Wedding Bands

A
n unbroken circle, a symbol of eternal love. Your wedding band is a proclamation of love and commitment to the one you marry, a piece of jewelry with tremendous emotional significance. While your engagement ring symbolizes a promise, your wedding band represents the fulfillment of that promise - your marriage. It's such a powerful symbol that
White Gold Eternity Band by Ice when you recite your wedding vows, you pledge “with this ring, I thee wed.” With so much to consider, how do you find the wedding band that’s right for you?

When you begin the search, you may have an idea in mind, but you probably won't know exactly what you're looking for. It will take some good on-line research and old-fashioned legwork to become sufficiently informed and confident that the wedding band style you choose is the one. It is an emotional decision, but take the time to learn about the metals, stones, and style options available, and find a wedding band you’ll love for a lifetime.

Learn all you can about the metal and stone options - and there is no better place than on the internet. Visit many resources to become educated on the products you’re interested in. Although many jewelers provide great unbiased product information, some jewelers may only be interested in the sale. By being informed, it will help you feel less intimidated and manipulated by a salesperson, and better able to make a decision based on your own wants and needs. Ultimately, you'll want to be an educated consumer who knows what you're getting for your dollar.

Tri-Colored Gold Wedding Band from Ice Jewelry

While you may choose to purchase from an on-line source, it will still take trying on rings to see what looks good on your hand and with your engagement ring, if you are wearing them together. Often what you think you like in a picture or on someone else, you do not like on your own hand. By trying on various styles of wedding rings on your hand, you'll find one that fits like Cinderella's glass slipper.

Follow your instincts to find a wedding ring you'll enjoy wearing for the rest of your life. Wedding bands can be found for every style, personality and taste. One of the important considerations is if you want a wedding band with or without stones, plain or adorned.

A wedding band without stones can be simple and plain, or it can be rich in detail. Do you want an all gold or platinum band, or maybe a two-tone wedding band that combines both metals? Do you like the look of a band with a flatter surface and squared edges, or a more rounded shape? A band can be enhanced by using a combination of metals and textures, beaded edges, engraving, scroll work, and filigree.

Consider the Stones

Platinum Knife Edge Band by Blue Nile

Maybe you want a wedding band adorned with diamonds or other gemstones? A wedding band set with stones will be fancier and flashier. While diamonds are the gem of choice for most brides, colored gems have become an increasingly popular choice for many independent-thinking and contemporary brides. Colored gems have been seen as an expression of love throughout history. A bride to be might choose a colored stone to represent a birth stone or for the sentiment it signifies. The most popular gemstones are sapphire, ruby and emerald.

• Sapphire symbolizes faithfulness and truth
• Ruby represents passion and love
• Emerald expresses loyalty and commitment

Gemstones in wedding bands can be prong set or channel set. Prong set wedding bands allow more of the diamond to show, thus allowing more light into the diamonds for maximum brilliance. Prongs can snag clothing and is something that should be considered when choosing this type of setting for your wedding band. A channel setting describes the method which holds the diamonds in the setting. Multiple diamonds are set side by side between two bars of precious metal in a continuous line. No metal appears between the diamonds. This style of setting protects the diamonds from abrasions and gives a smoother look. Unlike the prong setting, it does not have the tendency to snag clothing.

Since you’ll want your wedding rings to be as long lasting as your marriage, it's important to choose a metal that will be strong and durable and beautiful for a lifetime. The primary choices are gold and platinum, although some unconventional metals are now being used for wedding rings, namely steel, titanium, and tungsten.

Even with the increasing popularity of white gold and platinum, yellow gold is still the most popular choice for wedding rings. Many of the newer metals are chosen by men. They like the masculine look of the industrial metals and are already familiar with their strength and durability from their use in watches and sports equipment.

Titanium Wedding Bands from Mondera

While the whiteness of white gold and platinum will accentuate the brilliance of a diamond, the golden color of yellow gold will provide a look of warmth. What metal do you prefer with your gemstones? What metal looks best on your hand? There is not a right or wrong choice, only what color of metal appeals to you.

Perhaps you have already decided you want a wedding ring with the same metal as the engagement ring. Many brides prefer the metals to match, but it doesn’t have to be the only option. You can always consider a complementing two-tone wedding band.

Do you want to match the Engagement Ring?

When the bride to be becomes engaged, she traditionally wears her engagement ring on the leftring finger. When she marries, she wears her wedding band on the left ring finger. Some brides choose to wear the engagement ring and wedding band together and some brides choose to wear the rings separately, moving the engagement ring to the right hand when they get married and wearing only the wedding ring on the left hand.

White Gold Wedding Band by Ice Jewelry

If the bride wants to wear her engagement ring and wedding ring together, it's important to choose a wedding band that complements and fits next to the engagement ring. Depending on the style of your engagement ring, some wedding bands can tend to overpower the engagement ring and not look well when worn together. Many engagement rings are designed to standalone, and when you try to put a wedding band next to it, they just don't complement each other.

Do you want his and her matching Wedding Bands?

Another personal choice, some couples want the bands to match and other couples choose rings based on each others individual taste, even if they don’t match. The rings don't have to match to be united in love. Some couples may choose to match metal, but not style. Maybe the bride wants stones, but the man does not, or vice-versa. The newer metals used for wedding rings tend to have a masculine look and may appeal to the groom, while the bride prefers a more feminine look. If you want to tie non-matching rings together somehow, you can always consider engraving a matching sentiment inside the wedding band.

You've done your research, you've shopped around, you've compared prices. One last consideration before you make the final purchase of a wedding ring, if the ring includes diamonds or other gemstones, is to have an appraisal done by an independent jeweler. The money spent can provide the peace of mind that you are getting the quality of stone that you are paying for.

When all is said and done, all the research and shopping trips will be worth it, because you'll look at your wedding ring and know, “this is the one!”