The hidden stories behind the accessories

One thing that I always get excited about is when a bride tells me that she has something to add in to her accessory. Have you thought about this at all?

I remember one Christmas, over at my mum’s, when Pete presented me with a small box.

The look on my mum’s face was a picture. Could this be the moment he asked me to marry him? Did my mum know something I didn’t?

I’ll admit that there was a moment when I thought there was an engagement ring in there. There wasn’t.

Inside the black, velvet covered box was a squirrel brooch. It had small stones set in it and it was really detailed.

My mum’s reaction probably summed up my initial thoughts. “Engagement rings come in boxes,” she scoffed.

It was funny, really. I got exactly where he was coming from, just like when he bought me a cross stitch Westie pattern the first birthday we were together. He knew I liked Westie dogs, as my mum had one, and I’d said once that I’d like to have a go at doing cross stitch. Proof he listens I suppose!

I loved squirrels, so he thought I would love the squirrel brooch. And I did, I just didn’t know what to do with it!

Until I decided to make my brooch bouquet, that is. It was the first thing I thought about including, especially as we were getting married in the autumn and we were having a bit of a woodland theme with our colour scheme and centrepieces.

He sat nestled in my bouquet and it started to make me think about how other brides might incorporate special details in to their accessories. How you might incorporate something special.

There’s something really special about those pieces. They’re often mixed in with other bits and pieces but the special ones really leap out. They feel different to hold, as if the meaning behind them adds weight somehow.

For Katie, it was her grandfather’s watch that he wore in the RAF, with its cracked face that sat at the centre of her bouquet, surrounded by her grandmother’s pearls. Katrina included her father’s police badge and tie pin and Nikki built her hair piece around a flamingo brooch from her mum.

What I’m trying to say is there are so many things you could include, so have a rummage around and find something that could serve as your “something old”. I’d love to see what you find!