Matthew Stephens – Limericks Diamond Specialists had over 400 guests attend their exclusive ‘Diamond and Champagne Evening’ at their luxurious three-level store on O’Connell Street last Thursday evening. 

The intimate event gave their customers the opportunity to see an amazing range of diamonds from nine of their top international suppliers from Europe and USA. Fancy yellow diamonds from Los Angeles worth over €500,000 were the showstoppers on the night along with amazing diamond rings and couture jewellery spread over three floors. It was a glittering affair with a red carpet out to welcome the invited guests with Moet Champagne and lush chocolates for all.

Feel free to view some pictures of the night!

Well... a version of it! Brides (or bridesmaids) to be can now avail of a budget friendly version of the dress that Pippa Middleton wore as bridesmaid to her sister, Princess Catherine in April 2010. The dress is available on net-a-porter.com for approx £2,000.00 - a snip when you consider that the original Sarah Burton design cost in the region of £20,000.00!

 

For more details log onto net-a porter.com

The wedding cake tradition goes back as far as the Roman Empire, but over the last number of years the style and shapes of cakes have changed. Traditionally, they had mostly being round or square and in white royal icing. The colour white denoted purity and the wedding cake was known as the bride’s cake as it is today considered the bride’s day.

Today the icing on the cake can wither be white or ivory. Fondant icing is the most popular choice of icing at the moment, which is easy adapted to the colour theme chosen by the bride; chocolate is also a very favourite choice of icing. The classic wedding cake is three tiers of rich fruit, covered in almond paste then icing, starting with the largest cake on the bottom, for example a 12 inch, then middle tier and the smallest cake on the top.

Summer is arguably the most popular time for weddings and ceremonies to take place – what’s not to love about marrying the love of your life with the sun shining, reflecting the optimism you feel for your life ahead together?

In Ireland however that romantic picture often becomes a major washout as the only thing that’s certain about the weather at any time of the year is that you absolutely can’t take it for granted!

Rain has bucketed down at weddings in mid July and the sun has split the trees at weddings in mid October – so, planning decisively for a warm wedding day in Ireland just because the date you pick is IN the Summer season is often a form of Russian roulette!

With approx 11 weeks to Christmas (sorry!), we’re in that cosy wintry mood here in the perfectwedding.ie office and ask why not take the uncertainty out of the weather and just get married in Winter?! It’s such a magical time of the year to marry. Think fairy lights, cosy log fires, mulled wine, romantic snow fall, Christmas cheer, (ok, we know we’re painting a very romantic picture here BUT…. it IS unarguably (mostly!) such a romantic time of year!)

Some (you may say obvious, but nonetheless) things that you should consider:

A LOT apparently when we sat down and actually thought about it!!

We were chatting to a bride-to-be last week who was undecided as to whether or not she was changing her name after her wedding .

Our advice? It’s really a matter of personal choice, some people associate their name with a sense of their own identity and may wish to keep it after they marry for that reason (which is perfectly fine!).

Others may want to change it as they may feel that the name change completes the marriage and commitment process. On the flip side however, the name change may not necessarily be an important part of the process for some so changing their name after the wedding ceremony may not be meaningful to them..

There's a wedding dress out there for every size and shape woman – it's just a question of finding it! PerfectWedding.ie presents our ten commandments of dress shopping, and offers some tips on finding the right dress for you.

Think of your comfort

Don’t be nervous.  

There are dresses to suit shapes and sizes and the assistants in the shops are well in helping you find the right shape. Some shapes look great on curvier girls, while others look good on thinner women. It’s a question of finding the right shape for your figure. 

It is only human nature to seek out a bargain however it has come to the attention of a Limerick based Jeweller that ‘fractured filled’ and over-valued diamonds are becoming  “increasingly common” according to Matthew Ryan ,Managing Director of Matthew Stephens, the O'Connell Street-based jewellery firm and instore accredited Jeweller Aoife O'Connell.

According to Aoife  “Over the past year I have met a number of customers who have bought their diamonds overseas, either in person or over the internet who think they are getting exceptional quality diamonds at bargain prices. Others have purchased from travelling traders or one man operators who set up in a hotel for a few days then leave town.  They are telling me that they saw the same ring in Limerick for €10,000, while they purchased from these dealers for €3,000. Nine times out of ten when I inspect these diamonds they are always a very poor grade, seriously over-valued, generally accompanied with a fake certificate and/or the diamond is actually ‘fractured filled’.  Fracture filling is the process of filling in the inclusions in a diamond with a polymer resin which makes the diamond appear more attractive to the naked eye. Over time, the filling seeps out and you are left with a very flawed diamond. According to Aoife “It most certainly is not an illegal procedure and a number of jewellers often carry a selection of these diamonds & disclose it to the customer when a diamond has been fracture filled. However, the consensus is that Irish customers are saying they were not made aware that their diamond was fractured filled or the process was not explained fully to them.

Another worrying trend which we are noticing is that there are a number of certificated diamonds where the diamond report overstates the clarity and the colour by more than one grade. Other tricks include offloading diamonds with “Strong Fluorescence” or with high Colour & clarity but with terrible cut grades to naive Irish shoppers, meaning that they will be sold worthless “lifeless” diamonds with no sparkle, but seem good on paper.

Now that wedding season is in full swing I'm dealing with a lot of brides who are very anxious about their wedding entrance song. All brides want that perfect wedding entrance song to walk down the aisle to! As I tell every bride & groom, song choice is a matter of preference - the entrance song chosen should always mean something to both bride & groom. (Although in reality, the groom won't always get a say in this one - sorry guys!!)

With its abundant sealife and sandy beaches a secluded romantic island honeymoon vacation in The Maldives, a tropical paradise located in the heart of The Indian Ocean is the perfect choice to start your married life. If you're looking for white sandy beaches, perfect sunsets and the whole world to yourselves - The Maldives is an absolute must to consider.