If you’re planning a wedding, now is a busy and exciting time. It seems like there’s a never ending to do list, including picking the ceremony and reception sites, deciding on a dress, and choosing the wedding bands you want to wear for the rest of your lives. Many couples are choosing diamond wedding rings as a forever symbol of their love and devotion, but choosing diamond rings is a little more complicated than just walking into a jewelry store. Knowing what to look for before shopping for your wedding bands will make it easier to choose beautiful diamond rings. Luckily, Brilliance.com is dedicated to helping couples choose beautiful diamond wedding rings they’ll love to wear.
Choosing Wedding Bands That Match The Bride’s Engagement Ring
Brilliance.com knows that many couples want to match their diamond wedding rings to the bride’s diamond engagement ring. Many couples choose the engagement ring first and then choose diamond rings to match.
Some couples only want to match the bride’s diamond rings. Others still want to match all three pieces, either by using the same metal or by choosing diamond wedding rings for both the bride and groom. For instance, if the bride has a platinum round solitaire engagement ring, the couple can choose platinum diamond wedding rings, plain platinum wedding bands, or choose a platinum band with diamonds for the bride and a plain platinum band for the groom. Couples should choose what they want and not worry about any sort of ‘rules’ regarding diamond wedding rings.
Metal Choices For Diamond Wedding Rings
Many couples who shop at Brilliance.com choose platinum for their wedding bands. Although platinum is one of the most popular metals for diamond wedding rings, it isn’t the only material available for rings. Other popular metals include palladium and 14K or 18K white or yellow gold.
Men typically work more with their hands; so many men’s wedding bands are available in different metals than many women’s diamond rings. Some of these rings are made out of stainless steel and tungsten, both materials that are designed to hold up to harsh wear and still look great. If you or your future husband relies on your hands, it may be a good idea to buy a ring made out of these metals.
Special Fits And Finishes
Once you’ve chosen the metal, it’s time to consider the fit and finish. Our research at Brilliance.com shows that wedding rings are the most often worn piece of jewelry so it needs to be comfortable, especially for men who may not be used to wearing a ring. To make wedding bands easy to wear, Brilliance.com offers Comfort Fit wedding bands. These special bands have rounded inside edges, which makes them comfortable to wear. After just a few weeks, you’ll forget you’re even wearing a ring.
Many wedding bands are available in a variety of finishes, meaning couples can choose wedding bands as individual as their love. Some of the most popular finishes are Florentine, hammered, and satin.
Wedding bands with a Florentine finish are created by scratching intersecting sets of parallel lines into the surface of the metal. These tiny deep scratches create a unique textured surface.
A ring with a hammered finish literally looks like it’s been pounded on with a tiny hammer, which creates a textured and multifaceted finish. Antique hammered finish rings are likely one of a kind and hammered by hand, but now most hammering is done by a machine.
Wedding bands with a satin finish have a semi-glossy surface. The metal is scored with a tiny brush that creates tiny, shallow parallel lines along the surface of the ring. These small scores reduce the metal’s natural shine and give it a finish that’s not quite matte and not quite glossy.
Personalizing Diamond Wedding Rings With A Special Inscription
If you want to have completely personalized wedding rings, consider engraving a special saying on the inside. Some couples choose to engrave their rings with their wedding date and the year or a meaningful phrase. If the phrase you want to use doesn’t fit on one ring, think about splitting it up and engraving the first part on one ring and the rest on the other. If engraving your ring is important to you, make sure to take it to an engraver experienced in jewelry and leave plenty of time to get the rings back. You don’t want to be left without your rings on your wedding day just because they’re not back from the engraver.
In the past, diamond rings used to be reserved for special anniversaries or whenever a couple decided to upgrade their wedding set. These days, however, more and more couples are choosing to buy diamond wedding rings from the beginning instead of planning on replacing their wedding bands later. Planning a wedding and choosing wedding bands are fun and exciting times, so enjoy looking and remember that the personal shoppers from Brilliance.com are standing by if you need any help.
Categories: Brilliance, Engagement, Jewelry
Many couples are now choosing to forego tradition and shop for diamond engagement rings together. Many men admit they’re secretly glad they can shop together and get some help determining which ring style is right for their bride. However, if you want your proposal to be a complete surprise, read on. We’ll go over some of the latest trends in diamond rings to help you choose an engagement ring you’ll both love looking at again and again.
