That little band of gold may be small, but its significance is huge. Jeweller Theo Fennell – who has worked in the trade for over 25 years – explains its importance.
There’s much more to a wedding ring than people think. The key consideration is that, hopefully, you’re going to wear it every day for the rest of your life. It’s got to be something that isn’t too much of a ‘hero’ piece, that you don’t get bored of, something that’s simple yet has enormous resonance for you.
It’s nice to use gold that has meaning, such as a grandmother’s ring. Or, for instance, if we have a Canadian marrying an English person, we’ll use an English sovereign and a Canadian gold coin and melt them together.
What happens on the inside is really important. How you choose the engraving, what it says, is going to last forever.
As the wedding ring comes after the engagement ring, you do need to match it. But you can be much broader in your choice than most people think. You don’t have to go white with white. What’s important is that the wedding ring ts well with the engagement ring, and doesn’t push it out of shape or make it overpowering.
Nowadays, quite a lot of people use their wedding ring as the everyday ring, and the engagement ring as a dress ring for evenings. In that case, I think the band having a bit more complexity is a good thing. I advocate diamonds over other stones, simply because otherwise your everyday ring is making too much of a statement.
When men decide to wear a ring as well, getting exactly matching rings can be quite limiting, unless your design is very simple. I don’t think you need to match – then you could both be compromising your personal taste – but it depends on the characters of the couple.
You’ve got to look at people’s hands and advise them about what would suit, like a good tailor would. If you’ve got a man with huge great hands, a delicate 18 carat yellow court ring is going to look absurd. Jewellery is sentimental. It has to be to the taste of the person who’s earing it. This might mean having it made bespoke, or at least having the ring you bought resized so that it ts properly and is engraved. It’s terribly important that it’s your ring rather than just one o a tray. A piece of jewellery should be truly owned.
WEDDING RING BUYING TIPS…
- The engagement ring will rub down the wedding ring if the metal is harder
- The wedding ring needs to match the profile of the engagement ring
- Engravings will require larger bands
- Leave enough room on the ring finger if you think you might buy an eternity ring in the future