Search the Sydney Wedding Blog:

About Nicholas

"One of the World's Best Wedding Photographers". I've been been a professional wedding photographer for 15 years. My work has appeared in Harpers Bazaar UK, the New York Times, Style Me Pretty and brides.com. In 2015 Style Me Pretty interviewed me, in 2016 Complete Wedding Magazine called me "One of the World's Best Wedding Photographers".

Profile: Natalie Barney Jewellery

For this profile I spoke to Natalie Barney, designer at Natalie Barney Jewellery in Sydney.

Tell us about your company. How long have you been in business?

I have been in business for almost 11 years. I am a French born and Australian based jewellery designer. After working in marketing for many years I finally followed my calling and opened Natalie Barney Jewellery, a French-inspired boutique jewellery boudoir on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. For almost 10 wonderful years I sourced gems and jewellery from around the world, sold famous brands and lesser known pieces, and devoured everything I could about the art of jewellery design. Then in 2012, I released my first collection: ‘Les Cabochons ’. In December 2016, I bid adieu to my store to focus on my true love, designing jewellery that makes the people feel the way it has made me feel since I was that young girl.

What do couples need to know about ordering rings for their wedding?

I normally always talk about wedding rings when we are looking at an engagement ring, i.e we try both especially for the bride so that she can visualise what both rings will look like and make the right choice. But overall there are 2 types of couples: the ones who listened about how important choosing the right engagement AND wedding rings is and come back early in their wedding plans to ensure that a) they have money to buy the right rings (before the budget is eaten up by the wedding day expenses!) and b) they have time to choose and organise the making of the wedding rings well before the pre wedding nerves kick in! The other couples will leave choosing the wedding rings far too late and they either end up not having the money to get the original wedding ring we had decided upon and if not in stock, they don’t have time to order them.

How early do couples need to begin the process?

This is different for every couple as everyone is different. I have had couples buying the wedding rings when they purchase the engagement ring and others leaving it until the week before (or a couple of days) before the wedding. Overall I would say that buying the wedding rings should be the first thing you should tick off your wedding plans … once the choice has been made I then always keep the wedding rings in my safe until they are needed. This also ensures that I can remind the couple and in particular the bride of having her engagement ring cleaned and polished.

What’s the first thing brides usually ask when they come and see you?

Depends whether I am talking to them about the engagement ring or about the wedding rings only. As mentioned above, if I have seen them about the engagement ring then we will have already discussed the type of wedding rings and sometimes even discussed prices. Otherwise the discussion will tend to focus on matching the wedding ring with the engagement ring although there are different thoughts about this. Some brides want a perfect fit in terms of width, profile and metal of the wedding ring with the engagement ring. So if the band of the engagement ring is set with stones then we will mimic this with the wedding ring. Others like the fact that the wedding ring will stand out of its own and not look as it is part of the engagement ring. But my advice is always to make sure you like the wedding ring on its own as there might be times when you wear this ring on its own.

Apart from rings do you have other wedding related jewels available?

I have made in the past wedding necklaces and am now making a bangle for a wedding. We have sold earrings, necklaces, pendants etc …. It really depends what people want to spend in terms of jewellery.

Could you give our readers some indication of the range of prices for rings?

Depends on metal, size and whether it is set with stones or not but you would be looking at say $400 or so as a start for a fine 9ct ring all the way to over $10k for a big diamond wedding ring

What other (if any) wedding services do you offer?

Custom orders, remake, some repairs and valuations

How can people get in contact with you?

Through the website at https://nataliebarney.com/make-an-appointment/ , phone 02 9953 8624 or email at info@nataliebarney.com