Natalia Tobianski Pylypczak Wedding
Detroit, MI USA

12 Netted ‘Gerdany’ = 8 Bridesmaids + 2 Flower Girls + 1 Mother-of-the-Bride + 1 Godmother by Anne Maddens

When Natalia, a bride-to-be, began planning her wedding, she wanted her bridal party to wear ‘gerdany’, Ukrainian-style netted collars. The beadwoven necklaces she used were adaptations of Rypan Designs’ ‘Textured Net’ kit, where the colors were coordinated to match with today’s bridal fashions.

All 12 necklaces were beaded by Anne Maddens, a 16-year old NHS student and 3-sport athlete, within six weeks during the school year. She was supported by her mother Nadia, who helped with everything from consulting, to bead shopping, finishing off clasps (with Caroline) at the very last minute, and even photographing.

It’s amazing how much can be beaded by a very determined student! Each group in the bridal party had a unique variation chosen from Anne’s many samplers.

Even I was involved with the final determination of which version would be most suitable for the bridesmaids! It was a last minute decision that needed to be made immediately if the necklaces were to be ready in time. VISUALIZE: Sep. 10, Sun. 9pm – I had just arrived in Detroit from Toronto en route to CO, the bride was in Chicago and the maid-of-honor was auditioning/modeling in Detroit … all communication was done over these long distances with the help of a digital camera, internet and phone. With the crucial decision made, Anne now had six weeks to make it all happen.

Since it was a fall wedding, it was decided that a rich bronze ‘gerdan’ would be most stunning for the bridesmaids. The girls would then get most use from this colorway after the wedding, rather than a lighter or two-tone one. The two flower girls would get delicate light-colored ones. The mother and godmother would get ones richly-colored bugles instead of seed beads. Each group also had distinctly different clasp closures. These were presented to the bridal party in organza bags as gifts from the bride.