The Ring Thread: Weddings, Engagements and Otherwise

[Samwise]

I eyeballed this design for a long time as well:



It appealed to me because the three-looped knot symbol is associated with my family name in the old country.  I ended up preferring the symmetry of the design we got, though, and a local jeweler gave us a good deal on it.

[Surlyboi]

[WayAbvPar]

Wow, and here I thought my Celtic knot design made me special 

Mine is platinum though. So THERE.

Interesting to see  so much white gold and platinum. I like it a lot more than yellow gold.

[Mrbloodworth]

Check sig :) Ill see if I can't dig up some of the more unique ones we have made.

Classic Claddagh

Custom wedding bands

Humm.. seems not all of them are on there.

[Surlyboi]

Mine's titanium. White gold would never survive re-entry intact.

[apocrypha]

The tension rings are great. Not easy to make though, or so I'm told. This thread inspired me to play around with photographing jewellery today, ring pics here, others in photo thread!

Some rings my girlfriend made last year:

[JWIV]

Wow, and here I thought my Celtic knot design made me special 

Mine is platinum though. So THERE.

Interesting to see  so much white gold and platinum. I like it a lot more than yellow gold.

I married an Irish girl, so it was either going to be a claddagh or at least some form of celtic design.

[Sky]

An bhfuil Gaeilge maith-ionadaíocht anseo.

[Ingmar]

I'm on my second ring, cheapo $99 titanium special. The first one was white gold or something, lost it somehow (I'm still not exactly sure where it disappeared - probably down a drain after being made slippery by dishwashing soap or shampoo.) I'll probably go through several more over the years.

The engagement ring I got Sjofn was a sapphire, for basically all the reasons Dave lists. All of my and her female relatives acted all surprised that I picked something decent-looking out. Thanks, ladies. 

[IainC]

Wow, and here I thought my Celtic knot design made me special 

Mine is platinum though. So THERE.

Interesting to see  so much white gold and platinum. I like it a lot more than yellow gold.

The first time I got engaged (about 15 years ago) I was looking all over for a celtic design and I couldn't find one outside of cheap costume jewellery in goth-tat shops. When my wife and I were shopping for new wedding rings (both in the US and in the UK) all we could find were triskeles or claddagh rings.

My wife is currently looking to replace her ring again from this range. There's a jeweller here in town that carries them and they are quite extraordinary although not cheap.

[Signe]

Celtic rings are really really popular now.  I'd say half the people I know who wear wedding rings prefer them.  Maybe more than half.  As a result, it seems you can find some really awesome looking designs.  Righ needs a new wedding band since he sort of out-grew his.  He hasn't worn one for a few years now because we have that "keep meaning to" disease.  Or maybe some other sort of design.  I don't like fancy so my very plain gold band is good for me.  I also don't need matching.  And I don't really see any point in diamond engagement rings.  Dave is right about that crap, too.  I don't really even like most precious gemstones  in jewelry.  I let my sister keep all my mother's jewelry because I knew I'd never wear it.  I have a few nice things from my mother in law, some that my father in law designed and none that involve gemstones.  Zippers are more interesting than diamond rings.

[Lantyssa]

Truth.  Diamonds are the most boring stone ever.

[Samwise]

Truth.  Diamonds are the most boring stone ever.

I have to assume you've never seen one in good light (e.g. a bright lamp or full sun).     Clear means letting more light through which means sparkly rainbow awesomeness when light hits it.  Like a glass prism times a thousand because of all the tiny facets a nicely cut diamond has.  My wife doesn't like wearing fancy jewelry either, but I figured the diamond ring would be a good bet anyway because she likes to play with shiny things.  (I was right.)

[Selby]

If you want an engagement ring, get an emerald, sapphire, or ruby. something that is actually rare and probably wasn't mined with actual slave labor to be traded for weapons.

I totally agree with this.  I would love an emerald or ruby ring, but society dictates "diamond" and I was given a decent amount of shit from people over suggesting otherwise.  Not to mention ever since I got burned on a project at work 4 years ago due to wearing the wedding ring, I haven't worn one since (and now that I am not attached anymore, no reason to anyways).

[Lantyssa]

I have to assume you've never seen one in good light (e.g. a bright lamp or full sun).

I have.  I prefer a colored stone to one you need good light to enjoy.  Light which either blinds me from being too bright or from throwing a thousand rainbows into my eyes.

