"This wedding is turning into a major craft project"

So said Kevin Marks yesterday when I mentioned that I've decided to make my own tiara for my wedding. (This is Kevin's blog, but not only has he not blogged for two months, he's not replaced his CSS either, so his blog is 'naked'. For shame, Kevin!)
Kate came up to London yesterday, so we went to the Bead Shop in Covent Garden and I bought some beads and Alice bands, wire and snout-nosed pliers and got very excited about the idea of making something. I like making things. My Kevin goes for walks in mountains to clear his head; I make things.
So I got home and had about half an hour before Kev and I had to go out, within which I managed to knock up most of this:

We got back relatively early, so I finished it off, and started a second one, which I finished today:

I have to go to the Covent Garden area tomorrow, so I'm going to pick up some more Alice bands and beads and make a few more. It's surprisingly easy, and it means I can play with different styles and designs until I find one that I really love. I'm using glass beads for these, but the real thing will probably be Swarovski crystal and garnet.
I've also spent quite a bit of time over the last month or so making lace. I learnt how to when I was at middle school, and over the years I'd pick it back up again, just to make sure I still could. About 5 or so years ago, I bought a some new bobbins and a cushion, and I dug those out from storage in my parent's attic last time I was home. I've spent quite a few evenings since making samplers to firstly get my old 'chops' back, and secondly see what sort of lace I might like on, say, oh, a wedding dress.

Yes, the plan is for me to make the lace to trim my wedding dress, although I am still short of an affordable dress-maker, so still in a bit of a stress about that. Need to make more phone calls.
I'm also going to make my own veil. Frankly, it looks like a pretty simple job, and I'll have fun decorating it and making it all look pretty. But given that a nice tiara can easily cost around £100, a veil £100 Р£150, and I hate to think how much it would cost to buy hand-made lace, I think I'm better off spending a bit of time making stuff.
Besides, I'd forgotten how nice it is to make things, rather than obsessively refresh Twitter every 30 seconds.