hope you’re enjoying our Royal Wedding inspired craft ideas. If you’d like to learn more or have any comments about jewellery making for your wedding or otherwise please get in touch. We’re hoping to have various classes available in the near future so it would be great to get your feedback on anything you’d like to learn to make.

As previously mentioned all of our Royal Wedding inspired craft ideas ulitmately aim to raise some money for a yet-to-be-decided charity, but one of the charities whose patron is Prince William. To celebrate his special occasion and feel involved in it all, to get people making and to raise a few pennies seemed like a good idea to us! Our ring instruction sheet is totally free to use but if you do find it fun and you are able to make a donation we would be extremely grateful.

You can donate using our fancy paypal button here. We suggest £1 per compliment received for your homemade sparkler! We jest! In all seriousness, just a few pounds from anyone who enjoys making this ring will hopefully all add up.Thank you so much! Join us in two weeks time for more inspirational making!


Learn to make your own wedding hair pins

March 4th, 2011
Learn to Make Wedding Hair Pins

Learn to Make Wedding Hair Pins

I am delighted to announce that Radiance Boutique will be offering some one-on-one hair pin making workshops throughout March and April, giving you the opportunity to create your own simple wedding hair accessories.

There are some great classes out there that will teach you to make your own jewellery but you’ll need the best part of £200 and a full day or evenings over the course of six weeks before you can reap the rewards. I know a lot of brides want to add a personal touch to their wedding and would prefer to try their hand at a bite sized project where the results are immediate and relevant.

I really believe that everyone who wants to get a bit crafty should have the opportunity. Making something yourself is extremely rewarding. With the Royal Wedding just weeks away this is one of three projects I have in mind to get people doing just that. I find the occassion such an inspiration and feel we can all partake in the excitement of the build up to the big day!

I will be running the workshops from my home in Greenwich (less than 5 minutes from the dlr and train station) teaching you to make your own simple wedding hair pins in pearl or crystal. Each 1 hour 15 minute lesson will be hands on and you will leave with at least 6 hair pins for your big day and a worksheet so you can carry on making more for yourself or your bridesmaids when you get home.

Wedding Hair Accessories

Pearl Hair Pins

The classes are suitable for beginners and a great way to add a personal touch to your wedding. Each workshop will cost £25 with £5 from every session going to one of the charities whose patron is Prince William. My aim is to raise £100 for charity through this and my other upcoming Royal Wedding inspired projects!

You can find the dates and times of the workshops here and book simply by clicking ‘add to the basket’ and checking out through the online shop. Once a date and time is booked it will disappear so be quick to get the slot you want! There are some afternoon, some after work and some weekend slots so hopefully something for everyone.

If you can’t see the slot you want you can drop me a line and I will try to squeeze you in if at all possible but please note that availability is limited. Currently these classes are only for making the more simple hair pins, this is because they involve the minimum amount of tools and I believe most people will get good results with practise once they know how.

If there is demand for making other items or general demand for these classes in the future I will consider continuing with them as more than a one off project so do let me know if your wedding isn’t for a while but you are interested or fill out our survey here Click here to take survey

If you have any questions or comments about any of this do drop me a line at jen@radianceboutique.co.uk

Waity Radiance sits tight until April

February 25th, 2011

In an amusing twist it’s the princess-to-be who was given the moniker ‘Waity Katie’ who now has us tapping our toe until April when we’ll finally see what her wedding day look will be. We are now ‘Waity Radiance!’ Just as Kate Middleton waited patiently for her man to pop the question, so we now wait for her big day before announcing this years bridal trends. Lucky for us we’re talking months, not years!

As any avid readers will know we’ve usually posted our thoughts on the wedding trends for the upcoming year by now. But this year we decided to postpone because we all know where most of the inspiration will come from -all eyes will be on the Royal Wedding. This event will inform many a bridal decision for years to come! Maybe even decades if she gets it as spot on as Grace Kelly did.

Remember all those eighties weddings with the floral headbands and big puffy shouldered dressses? I was a bridesmaid at a few such occasions back then and they all took inspiration from Diana’s 1981 wedding day look. Flowers adorned heads in most cases as not everyone’s budget could stretch to precious stone tiaras!

Almost 30 years to the day since Diana’s wedding to Charles, Kate Middleton will become Princess Catherine and all eyes will be upon her. Then Waity Radiance will scurry off to inform you of the precedent she has set with her big day look. We’re so excited by this that we don’t mind waiting. Which must be exactly how Kate herself felt for the last 8 years!

Please stop by the blog in May when we promise a big breakdown of our thoughts on wedding trends for 2011 as inspired by the big event. Flags at the ready!

Handmade Wedding Accessories Rock!

February 21st, 2011

We recently told you how much we enjoy tweaking our designs to your specification. ‘If there’s one thing Radiance Boutique prides itself on’, we said, ‘it’s offering brides to be this flexibility’. Like one of our designs but wish there were more pearls and less crystals? Done! ‘Please get in touch’, we said, ‘we’re not offended if you want to change something’ -that’s the beauty of handmade. You get what you really want.

