wedding band shopping

mrs.mermaid12

Hey guys,

My partner and I are just starting to shop for rings but really dont know where to start. how did you and your partner go around shopping for rings? did you go on your own to check out designs and then bring your finds in together or was every trip done together? what are your tips and tricks for ring shopping?  

OurWildKingdom

We looked on Etsy and showed each other designs we liked. I think FW went once or twice with her BFF without me. 

charlotte989875

We had talked about how much we wanted to spend and went shopping together. We each picked out what we wanted in our budget. I loved picking out our rings, made everything seem "real". 
Id recommend talking about what your max budget is, especially if you're looking for something beyond a simple band. 

Tyvm

For our engagement rings we decided on a basic budget and then went to an estate jeweler (Marlene Harris, she has an online shop, too) and picked out my ring together. Her antique men's rings were a bit much for FI. So we went to Kay Jewelers together and picked out something simple that he liked.

For our wedding bands, we've selected a budget and have been looking at rings separately online (etsy and local jewelers, mostly). I've been showing FI a few designs that I like that'll complement my engagement ring. He's not planning on wearing his engagement band on the same finger (or possibly not at the same time) as his wedding band, so that's less of an issue. When we get a bit closer to the date, we'll probably discuss a bit more and go look at rings in some local jewelers. Then, either buy at the stores if we find ones we like, or buy the online ones we like. So many options nowadays!

SP29

I think I found both of our wedding bands. Mine was easy- I went with the company DH got my e-ring from, because I wanted it to match.

For DH's ring, we did go together into some local jewelry stores but either thought the rings were too expensive, or they weren't what DH wanted (we found a lot of the jewelers were trying to sell us what was "in style", not what DH wanted). I ended up looking online and found a company in the US with an online store that had a variety of ring styles, metals and sizes- DH was able to pick exactly what he wanted. (The company is e-weddingbands.com)

ernursej

I got to pick my engagement ring and just picked the band that matched. FI is not wearing a ring so was quite easy. If FI had wanted a ring, I would have started at the store we bought my rings from.

mrs.mermaid12

my e-ring is a family heirloom which I think is where some of the uncertainly around where to start comes in. These are great suggestions though- thanks!

Tyvm

I also had some friends who made their rings (at a jeweler-run workshop) in San Francisco. And I've always been a fan of Brent & Jess rings, where your FI and your thumbprints are etched into the rings themselves.

Since you've got a family heirloom engagement ring (difficult to match a band to its shape), you might want to consider getting a wedding band in a different color metal and that's completely different styling. My engagement ring is from the 40s in white gold, and I'll probably be getting a rose gold band that I don't plan to wear at the same time as my engagement ring. 

There really are one zillion options.

mrs.mermaid12

good call on the different metal. hadnt even though of that, just kinda figured they "had" to match but that might be a neat way to go around it. make sure they compliment but not truly worry about matching 

tigerlily6

diygaltoronto said:

my e-ring is a family heirloom which I think is where some of the uncertainly around where to start comes in. These are great suggestions though- thanks!

Same here -- my e-ring was my great-grandmother's, so the whole "ring shopping" thing was new for both FI and me. We decided on our budget first and then went to a local jeweler's together to look at wedding bands. I actually decided to get my wedding ring a different metal than my e-ring (e-ring is white gold, wedding band is yellow -- I figure if Kate Middleton can mix metals, why can't we?). We wanted to go together since FI has never worn a ring before and had no idea what size his finger was so I needed to know that, and it was fun sharing the experience. 

Pinksatin91016

For both types of rings we went to a few local jewelers and tried on and shopped and then eventually got quotes. I didn't like the prices so I went to a jeweler in a different state that my mom and I both used to work for. It was a 5 hour drive each way but they hooked me up big time on the e-ring. I also had a few of my deceased Nana's diamond rings that I wanted to trade and they gave me $2600 for them. That was almost the entire cost of my completely custom ring. One of the other jewelers we went to offered me $700 for them and the other wouldn't bother trading at all. Told me to pawn them and I'd be lucky to get $200. Um. No. So glad I didn't listen to him.

Even though I knew and trusted this last jeweler, I went with Amazon for the wedding bands. I just wanted simple platinum bands, not stone or decoration and no one beat their prices. It seems like they are selling at cost!

Moral of the story: shop around. Buy what you are comfortable with and only at price you are comfortable with.