Thanksgiving marks the beginning of engagement season, which is why for this month’s blog we decided to provide a guide on how to pick the perfect wedding bands. During this three-month period, which ends on Valentine’s Day, 37% of engagements occur. Most engagements occur in the month of December, however, which is understandable due to the holiday season. It is almost impossible to escape advertisements from jewelers on engagement rings, whether they are commercials on television or giant billboards.
When it comes down to a bride and groom choosing their wedding bands, it is essential to consider that these eternal symbols of love will be worn for the rest of their lives, therefore, they must be perfect! Fundamental points to consider when choosing a wedding band for men are: the type of metal, profile, style, and color; for women: the type of head, shank, shape of diamond, color of diamond, clarity of diamond, and carat. Accent stones and embellishments can be considered as well, but are optional.
Men:
The Band
There is a total of eight metal styles that can be chosen: silver, gold (yellow, white, or rose), platinum, palladium, steel, titanium, ceramic, and tungsten. The most common of course are silver, gold, and platinum.
There are six profile styles: court, flat court, concave, flat, halo, and d-shape. The most popular of these six styles is the court, which has rounded edges to purposely sit comfortably on the finger without any rubbing.
The six finish styles are: mirror, fine matte, coarse matte, hammered, stardust, and sandblasted. The most popular finish is mirror, which is polished to a highly reflective shine and has a classic look.
The style of the band comes in six types: plain band, gem set, shaped, duo-tone, engraved, and inlay.
The color of a band comes in six types: opal quartz, blue topaz, pink tourmaline, peridot, citrine, and sapphire.
Women:
The Ring
There are eight heads (or center stones) for a wedding ring: four-prong, six-prong, double prong, v-prong/chevron, diamond tipped, bezel set, half-bezel, and bar set.
The shank is the actual band around the finger and comes in nine different styles: traditional, euro-style, cathedral, straight, tapered, reverse tapered, split, bypass, and criss-cross.
As an optional choice, accent stones come in sets. The eight are: channel, bead & bright-cut/pinpoint, surface prong, shared prong, pave, bezel, bar, and gypsy/flush.
Embellishments are another optional choice and are another design feature for the body of the ring. These design features can be: milgrain, engraving, filigree, pierced/openwork, rope, and surprise diamond.
The Diamond
The center stone of the ring can either be round, princess, cushion, oval, emerald, pear, marquise, radiant, heart, asscher, and trillion.
Colorless and nearly colorless rings are more ideal for engagement rings, but other types of colors for a diamond are faint color, very light yellow, light yellow, and fancy yellow.
If visible specks in a diamond are bothersome, then a flawless would be ideal for the clarity of a diamond. However, very-very slightly included, very slightly included, slightly included, and imperfect are other choices.
The carat of a diamond refers to the weight of the gem even though it’s most often used to refer to a diamond’s size. These range in a multitude of sizes/weights.
Many brides fall in love with a ring they try on and can’t afford, just like they typically do with their dresses. This is a major no! Before choosing the rings and bands, it is crucial for the bride and groom to consider their budget. The bigger the carat on a ring, the more expensive it is. Research should be done prior to shopping on each of the types and styles listed above, along with which jewelers to visit, in order to compare preference with price.
Photo Credit:
https://www.verywell.com/finger-injury-from-wedding-band-2549398
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