*lpstl* - bling related/custom wedding bands

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I saw your wedding band in the bling post and I WANT! Seriously, my e-ring is vintage and it is a round stone in a square setting. Never did I imagine it would be so hard to find a good wedding band to go with it. To complicate matters, my ring is platinum and things I find that look good tend to be white gold. I didn't know bump-out square rings like your existed until I found this one online the other day:

Of course, it is super expensive, but I almost cried with happiness when I found it. I'd even go without diamonds (my e-ring is kind of complex anyway), but it is so hard to find these rings!

You said you had it custom-made. Was it at a local place or a chain like Jared's/Kays? How hard do you think it would be to have it done? I think I might have to go that route.

And for reference this is my oddly shaped e-ring:

Anyone with custom rings feel free to chime in, please! Are they expensive? How long do they take to have made? How do I know if it will be a good deal or turn out well?

jajph1974

I googled this site. You can do everything online and they'll give you an estimate

http://www.greenlakejewelry.com/custom.asp

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Wow that's pretty awesome. Thanks.

pooh8402

my e-ring isn't custom, but my wedding band will be. FI's ring was also custom, and I've already paid for it, and it is sitting on my countertop at home. we went with a local custom jeweler who is a friend. he doesn't have a retail store, just an office, and is almost strictly custom and repair work, so he has very very little overhead. I was able to get his ring for a very nice price. our jeweler is also a very nice guy, easy to talk to, and he is now a friend--we'll be using him again in the future. try asking around your town, see who is recommended and get price quotes.

jajph1974

Yeah ... definitely get quotes from a few different places.  Your e-ring is beautiful BTW.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Thanks! We got it at an estate jeweler - so I have no idea if it ever had a matching wedding band or not. 

My bff actually works for a place that does custom jewelry, but she's just the office assistant. I'm not sure exactly how good they are or if she could get me a deal!

jajph1974

If she can't get you a deal, maybe she could put you in touch with a few customers so you can see their work?

Also, you might try Googling the place where she works. Sometimes they'll have customer reviews.

mags0607

I am very curious about this too, as my ring is antique looking, and very oddly shaped like yours, merry. We are afraid that we will have to go the custom route as well, but have no idea how to go about it.

Your ring is beautiful btw.

SpookieCat

We had both my E-ring and wedding band custom made... now we are working on FIs.  Going around and getting quotes is a must - we had a difference in price of almost $10,000 across the 6 different places we went to.  It's going to be difficult to give you an idea - my ring is palladium so it's in between white gold and platinum for cost.  Designing the E-ring I believe the wax mould and setting of the band came to $1500 without the stones.  The wedding band (much simpler) was closer to $600.  It's going to depend on how much time it will take them to develop the wax mould, the total weight of the platinum, and if you want stones set in it. 

FYI - we went with a shop that specializes in estate and custom jewelry/resetting old pieces.  Their store front wasn't very nice but they knew what we were looking for and were willing to work with their budget.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Mag - I've also been considering doing some kind of wrap or double band lately. Thanks for the tip!

mynameskatie

MsMery if you do decide to go with a retail jeweler try to talk them down on the price if you go custom. My last job was in jewelry and we always triple keyed our custom pieces. So we'd take the cost of labor/parts and then triple it. This is pretty common because jewelers are looking to make a big profit on custom work. 

I would also suggest going with someone who will allow you to see the wax mold of your piece before actually doing the casting. A sketch or 3-D representation wont give you the same idea of what it will look like against your e-ring. Hope that helps!