I have wanted a pearl necklace and stud earrings forever and have decided that I will get some and wear them for my wedding jewelry. Have done some research and pretty sure I want Akoya pearls (saltwater cultured) but in shopping for them, prices are all over the place. There's the $3000 Mikimoto pearls or the $500 pearls on Amazon. Just wondering what any of you with experience buying pearls think.

And I still need to talk to my grandpa to see if my step-grandma had any that he'll give to me. I want somethign nice that I can pass on with the family.

I bought nice ones (mikimoto) for the ex and cheap ones for the ex. She likes both and honestly nobody can tell the difference. But she will be able to pass on some nice things to the girls, later.
You now have the sum total of my expretise.

I have a fairly inexpensive string of pearls (cost about $350 about 15 years ago, if memory serves) that I wear all the time. They are saltwater cultured and beautiful. I couldn't justify spending the big bucks on the Mikimoto pearls for myself, and I couldn't tell the difference between them visually.

I have pearl stud earrings that are really special to me because of the story behind them. When I was a kid, we went on two "big" family vacations, one to Florida and one to California. Both times, we went to Sea World. Both times, my dad paid for one of those pearl divers to dive down and retrieve a pearl. The second pearl was almost a perfect match in size and color to the first. For my 16th birthday, my mom took the pearls off my bedroom shelf in their little boxes and had them made into earrings for me.

That's really cool! I figure mine will be special since they will be my wedding jewelry But I kinda hope my grandpa will have my stepgrandma's pearls, that he'll let me have them, and they'll be the size and color i want

The saltwater ones are supposed to be more lustrous which is why I want them. I foudn some decent deals on Amazon but I just dont want anythign crappy. The vendor is The Pearl Source but not many of their items have been reviewed, so not much to go off.

Before my wedding my mom brought me the sum total of all the pearls that had come to her from her mother, my other grandma, etc. and let me choose what I wanted to wear, and then let me keep them. It is indeed special.

I'm not sure any of them were more than the most basic cheap cultured pearls available but that doesn't make them any less beautiful or special to me.

OK, so the Pearl source is located in LA's jewelry district. Rated A+ and accreditred on the BBB. Well, if the grandpa thing doesnt work out, looks liek I may order via Amazon from the pearl source

There is another site that may be in you area. Individuals can sell their unwanted stuff. It is called craigslist. You may have heard of them.

If anyone else is interested, here's the site (linked to their written grading system):
http://www.thepearlsource.com/about-akoya-pearls.php

Apparently they are discounted if you buy on Amazon.

I have a lovely string of pearls that mean a great deal to me. Hubby purchased them for me when we took a trip together to Hong Kong.

Here's the thing with nice pearls... they do require maintenance. I've had mine about 10 years, and I've had them restrung twice. The jeweler told me the string does deteriorate over time, and you definitely don't want to risk busting the string and loosing those precious pearls!

This last time, I had them strung with a knot between each pearl. It cost a bit more, but should the string break, I won't lose them all. I also rather like the way it spaces each pearl, I find it very elegant.

You are making a nice choice for your wedding jewelry. It's a very classic choice, and will guarantee heirlooms down the road. (In contrast, I went for the trendy wedding jewelry option, and regret it so much!)

All the ones I looked at so far are either knotted or double-knotted--I thought that was standard. Some are even wrapped in wire at the ends where the silk attaches to the clasp. I also read that good care means wearing them often as the oil in your skin conditions them, and then just wipe them with a soft cloth.

<-- did her research

I also tried looking on Craigslist (duh!) and ebay for estate pearls but I can't trust what kind of pearl they are and I really do want the saltwater ones. Also, people are charging a lto for them, so might as well purchase from the onlien place which seems to be reputatble based on googling.

When my girls were about 5 & 6 they went with my husband and bought 10 pearls and had them strung at the end of a gold chain and they bought a pair of pearl earrings. The girls told me they picked 10 pearls because we had been married 10 years and the earrings were because I had two girls. So hubby thought he would keep up the tradition, each anniversary I get a new pearl to add to the necklace (will be a total of 31 next month), I have the new ones added and all of them restrung every few years as I wear the necklace alot. I do have to say I am quite glad that I did not have any more kids because then I would have had to have my nose or belly button pierced for more pearls. The necklace has been quite a conversation piece over the years.

Oh kake, Boo. That's the sweetest thing ever!!

I had pearl steak from the take out last night.

Dip, plan a vacation to Puerto Rico. You can buy pearls there REALLY inexpensively.

My ex husband gave me a set of earring and a string of pearls for our wedding.

I wore them that day and never again. I don't really like pearl necklaces. I'm more of a gem girl.

Try Shane Co. I got mine from there for 100.00. That was 10 years ago and we were "poor" at the time, but they are beautiful. When I do wear them (very rare) everyone is very complimentary. They have really expensive ones if that's what you want, but honestly, you'll be the only one to know how pricey they are (or not) unless you just want to tell everyone.

Just get something you really like. If you want to hand them down, heirloom value comes from the sentiment of the giver and recipient so what you pay for them now doesn't matter as much.

^^^ditto the gems. But I do have pearl studs that my father brought me from Tokoyo that are special.

Then there's the silly Polish superstition I was brought up with that says 'pearls are tears' so we would never wear them to weddings. Maybe the fact that they were basically forbidden to me is why I always thought they were so beautiful on brides.

I remember seeing lovely pearls when we were in Hawaii. This is one of the stores we visited. This one is pricey but there's lots more. Hawaiian pearls might be all the more special for your wedding.

Just got back from lunch and visiting the Na Hoku store (Hawaiian jewelry store, pearls). I want 6.5-7mm pearls for the necklace and the earrings

I looked at the necklace I tried on and liekd the length of and I coudl very clearly see blemishes and wrinkle/lumpy parts. So I asked to see a pearl starnd of better quality and compared side by side, there was a huge difference. could not easily find blemishes and the luster/shine/iridenscence was so much more in the better quality strand.

I'm not a fancy jewelry girl. I have a pair of small diamond studs from an ex, the diamond pendant my grandma had made for me when I graduated college, and my engagement ring which was alos passed to me through family. Therefore, I want to make sure what I get for the pearls is ncie and quality (quality = thicker nacre = longer lasting = better for passing through as an heirloom). Will probably be the last "nice" jewelry I ever buy/get and coudl even want

That must be an old-folk thing. I never heard of it growing up. The first time I heard of it was when I was in Poland in 2002 with my then-fiance to introduce him to my family and I was looking at wedding dress ideas with my great-aunt (who is a seamstress) and I told her I would be wearing pearls with the dress. She's the one who told me of the superstition. My mom and grandma were like "who cares?" and that was that, I wore pearls.

I've had a necklace from Mikimoto for many years. Had them restrung, knot between each which is a jaw dropping price but needed, as indicated above. I would be wary of a string of pearls that does nothave the knot between each and that are in the 4 figure range of cost. Imagine if they get caught on a piece of clothing or something or the clasp breaks and you have all those pearls flying all over. Scary.

I also have freshwaters from years ago. Pearls are beautiful but the prices are all over the place as is much jewelry.

The real thing, grown naturally, not where they put something in the shell to agitate the creature to make the "pearl" covering, are outrageously priced.

I read most of the real ones were from the Persian Gulf and were all harvested a long long time ago. Natural pearls happen so rarely that most of the pearls today are cultured. Mikimoto was the guy who invented the process for culturing a pearl. Interesting, cuz that's onyl been a hundred years or so.