Brighton Finds

A weekend in Brighton with the lovely and newly civil-partnered J & E (Alex's sis and now sis-in-law!) proved wonderfully delightful for wedding ideas.

First, Greshman Blake, bespoke tailors. J got her wedding outfit from there and Alex is definitely pining for the same. We've been to their shop in Brighton a few times now, but after purusing their site just now, found out they have a by-appointment-only, London shop too!

Let's hope, though, Alex doesn't want the shotgun to go with her wedding outfit, too.

Next, the Lanes in Brighton are full of jewellry shops and on a last-ditch whim on Sunday, Alex, Christy and I found ourselves staring into the windows on an antique jewellers--and found a design we really, really like. Both of us. BOTH of us. It's exciting.

Of course, it being a second-hand ring, there was only one. Hence, it's just an idea, but a really good one. And one that we can take to preferably eco-friendly, conflict-free designers (Brilliant Earth, Green Karat, Leber Jeweler, Dawes Designs or the like*...) and use it as a possible starting point for a custom design.

And last, but not least, J&E passed on A Very Pink Wedding: A Gay Guide to Planning Your Perfect Day. I'm not sure they actually read the whole thing, and it may possibly be stressing me out a bit, but hey, it's nice to have a book for your kind of wedding.

Now I'm crossing my fingers Fowey will be as fruitful, but with wedding venues and dates this coming week!

*Hat tip to Robyn. It's no coincidence that she's born on Earth Day.

Champagne Diamonds

Not gonna lie, I have started to become distracted lately by shiny things. Sparkly, diamond shaped shiny rings to be exact. Don't get me wrong: I love our engagement rings. But, we agreed simple on the engagement rings and fancy on the wedding rings and like any bride-in-waiting, my left finger's starting to twitch.

It seriously didn't occur to me until recently to start looking for what I actually might want in a wedding ring, especially one with any rocks involved. That changed on Sunday when we were in Old Spitalfields Market in East London and happened by a jewellery stall with a sparkling, square cut "champagne" trio of cubic zirconium set in silver that just happened to fit me by Amanda Mansell. The style was all wrong on me, but the color. The color stuck with me.

Then I was in Liberty today with Christy and figured, what the hey, I might as well try on some of these fancy rings they've got here. I am ENGAGED after all--when do I have a better excuse?

So I did, and it was gorgeous. And guess what? The first ring to catch my eye: a ring of champagne diamonds. Sadly, I can't find pictures online of either ring, but I figured this would suffice to get the point across.


I think Alex and I should try us on some rings. Mission: find a recycled champagne diamond, a designer, a setting, and ring to "match" for Alex--all on a budget. Go.