Choosing A Special Style
Diamond rings come in a variety of styles, meaning there’s something to fit everyone’s personal style and taste. Luckily for shoppers, Brilliance.com has some of the most popular styles of diamond rings, including comfort fit solitaires, three diamond rings, halos, and vintage style diamond engagement rings.
The comfort fit solitaire diamond engagement ring is one of Brilliance.com’s most popular styles. These diamond rings have a single diamond set on a wide or thin band. The stone can be cut into a variety of shapes, but the most popular are the round brilliant and princess cut. Other popular diamond shapes include the heart, asscher, pear, cushion, marquise, oval, radiant, or trilliant.
Diamond rings with three stones have gained popularity in the past few years. The three stones are said to represent a relationship’s past, present, and future and are an ideal visual reminder of your love and devotion. These diamond engagement rings can have stones that are all the same size and shape or a large center stone with smaller outer stones. Some styles have stones all cut into the same shape or a princess or round cut center stone and triangle or baguette shaped outside stones.
Halo diamond engagement rings have gained popularity in recent years. These diamond rings have one large center stone surrounded by a set of smaller diamonds. The center stone in these diamond rings can be round, oval, heart shaped, marquise, princess, cushion, pear, or asscher cut. The outer stones can be set in a bevel or prong setting.
Vintage or antique diamond rings are ones that have been worn by someone else. They can be purchased from estate sales, antique jewelry shops, from an antique dealer, or can even be passed down through families. Because some couples are uncomfortable with the thought of using a previously worn ring as an engagement ring, it’s possible to find an antique looking ring that’s actually brand new.
Alternative Metals For Your Diamond Rings
At Brilliance.com, one of the most popular metals for diamond engagement rings is platinum. Platinum is an extremely durable metal and is a good choice for diamond rings because it is tarnish resistant. Platinum is a rarer metal though, which can make it a more expensive choice.
More people are turning to engagement rings made out of palladium and 18K white or yellow gold. Palladium is a relatively new metal on the jewelry market and looks a lot like platinum. The difference is that palladium is typically cheaper and lighter than platinum.
Brilliance.com has a large variety of diamond engagement rings in both 18K white and yellow gold. Both are good choices, but white gold can require a little more regular maintenance and upkeep than yellow gold. This is because white gold isn’t a naturally occurring substance and therefore shows wear a little quicker than yellow gold.
White gold maintenance is easy to do and should not be a deterrent if you love the look of white gold. You’ll need to simply take your jewelry in for redipping every once in a while. Redipping restores the pure, white look of the metal and any reputable jewelry store should be able to perform this service. Some stores will need to send your jewelry out for service, while others may be able to do this while you wait. No matter where you take it, make sure to ask how long you’ll be without your ring so you can leave plenty of time to get it back before your wedding.
Custom Diamond Rings
If you’re having problems choosing from the large selection at Brilliance.com, consider asking one of our personal shoppers to help you with a custom designed diamond ring. The buyer can choose from a variety of center stones and settings. Doing this means you can choose the exact diamond you want for your ring.
Choose A Center Stone First
Brilliance.com has a variety of ready to fill settings and loose center stones to choose from. If you choose a loose stone with a ready to fill setting, you definitely want a certified stone. Certified stones have already gone through a strict grading process and will come with paperwork outlining the stone’s cut, color, clarity, and carat grade. The most common diamond grading certification comes from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) but Brilliance.com also works with the American Gem Society, Hoge Raad voor Diamant, the European Gemological Laboratory, and the International Gemological Institute.
Certified diamonds are also easier to insure because a trained gemologist has already graded it. This means that you likely won’t have to have it appraised before insuring your jewelry – it’s already been done for you.
Diamond engagement rings are a symbol of your love that your bride will wear for the rest of her life and is often one of the first major purchases a couple makes. Before parting with your money, take a little time to research the different options and latest trends in jewelry design. No matter what you’re looking for, Brilliance.com’s personal shoppers can help you find something you’ll love.
Categories: Brilliance, Diamonds, Education, Engagement, Jewelry
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