Prisms on the other hand are awesome.  On of my elementary school science fair projects was on refraction.

[NiX]

I have.  I prefer a colored stone to one you need good light to enjoy.  Light which either blinds me from being too bright or from throwing a thousand rainbows into my eyes.

Prisms on the other hand are awesome.  On of my elementary school science fair projects was on refraction.

You have restored my faith in there being women out there who aren't brainwashed by the diamonds crap.

[CmdrSlack]

The only reason why my wife has a diamond engagement ring is because she wanted her grandmother's stone in a new setting. I guess it was set in a Tiffany princess (?) setting or some shit. I got it redone in white gold with a cathedral setting on Jeweler's Row in Chicago for about 300 bucks.

Best part was the box -- it had a tiny LED in it to illuminate the ring when you opened it.

Our wedding rings were simple white gold bands.

I've since tried to upgrade to a niftier wedding band and she refuses. She feels that it's "a stupid way to spend spare cash."

I  my sensible and no-bullshit wife.

[Sjofn]

Ingmar neglected to mention that I would've been furious if he ignored all my "DeBeer's is evil" rantings.   I mean I don't think diamonds are ugly or boring or anything, I just find all the baggage involved really distasteful. That said, my ring is not completely Pure and True, it has two diamonds flanking my sapphire. Curse you, Ingmar! I'm not sure why everyone was surprised he picked out a pretty ring. I wasn't! It's pretty enough that I actually wear it all the time, I had always assumed I'd be like my mother and never wear my engagement ring (except for Special Occassions), only my wedding band. I remove it for stagehanding and that's about it.

I'm still a little sad Ingmar lost his first wedding ring, but at least it didn't really cost anything. We're cheap-asses when it comes to wedding bands.  

[Surlyboi]

The fiance's engagement ring was designed by my ex, of all people.

She also made our wedding rings, but the inspiration for those was Ed Harris' ring in The Abyss, so no originality there, but I really liked that one, so there we went.

[Samwise]

I mean I don't think diamonds are ugly or boring or anything, I just find all the baggage involved really distasteful.

If you should ever be in the market for some baggage-free diamonds, check these guys out.  They're based in SF and they're very nice.

[Krakrok]

I couldn't find quite the right ring for my wife's engagement ring so I had a custom ring company make one. Edited a bunch of ring images together to show them what I (she) wanted and this is what they came up with. Turned out pretty good and I got the CAD file to go with it.

They used a milling machine to turn the 3D model into a wax cast and then finished it by hand.


Edit: Added actual ring photo. Half Dome in the background.

[NiX]

Crazy looking. Nice work!

[WayAbvPar]

the inspiration for those was Ed Harris' ring in The Abyss

I really wanted a titanium ring precisely for this reason. My wife was afraid that I would have an accident and it wouldn't be able to be cut off, so I had to settle for platinum.

As for the diamonds are boring crowd- shopping for diamonds was FASCINATING. Getting to look at each stone under a microscope to see the individual flaws was really, really cool. Every diamond really is a unique snowflake.

[schild]

If I ever end up having to pick a wedding ring, it'll probably look like a tiny handcuff.

[pxib]

On the titanium front, my brother and his wife went for tungsten carbide.

[NiX]

On the titanium front, my brother and his wife went for tungsten carbide.

Fuuuuuuu! I've avoided buying a ring because I could never find somewhere with the tungsten rings.

Jerk.

[Margalis]

Marriage is for suckers.

Bah humbug I say!

[Ironwood]

 My wife was afraid that I would have an accident and it wouldn't be able to be cut off, so I had to settle for platinum.

She's right.  God knows what would have happened at New Year if I'd got my Abyss wish.

I shudder to think.

[Mrbloodworth]

If I ever end up having to pick a wedding ring, it'll probably look like a tiny handcuff.

We have done that.

[Draegan]

Finally grabbed a pic of the engagement ring I gave to my fiance.  G1 camera is so not awesome.

[squirrel]

We had our bands custom made. Hers is the smaller one with a baguette diamond.

[K9]

Pretty awesome proposal

[Draegan]

That's a terrible proposal.  He'll never do anything more interesting than that ever in their relationship.  He peaked too soon.

[NiX]

For those that have done it, does the cost of getting a custom band made differ greatly from the price of the common designs?

[Samwise]

Yes; my recollection is that most big jewelers will charge you about double for a custom piece, although smaller shops that make the stuff themselves anyway will tend to give you a better deal.