How to choose a pearl necklace for your wedding day

There is nothing more beautiful to complement a wedding dress than a stunning strand of pearls. This traditional wedding jewelry is more popular than ever, with brides using all styles of pearl jewelry to add that finishing touch to their bridal ensemble. In addition to looking fabulous, wearing a pearl necklace on your wedding day has historically been known as a good luck charm, promising to bring the marriage years of happiness. When choosing a pearl necklace for your big day, there are four main issues to evaluate. These issues will ensure your necklace and any other accessories complement your dress and add to instead of diminish your beauty. 1.) Color: The color of the pearl is usually the most noticeable aspect of any pearl jewelry. Pearls come in colors ranging from traditional white and off-white to pink, black, grey, and even silver. When choosing the color of your pearl necklace, be sure to think of your skin tone and dress. The color should accentuate your outfit and make the ensemble complete, so choose wisely for a color that you can wear on your wedding day and for many days to come. 2.) Size: Pearls come in several different sizes and are either strung for a necklace in a similar range or in a graduated range. Choose a size of pearl that matches your proportions, as well as that of your dress. Size of the pearl directly affects another issue to keep in mind, the length of the strand. 3.) Length: Pearl necklaces are available in several lengths: • Collar (12 – 13 inches) • Choker (14 – 16 inches) • Princess (17 – 19 inches) • Matinee (20 – 25 inches) • Opera (26 – 36 inches) • Rope (over 37 inches) The difference in length directly depends on the style of your dress. The most popular lengths of pearl necklaces are the princess length and the opera length. Avoid wearing the longer lengths of pearls over heavily beaded or decorated dresses, as the impact of the pearls may be lost. You may need to try on several lengths to see how each individual strand fits your body. 4.) Additions: Many brides are choosing to forego the traditional strand of pearls and add diamonds or other gemstones to a necklace setting. This is a great idea if you have a preexisting pendant mount of heirloom gemstone you wish to include in your jewelry. Also, many brides are using an illusion or floating setting for a single or several pearls. This setting gives the pearl the appearance of floating weightlessly around the wearer’s neck, giving a more modern feel to this traditional element.

Gifts that benefit the recipients and sick children. these beautiful wish charms that symbolize unity and spirituality also help fund research

The reasons for giving gifts are as numerous as the ideas for gifts themselves. Whether it's for a birthday, a wedding, the holidays, a housewarming or "just because," a thoughtful gift conveys a true sense of caring and sharing. In addition, certain gifts offer a dual benefit-providing joy to the recipient and helping support worthwhile causes. For example, through the purchase of beautiful and unique items such as St. Jude Wish Charms and accessories, people can help children from communities around the world who are battling cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Wish Charms symbolize unity and spirituality, shaped into a perfect circle. They offer eight meaningful, life-affirming expressions, elegantly engraved and accentuated by fine Austrian crystals. The charms look great looped through a leather cord or a silver chain as a necklace. They can be stacked, woven together into a choker or dangled from a silver bracelet. By shopping through the Hope Catalog, you can show your support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with trendy merchandise from Liz Claiborne, DKNY Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike and several others. Choose from apparel, jewelry, bags, home accessories and other St. Jude merchandise to help children from communities around the world who are battling cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

The evolution of the watch

The watch as we know it today came into being out of the necessity of portability in the shipping and navigation industry in the early 15th century. The problem they had was that while the latitude could be measured by looking at the stars, the only way to determine longitude was by comparing the midday time of the local longitude to a European meridian like Paris or Greenwich. This was a very unreliable way of doings things until John Harrison introduced the chronometer. The first fairly accurate clocks used weighted pendulums, which by their very nature were of no use at sea or in a portable watch. The invention of the spring mechanism brought in the development of “pocket clockes” in Tudor England allowing clockmakers the ability to put a time keeping device in a small, mobile, container. The very first pocket watch was created by Peter Henlein in 1524 and it is rumored that Henry VIII had one of these kept on a chain around his neck. These early watches only had an hour hand, the inaccuracy of the watches at this time made a minute hand useless. The evolution of the miniaturization process of these spring based designs allowed for the making of portable watches that would work at sea. The Waltham Watch Company founded in 1850 by Aaron Dennison pioneered the manufacturing of interchangeable parts and is still a top watchmaker today. In the 1868 the first wristwatch was made by the Patek Philippe company, a joint venture of Antoinne Patek and French watchmaker Adrien Phillippe, the inventor of the keyless wind mechanism. It was considered an accessory for women until the 2oth century. Because of its exclusivity, luxury tag, low volume production and cost, Patek Philippe lost the market and lost much of its business. The Stern family took over the firm in 1929. Patek Philippe remains a force in the quartz watch industry introducing not only the perpetual calendar, chronograph, and minute repeater but also the most complicated mechanical watch ever made. In 1989, the company created the Calibre 89, in celebration of their 150th anniversary. This watch has 33 complications including the date of Easter, a thermometer, a sunrise time, equation of time and more! In the early 1900’s, the wristwatch became popular with men due to the Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont who wanted a more convenient way of checking time while in the aircraft he was working on. He approached his friend, Louis Cartier and asked him for a watch that he could read easier and Cartier designed a leather-band wristwatch for him that he never took off. Because Cartier was a popular figure in Paris, he was able to sell these watches to many other men and by the Fist World War, officers in all armies were turning to the wristwatches because it was much easier in the battlefield to just look at a watch on their wrist than to have to reach in their pocket for a pocket watch. Army contractors began issuing cheap, reliable, mass produced watches to artillery and infantry officers so they could synchronize their attacks. At the end of the war, these European and American veterans were allowed to return home with their wristwatches helping to make them popular among middle class Western civilian culture. Today almost everyone wears a wristwatch as a direct result of this introduction in World War 1.