Bridal Bouquet: Fit for a Princess
Two self-taught jewelry mavens can make your wedding
Leah Johns, the talent behind Philadelphia-based Leah Pauline Jewelry, creates jewelry perfect for a bride who wants only a light kiss of beauty at her neck or a wisp of adornment on her ear. Each feminine piece has a playful feel, the unexpected asymmetry drawing your eye from each charm to the next. “My entire life I’ve just been collecting a lot of beads and vintage jewelry,” says Johns, who started to deconstruct broken necklaces to incorporate pieces she liked into her own designs. When a friend asked Johns to design something for her wedding, she began toying with the idea of a bridal line. “The bride wants the dress to be the focus,” says Johns, so she keeps her necklaces simple — the thin strands of gold are so delicate you might believe the whimsical, perfectly chosen charms and semiprecious gems were suspended against your skin by an invisible line. leahpauline.com.
Tuyet Wong, owner of the eponymous custom-jewelry business in Radnor, travels the world in search of freshwater pearls that shimmer just so and gemstones that catch the light from all the right angles. “I feel that when a bride puts on one of my pieces, it’s like completing a beautiful centerpiece,” says Wong, who makes sure that each one-of-a-kind item is exactly what you want, and will even make house calls so she can see your dress. With pearls that seem to have an internal glow and unexpected combinations of semiprecious stones — including vintage Swarovski crystals, pearlescent moonstone and sterling-silver clasps with an Asian vibe that echo Wong’s native Vietnam — her classic gems will make you feel like a 1940s film star. 610-316-7338.