And many of you did just that. Today we wanted to show you one tweaked design in particular. A bride to be who loved our crystal teardrop earrings and wanted a bracelet to go with them. A bracelet not unlike our best selling pearl bracelet. But with crystals of course. And not twinkly crystals please, plain, uncoated ones -she knew her stuff. And with the beads from the earrings incorporated here and there. But not quite so many beads as on the pearl version.

Sparkling crystal wedding bracelet

Handmade Crystal Wedding Bracelet

Well, our bride sure knew what she wanted and we were very happy to make it for her. Here is the finished result. And all it took was a brief email conversation. The price was no different. We didn’t charge anything more for this bespoke service. And our bride is happily awaiting her wedding day this Spring were she can say ‘Thank you’ to all the compliments and add ‘I helped design it myself!’ Impressive huh?

Whether you have a specific idea in mind as in this case or a rather more vague one, don’t be afraid to get in touch. You don’t have to sign up to anything immediately, we give you plenty of opportunity to say no thank you before committing to anything further. We’re here to listen to your ideas and hopefully to help bring them to life. This is what makes us tick and that is why we do it so well. Please get in touch at jen@radianceboutique.co.uk even if it’s just to say hi. We like hi!

Ask Santa for Wedding Accessories this Christmas!

November 22nd, 2010

Well, almost! Did you know that you can send any Radiance Boutique item page to a friend, relative, bridesmaid (or Santa should you have his email address) to get their opinion or hint that it’s on your Christmas list?

Under the description of every gorgeous piece of wedding jewellery you’ll find a little button that says ‘Send to Friend’. Click it, fill out their name and email address details, write them a little message and press ‘send’. It’s that simple!

To be clear, Radiance Boutique does not have any access to the contact details you give when using this tool so your privacy is assured. We just like helpful tools that brides to be can use to make the best choices when it comes to their wedding day look.

Crystal and Pearl Wedding Earrings

Crystal and Pearl Wedding Earrings

This Christmas we’re predicting the elves will be packing our bestselling crystal and pearl drop wedding earrings for plenty of ladies who’ve been savvy enough to ask for them as a present.

We know lots of mums and mother-in-laws-to-be in particular are happy to purchase a gift they know will be loved and cherished. Plus it helps ease your wedding budget a little. So why not? Click today and get what you really want this Christmas!

Last date for Christmas orders, Friday 17th December 2010

How can we help? Wedding jewellery adapted to your requirements

November 16th, 2010
Pearl Wedding Headband

Pearl Wedding Headband

If there’s one thing Radiance Boutique prides itself on offering brides to be, it’s flexibility. Like one of our designs but wish there were more pearls and less crystals? Like our earrings but looking for a matching pendant necklace to go with them? Get in touch and we’ll do out best to help make these things happen.

You don’t need to be in the area, or even available to talk! Quite often an email conversation is enough to work from. So if you’re time short feel free to get in touch from your laptop whilst wearing you’re pyjamas!

Here is a pearl headband we created for one bride. It’s our pearl headband with the 4 crystal teardrops swapped for pearl ones. We’re not offended if you’re not keen on the crystals -we like making things that you can’t wait to wear! It’s also cream instead of Ivory. That’s the beauty of handmade items, you can have a say in what’s created for you.

Crystal Earrings and Pendant Necklace

Crystal Earrings and Pendant Necklace

Another bride, Chantal, loved our crystal drop earrings so much she asked us to make a matching pendant necklace. As you can see the result is a beautiful and happy bride. At Radiance Boutique we make everything to order. So take advantage and get the wedding jewellery and accessories you really want.

Why not email jen@radianceboutique.co.uk with your ideas and requests? We look forward to hearing them!

Win The Perfect Boots For Your Minimoon

November 8th, 2010
Whooga boots

Whooga boots

Are you and your other half one of those uber modern couples planning a minimoon here in the UK before heading off to a balmier destination for your honeymoon proper at a later date? Then you may well be wondering what to pack for the most romantic, but potentially chilly, trip of a lifetime!

Lots of lovely layers for warmth seems like a good place to start and why not treat your toes to some cute and toasty Whooga ugg boots to warm your toes faster? As well as being very cute with your skinny jeans, they’re handcrafted and double stitched for durability and come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Best of all, Whooga are running a giveaway on their site right now so check them out here and sign up to their newsletter for your chance to win a pair of their lovely sheepskin boots. Can’t wait that long to get your hands on a pair? They’re also offering 10% off for this week only with this discount code: 823RADIANCE

Try Out Wedding Hair Accessories in London

November 1st, 2010

Hair studio

Beauty Call Studio

If you’re looking for your bridal hairdresser we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend our friends at Beauty Call. And things are looking even better for London based brides, as they now have a central studio right on your doorstep! Based in Shoreditch, near lots of transport links, it could not be more handy!

Once you’ve booked your wedding hair package with Beauty Call, enjoy the convenience of having your hair trial there after work, instead of having it at home. At the studio your stylist will help you find the right hairstyle for your bridal look and there’s even selected pieces from Radiance Boutique’s collection available for you to try. Experiment with different hair styles and accessories all in one place.

The Radiance Boutique pieces at the Beauty Call studio also mean you don’t need to worry about finding the right accessories to bring to your hair trial before you’ve decided how you’ll be wearing your hair. Make it easy on yourself by trying first and buying later!

Check out Beauty Call’s website for more information and to book your trial today.

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