The most noticed and possibly most important accessory is the necklace. The perfect necklace adds to the beauty of a gown, frames the face and lets the bride’s skin glow. There are so many options when it comes to picking out a pearl necklace for your wedding day. You can go classic, traditional with a twist, vintage, romantic or modern. Let’s take a look at some great ideas for each of these categories.

Classic White Pearl

This type of necklace is a great classic option perfect for just about any type of wedding. They are just simple, white freshwater pearls with an elegant drop in the middle. This type of necklace would be a great option for a bride wearing a gown with a sweetheart neckline.

Classic Ivory Pearl

Here is another classic option when it comes to wedding day jewelry. This necklace in particular is ivory pearls. This is your traditional single strand pearl necklace and would look great with just about any type of gown. Simple, classy yet attention grabbing.

Pearls and Flowers

This necklace is a great option for a bride who wants traditional with a twist. You have your classic white akoya or freshwater pearls but set into a beautiful flower and vine design. This type of necklace is still simple enough to not detract from the gown but adds a little bit of fun.

Keshi Pearl Necklace

More and more brides are getting married on the beach nowadays. While this usually calls for a more casual ceremony and reception, that is no reason to skimp on the accessories! This Keshi pearl necklace is the perfect choice for a beach bride. The natural shaped pearls strung create a beautiful, beachy necklace.

Floating Pearl Necklace

For today’s modern bride, the wedding day necklace needs to be something that grabs people’s attention. A necklace, similar to the one shown to the left could be the perfect option. A floating necklace that mixes Tahitian black pearls with classic white pearls would make the perfect, sophisticated statement with a sleek wedding gown. The black pearls offset the white just enough to make a subtle yet powerful statement.

Vintage Pearl Necklace

A choker necklace with a vintage charm is a great option for a wedding day accessory. Choose a beautiful classic white akoya pearl choker necklace that has a beautiful broach type addition on it. A necklace like this adds such a touch of class and sophistication to an elegant gown that people won’t be able to help but notice. A choker necklace is a great way to frame the face and complements an elegant updo nicely.

Pearls are very valuable and have been farmed for thousands of years with much of the value being ascribed to the enormous amount of human labor required and not to mention the danger inherent in bringing them to shore – pearl’s had to be found by divers going to the sea bed and individually hunting for them.

Naturally formed pearls come from all mollusks that use the process of creating a pearl to seal off an intruding piece of matter such as a grain of sand (though this is rare in practice as it much more likely to be foreign organic matter or parasites).  This is part of the mollusks natural defense mechanism and operates involuntarily.  Cultured pearls are made by the intervention of man and are created essentially as part of a production process which deliberately introduces the foreign body around which the pearl will be formed.

The mollusk deposits a mineral, aragonite and sometimes with a mixture of calcite around the foreign body and the entire concretion is held together by a glue-like substance known as conchiolin. This is built up and forms a layered structure which seals off the foreign intruder from the body of the animal and the combination of aragonite and conchiolin is known as “nacre” which in turn makes up “mother of pearl”.

Natural pearls are almost made entirely of conchiolin and calcium carbonate; they come in a variety of shapes and sizes with completely round pearls being a rarity in nature.  Cultured pearls are far more common and they are usually “pre-formed” with a bead inserted into the mollusk which they places a thin shell of nacre around the foreign object and therefore is not completely made up of pearl material.  Natural pearls are also capable of being dyed different colors whereas natural pearls are a light, pearly white color.

For cultured pearls which are completely organic in that there is no bead around which the mollusks lays a shell of nacre, it requires an X-ray to differentiate it from a natural pearl.  A cultured pearl will not show the concentric spheres of a naturally occurring pearl and is usually also not completely solid to the core.

There is also a further distinction to be made between saltwater and freshwater pearls, the former being the more sought after of the two. They do look very alike but freshwater pearls originate from the Unionidae family of freshwater mussels which inhabit lakes and rivers and are distributed widely geographically in both hot and cold climates.  Saltwater pearls originate form the Pteridae family of oysters which are ocean dwellers and today are typically raised in protected lagoons and atolls in warm tropical climates.

Multi Color Pearl Bracelet

This is a great bracelet comprised of beautiful multicolored freshwater pearls. The pearls range in size from 6-7mm. I love this bracelet because it can go with just about any outfit. It can be worn casually with jeans, used to accessorize a business suit or dressed up with a cocktail dress for date night! Grab this bracelet for a steal at $57.50.

White Pearl Necklace

I love the classic beauty of this white pearl necklace. It is a strand of white, freshwater pearls about 6-7mm in size. This is a timeless piece that can be elegant, casual and sophisticated. I love to wear mine with a polo shirt, jeans and flats for a mature but casual look. You can pick this necklace up for $99!

Akoya Pearl Earrings

This pair of earrings is a great twist on a classic. These earrings are beautiful black saltwater Akoya pearls. Whenever you wear these, they are sure to catch attention! Their gorgeous black color is stylish yet simple. At $64 they are affordable enough to pick up for everyday wear.

You can look at all of these pieces of jewelry along with other great deals under $100 at museumwaypearls.com. They have a great collection of jewelry in every style and color for every budget!

Have a favorite piece of pearl jewelry? I would love to know how you wear it – Share it with me here!