Wedding Hairpin

I originally planned to keep my wedding attire a bit of a secret so you'd be surprised when the real day comes along. But maybe because it's my birthday week, or because I've been such a neglectful blogger, I really really can't wait to show you.

This week, I received my custom wedding hairpin from K. Autumn. It was the one thing I knew I wanted when I got engaged; I had bookmarked her site years ago when I first read about her work.

My piece came Saturday morning, beautifully packaged in a brown box with a stamped raspberry ribbon.

Which I opened to find ... my hairpin! We worked together to pick the colors and stones; she sent me swatches, I shared my likes and dislikes and a little over 2 months later, I had this in hand.

It arrived on its own little pouf, which will protect it while it stays in its box for the next 11 months.

Many, many people are making feather hairpieces right now, but I have never seen craftsmanship like this. The layers are stitched together to a leather base, which includes a little circle of leather to absorb the impact of the clip. The clip itself is immobile; once it's on the head, it's on.

The pin features guinea feathers, hand-dyed cloth flower, semiprecious gemstones wired to the fabric so they won't move, along with white ostrich and peacock feathers.

SNEAK PEEK: This is what it will look like in my hair .... except better.

I knew I wanted something like this for three main reasons:

1. This is an heirloom piece. I hope some daughter or granddaughter or great-granddaughter of mine will want to inherit this. If not, I'll frame it. It's that beautiful.
2. I could see myself wearing this again, for an anniversary or a special event.
3. It seemed very French, very high-fashion, very Isabella Blow, one of my fashion icons when I was a little kid growing up in Southwest Virginia, watching Fashion TV on Saturday mornings.

Now savor this peek! It's the only one you'll get in terms of my actual attire and you only get that because Sean saw it; I gotta keep some secrets!

ALSO: All of the posts that deal directly with our wedding, rather than weddings in general, have been tagged "Our Wedding."