Make your own sparkler

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 Wedding Hair Pins

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

Kate and William, like so many couples tying the knot, have lots of decisions to make and plenty of pressure to make their day a sight to behold and yet, on an austere budget (relatively speaking), just like the rest of us. As modern a couple as they are Kate will no doubt, as tradition dictates, dress in a demure and modest way as befitting to her new role. No strapless gowns for her! We predict she will take her lead from other royal weddings such as Autumn Kelly & Peter Phillips or the revered Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier III whose wedding day looks you can see in our Star Style section.

Whatever look she chooses, we can’t wait to watch this day unfold and we wish them every happiness for their future marriage. A big congratulations from Radiance Boutique!

Beauty Call Studio

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.

Early October sees Radiance Boutique celebrate it’s third birthday, yes that’s three years of being lucky enough to be included in many brides’ big day by supplying their beautiful wedding earrings, bracelets, necklaces and hair accessories. It’s a great job, working with lots of lovely brides and frankly, we wouldn’t have it any other way!

So we simply had to have a celebratory competition and spoil one lucky winner rotten! So we’re giving you the chance to win your wishlist. The wishlist tool is available on each item page, just under the ‘add to basket’ button you’ll see the ‘add to wishlist’ button. It’s a great way of bookmarking the items you like so you can easily find them when you come back to the site at a later date.

To set up your wishlist simply find the wedding accessories that you love and click the ‘add to wishlist’ button. You’ll be asked for your email and to create a password, so that you can login again in future. Once you’ve done that you can add more pieces of jewellery using the same button -don’t forget your hair accessories!

Radiance Boutique can’t see what items you add to your wishlist, only that you have created one. We believe the privacy of this tool is important for our users and we will not use your email address for any other purpose -just to inform you whether or not you have won.

So head over to the bridal accessories boutique now and add your favourite pieces. One lucky winner will be chosen on 5th October to win everything included on their wishlist (maximum value £150). We’re also giving you a second chance to win -just like our facebook page and you will automatically get a second entry into the competition -doubling your chances of winning!

Join in our birthday celebrations and you could be the one who gets to open all the presents! Simply set up your wishlist for your chance to win all the wedding jewellery items you’d like to wear as you walk down the aisle.

Finally, a big thank you to all our customers from the last 3 years. You have helped make Radiance Boutique what it is and we wouldn’t be 3 without you!

Today we’re adding five new pieces including a heart pendant necklace, heart studs for little girls, and a gorgeous faith, hope and charity bracelet for bridesmaids to wear as they accompany you down the church aisle. What better way to say thank you than with a beautiful and quality piece that they will want to wear again and again?

Silver Bridesmaids Bracelet

All of the new items have been hand made from Sterling silver chain, charms and clasps with the Sterling Silver quality mark stamped on every piece so you can be assured as always, of the best from Radiance Boutique.

These items also come in their own very cute packaging of dinky boxes with gingham ribbon ready to give to those eager little bridesmaids!

If you still can’t see what you’re looking for then do drop us a line. We might be able to help if you’re looking for something in particular and we’re happy to chat about bespoke orders for your bridesmaids so that you can get it just right for everyone whose sharing in your big day.

Brides who like the designs available at http://www.radianceboutique.co.uk will love the new service if they want to vary any of the designs seen online or have something special created from scratch. Whether you have an idea in mind already for your jewellery commission or you’re looking for guidance and ideas to start you off, we can help. And as with our online experience, friendly service and respectable prices come as standard!

Hair accessories, tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and earrings are all available. Initial consultations in Greenwich, South East London are informal and with no obligation -a deposit is only taken once you decide to place an order. We would love to hear from you and learn more about your wedding planning so email jen@radianceboutique.co.uk or call 020 7193 9599 for your appointment now!

Crystal and Pearl Wedding Earrings

Pearl and Crystal Wedding Necklace

Romantic collection Pearl Wedding Necklace

But it’s not only this style of necklace but also our Romantic pearl necklace which is being snapped up.

Our bestselling pearl bracelet is still going strong, as is the variation on it’s design, our Romantic collection pearl bracelet featuring different sizes and shapes of pearls.

Yet it looks like come summer we may be handing our latest wedding necklaces the crown! Find your own favourite wedding accessory at http://www.radianceboutique.co.uk