Jewellery Box Stories

This particular post idea was inspired by a blog by New Lune, looking at life lessons and stories behind favourite jewellery pieces. Anyone who knows me will know that I love my jewellery. I’ve recently started branching out into wearing a few Marianne-inspired earrings (sorry, that will be the only Normal People reference in this post), but generally, I have a few go to pieces that I wear more often. Pretty much all of my go-to jewellery has some sort of sentimental value behind it, and I love how individual pieces can have a story behind them. So today, I’m offering you a sneak peak into my jewellery box at some of my favourite pieces.

Engagement & Wedding Rings

Let’s start with the classic. I wear a lot of rings interchangeably, but these are the two that I never take off. Liam proposed to me on the 24th December 2010, and I fell in love with my ring straight away. A spooky fun fact – a couple of years later, when my friend Beth got engaged, we discovered in the pub that we both had the same one! Our fiancés both picked out the rings themselves too, who knew?!

Four years later, we were on the hunt for the perfect wedding ring to go with it. Given the shape, it would mean finding something that fit perfectly around it was a little more tricky, but we went to the shop where Liam bought it thinking it’d be easy to find something to match. The lady in the shop offered us a design that just about fit around the engagement ring, and it was around £300. However, it was white gold, and my engagement ring was silver. We were told not to mix metals as it could lead to them discolouring, so I asked if it was possible to get the exact same design made in silver. It was, but it would be double the price. Nah you’re alright there hun.

My mother-in-law recommended we try a local jeweller called Sipsons’, who made bespoke pieces. We went in and they designed a wedding ring to fit perfectly around my engagement ring. In silver. With bling. For half the price of what we’d been quoted at the previous place. They created a gorgeous wedding ring for me that was truly unique and was everything I wanted. Combined with my engagement ring, the two together look beautiful. To this day, I still catch myself admiring my rings every now and again, and they remind me of the amazing day we had when we got married.

Charm Bracelet

I don’t wear bracelets all that often. OCD is a bit of a bully even on the jewellery front, and where the bracelet is worn so close to my hands and to surfaces, I sometimes feel like they pick up more germs. I feel like I have to take them off for visits to the toilet and such for obvious reasons, so that often means I don’t tend to wear them out much. However, I’m working on changing that, and having a beautiful charm bracelet like this one is a really good incentive. Liam gave me this Chamilia bracelet for my birthday one year, along with two charms – both of which signify my love of The Little Mermaid. I have a Flounder and a colourful bead that says “part of your world.” Later that day, my mother in law gave me another addition to my bracelet – it was another Disney themed one, but this time it was Chip from Beauty and the Beast, who has to be one of my favourite sidekicks! Over the last few years I’ve added a few more charms to my bracelet, including a silver heart with an emerald in the middle (my birthstone) and Ariel herself. I hope to add a few more to it in the future, and I love the idea of getting new charms to signify different events and moments throughout life. Whether or not they all turn out to be Disney is currently unconfirmed.

The Necklace

Let’s go back to Christmas 2009. By this point, Liam and I had been together for 10 months, and my Christmas present was a silver necklace with a heart pendant, engraved with “14.02.09 – Mine” on one side and “Liam loves Amy” on the other. I wore it every single day, going right into our days at university, until eventually, the silver tarnished. I was heartbroken, and reluctantly tucked the pendant away. Liam had given me a new necklace for my birthday each year since then, but I couldn’t bear to throw away this one. Fast forward to my 22nd birthday, when Liam presented me with an upgrade. A silver necklace, featuring an emerald pendant, engraved with “14.02.09 – Mine” as before. To this day, it’s one of my absolute favourite necklaces, and it reminds me of all of the good times we’ve had in our relationship.

The Silver Ring

I re-discovered this ring recently, after burying it in my jewellery box for the last couple of years. I bought it not long after my 21st birthday – I wanted a simple but pretty ring that I could wear every day to mark the occasion, and I found this in H Samuel for £15. I’ve started wearing it more often over the last few weeks and I’ve forgotten how much I love it!

The Cat on the Moon

This necklace is one of the most recent additions to my favourite jewellery pieces, and I love it so much. Lillie gave me this for my birthday, which as my regular readers will know was spent in quarantine. Despite that, she still appeared at my door with a card and presents for me and it absolutely made my day.

The Blue Earrings

These earrings came with a matching necklace and bracelet, and were given to me by two of my oldest friends, Beth and Cilla, on the night of my hen party. They had listened to me say that I wanted something blue to wear on my wedding day and this was such a lovely surprise. I didn’t wear the necklace or the bracelet on the day – mainly because the style and neckline of my dress would have been a bit overcrowded with a necklace and I was a bit scared of a bracelet catching on the lace – but I wore the earrings as my something blue and they went perfectly. Blue was also our colour scheme so they matched perfectly, and they just popped in every single photo. As for the necklace and bracelet, I wore them on our “minimoon” trip to Barnsley House a few days later. Even now, whenever I wear blue, at least one piece from this set becomes a go-to accessory.

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The Wedding Bracelet

My wedding bracelet is one of my most treasured possessions. As I mentioned just then, I wasn’t planning on wearing a bracelet because I’m clumsy AF and was terrified of catching it on the lace of my dress, so I wasn’t expecting it at all. Corey, Liam’s brother, delivered this and a bottle of Nina Ricci perfume (my favourite) to my room while I was getting ready and as I opened it, Liam had left a note saying “the lady in the shop promised it wouldn’t catch!” It was a gorgeous finishing touch to my dress and just subtle enough to add some extra sparkle. It’s quite delicate so it only ever comes out on our wedding anniversary, but in a way that makes it extra special, because I’m reminded of the amazing day we had every time I wear it. 

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The Lockdown Misery Rings

Again, another new addition to my jewellery collection are what I’m calling my lockdown misery rings. I had some money for my birthday so I decided to treat myself to some new rings, and I found both of these beauties on Amazon.

They’re a bit blingy for everyday wear but I just love the colours in both of them, and they look even better when I wear them after having my nails done! While I didn’t buy them specifically because of lockdown, I feel in years to come, that’ll be the story behind them that I’ll remember.

Is there a story behind your favourite jewellery pieces? Let me know in the comments!