The Savvy Couple’s Guide to Buying Wedding Bands You Both Love.
He asked, and she said yes! Now that you’re happily engaged and planning the wedding, you’re probably thinking about your vows and the rings you will exchange. It’s time to shop for the wedding bands that you’ll both wear for the years to come.
Don’t leave this to the last minute: If you plan on customising your rings or even designing them from scratch, it would be wise to schedule a visit to the jeweller’s at least three months before your big day. Before that, have a good chat about your preferences. Since you’ll both be wearing the bands, it’s important that you love them.
Here are some questions to start.
Will she wear her wedding band with her engagement ring?
Some women like to stack their rings. Jewellers know this, so many brands (including those featured in our Guide to Shopping for Engagement Rings) offer wedding bands that pair beautifully with their engagement rings.
Must both your wedding bands match?
While traditional wedding bands tend to match, you don’t have to get identical rings if your individual tastes are very different. Think complementary rather than matchy-matchy.
You could, for instance, each select different metals but opt for a similar finish (like polished, matte or hammered); or pick rings made of the same metal but fashioned in different styles.
Your choice should fit your lifestyle, and also reflect your personality and style. Ultimately, it should be something that you’re comfortable and proud to wear every day.
Image courtesy of Stale & Co
Are you considering bespoke rings?
If you have the time and budget, you might enjoy the process of custom-making your wedding bands from scratch.
Bespoke rings tend to cost more because of the work involved, from conceptualisation and sketching to material and gem sourcing, prototype casting and crafting the final masterpiece. Working closely with the jewellery designer, you’ll get to decide exactly how your bands look and feel. Most importantly, the rings will be extra meaningful to you, and perhaps even encapsulate your love story.
If you’re the hands-on sort, you could explore crafting your very own rings. In Singapore, there are ring making workshops that you can join as a couple.
What are some ways you can personalise your wedding bands?
Increasingly more brands are offering templated design customisation services, allowing customers to tweak specifications of the ring – such as material, form, width, texture, stone settings, and engravings – within a range of presets.
Templated customisations may cost more than simply buying a ready-to-wear ring, but will typically cost less than full bespoke services where the ring is designed from scratch.
If you decide to purchase ready-made jewellery, there’s always the option of adding meaningful engravings on the inner band to personalise your rings.
Where to go if you’re looking for…
The perfect match
French luxury brand Chaumet believes that solitaires and wedding bands should fit together, so each signature line of engagement rings has its accompanying set of stackable wedding bands for her – and a matching one for him.
The Joséphine Aigrette wedding band, for instance, takes on the V-shape of the tiara-style engagement ring; while the Liens wedding band curves around the central motif of the Liens d’Amour solitaire engagement ring.
Statement rings
Perhaps best known for their iconic B.zero1 ring that’s inspired by the Roman Colloseum, Bvlgari is the go-to brand for bold, distinctive rings
The B.zero1 is available in rose gold, yellow gold, white gold, and also set with diamonds.
The B.zero1 one band ring in 18 karat (18k) gold is priced at USD1,140 (about SGD1,562).
For something a little less chunky, the Serpenti is a sleek yet eye-catching alternative.
The Serpent band ring in 18k rose gold set with demi pavé diamonds (0.25 carat) is priced at USD2,450 (about SGD3,357).
Something blue
As the first bridal jeweller in Singapore, Goldheart has introduced a number of novel concepts including the “Pure Blue”, where a sapphire is embedded in the inner ring band to symbolise purity and fidelity.
Image courtesy of Goldheart
Goldheart’s Il Regalo ring customisation lets you choose from four materials, four forms, five widths, five types of finishing, various diamond settings, engravings, and also setting the inner shank of the ring with a blue or pink sapphire.
Unique metal hues
Famed for its Tension ring which holds a single diamond solely by the power of tension (without a setting), German jeweller Niessing is also known for producing all its precious metal alloys in-house.
Customising your Niessing ring is easy.
Their online six-step wedding ring designer function lets you decide six features of your wedding bands: their form, width, colour (the array of choices include pure, moon white platinum and twelve unique colours of gold, from ivory to rosewood), texture, diamond placement, and engraving.
Exquisite details
Japanese jeweller Venus Tears offers a whopping total of 29 wedding band collections so you will really be spoilt for choice. Created by master crafters in Japan, the rings boast unique designs and charming concepts.
The Origami wedding bands, for instance, are inspired by the famous Japanese paper art, and feature small hexagonal patterns along the shank to represent layers of marital happiness.
Available in white, yellow and rose gold, the Arabesco wedding bands feature intricate patterns of intertwined lines symbolising an eternal flow of love between the couple.
Prices are affordable too: The Origami is priced from SGD1,049 and the Arabesco is priced from SGD1,299.
Handmade rings with love
Raised in Singapore and educated at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design London, designer Yuki Mitsuyasu makes bespoke rings to order.
She also offers both group-based and private ring making workshops. Group sessions (which are usually held once a month) cost SGD105 per person for a ring made of silver. For private couple sessions, the fee is SGD450 for two rings made of silver, and from SGD1,800 to 2,500 for two rings made of 18k gold.
Or you could leave it to the expert herself – Yuki’s custom-made ring prices depend on the chosen gems, and can start from around SGD1,500.
Handsome metal things
Singapore-based metalsmith Stale & Co prides itself for making well-crafted “handsome metal things” with a distinctive toughness, ruggedness and texture.
If you appreciate clean lines and jewellery with character, you will definitely dig their style that’s never run-off-the-mill. Most of their pieces are bespoke and customised with the price range varying based on gemstone quality, type of metal and design complexity.
For wedding bands, prices typically start from SGD800 for a simple 14k gold band.
Images courtesy of respective Jewellers, all rights reserved.
This post is presented by TwentyxThirty by DBS. For more on how to navigate the important milestones of your 20s and 30s, visit TwentyxThirty by DBS.
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