Shopping for Wedding Bands on Etsy

Wedding Band Ideas for Men and Women | Shopping for Wedding Bands on Etsy

Picking out wedding bands should be one of the more exciting parts of your wedding planning because the bands will exist long after the nuptials have taken place. A lot of couples want to have coordinating wedding bands as well as a ring that will compliment the engagement ring. There are plenty of options to have “his & hers” rings without having to be matchy-matchy. Whether picking a ring from the same era, the same style, or with the same stone, Etsy has thousands of options for mixing and matching your rings.

View this slideshow for unique Etsy wedding bands and get inspired!

Simple Gold & Silver Wedding Bands

His & Hers: Some couples prefer to have simple wedding bands with no special etching or design work. A great way to coordinate this type of wedding band in an unexpected way is to have both bands cast in different metal colors, whether that be yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, or even sterling silver. For women, these bands can easily be worn on their own for an understated elegance or with a solitaire engagement ring.

Find both rings above at the Silmarillion on Amazon.

Thick and Thin Wedding Bands

His & Hers: Select from your choice of rose, yellow, or white gold with these bands that will help you get through thick and thin (hehe).

Find both rings from debblazer on Etsy.

Modern Classic Detail Wedding Bands

His: Milgrain is a small detail that goes a long way on any ring. This modern diamond wedding ring is simple with the milgrain adding a retro-modern twist. Find it here at Mark Broumand on Etsy.

Hers: A lot of engagement rings, especially vintage ones, have a slight curve to the bridge of the ring, so it is hard to get a wedding band to sit flush against it. This is a great option with a curve detail built into the diamond band.

Antique Rose Gold Victorian Wedding Bands

His: On the left is an 18K rose gold band from the 1890s. The ring has a slight curve with a soft and subtle polish, and the design is timelessly simple. The coloring of this gold is unique to the Victorian period, and it will match any other Victorian band beautifully.

Hers: This unique antique eternity band is from the Victorian Era and also is crafted in 12K rose gold.

The wedding band has a beautiful bird and floral motif.

Vintage Art Deco Wedding Bands

His: This two-toned Art Deco ring is from the 1930’s and will match both white and yellow gold bands from the same era. Hers: The ring on the right is an 18K white gold eternity band also from the Art Deco era. It can add a bit of vintage flair to a modern solitaire engagement ring or match an Art Deco engagement ring flawlessly.

A Touch of Blue Sapphire Wedding Bands

His: Adding a colored stone to a men’s wedding band is an unexpected but charming touch, especially if the spouse’s wedding band also has colored stones. Sapphires are the most commonly used for this purpose because the color isn’t too bold, and the stone very hard and durable.

Hers: This band on the right is an affordable option with genuine sapphires and diamonds set in solid 10k yellow gold for less than $150.

Both his and her bands are simple but also don’t match exactly, so the sapphire works to tie the two together.

Choosing The Perfect Wedding Band

Congratulations!!! She said yes. Now its time to choose a wedding band. A friend of mine is in that very situation and has been overwhelmed by all the choices; choices that he didn’t even know exist, mainly what metal to choose.

There are several different kinds of metals used to make wedding bands. There’s gold, platinum, rhodium, titanium, silver, tungsten carbide and last but not least, stainless steel.

Gold

What is it about gold that makes it so popular? Is it the bright yellow coloring or all the history it has as many of the early American settlers gave their all to find just one nugget.

When shopping for gold consider the karat and the color. Karat is the measure of actual gold in the metal. Most people don’t realize it but you will never get a piece of jewelry that is 100% gold.

FYI:

9kt gold contains 37.5% pure gold (375 parts per thousand parts).
14kt gold contains 58.5% pre-gold (585 parts per thousand parts).
18kt gold contains 75% pure gold (750 parts per thousand parts).

When it comes to colors, there’s yellow, white and rose. Yellow gold is made by mixing pure gold with alloy metals such as copper and zinc. Rose gold is made using a mix of pure gold with alloys including copper. The copper provides the rose-reddish color. White gold is an alloy of gold and some white metals such as silver, nickel, and palladium.

Platinum

Made popular in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s by trendsetter Jay-Z, platinum is slowly but surely become the first pick for many choosing the metal of their wedding bands. Platinum is a white metal that is almost its pure form (95% pure). It is dense and heavier than gold. It is also more expensive boasting twice the price of 18kt gold.

Silver

Silver is a white-grey colored metal which is less expensive and softer than gold, platinum, and titanium. Unfortunately, silver is not suitable for ladies engagement rings as oxidization causes the silver to turn black. Using silver jewelry cleaner you can get your ring back to normal but who wants to do that?

Tungsten carbide

Known as tungsten, this metal is a very hard, strong and heavy. Highly scratch resistant, Tungsten may be the perfect ring for your rough and tough future husband as they do not scratch with everyday wear as gold and platinum does. Remaining bright and shiny, it doesn’t need the polishing maintenance that gold, platinum, and titanium do

Stainless steel

Stainless steel is a metal not traditionally used in fine jewelry but some people wear it. Stainless steel is a relatively hard and durable metal. It is particularly popular in men’s bracelets, necklaces, and men’s dress rings.

Whatever metal you choose makes sure your wife-to-be makes the decision as the wedding is her day!

A Guide For Buying Rose Gold Wedding Bands

While many people prefer to have wedding bands done in yellow or white gold, there are quite a few people who have caught on to the unique beauty of rose gold wedding bands. White gold wedding rings seem to be all the rage now, but if you don’t like to just follow along with the crowd, a rose gold wedding set might just be what you are looking for. This guide will tell you everything you should know about them before you shop.

Pure gold is yellow in color, but it can be alloyed with other elements to obtain colored gold. Pure gold is 24 Karat, and so when 14 parts of pure gold are mixed with 10 parts of an alloy metal, together they create 14 karat gold. 18 parts pure gold with 6 parts alloy will create 18 karat gold. Therefore, the higher the karat rating of gold, the softer it will be because it will have more gold in it, which by nature is a soft metal. That is always helpful to remember for all gold, and especially for men’s wedding rings, because the lower the karat weight, the harder and sturdier it will be. This is the reason that many wedding bands for men are 10K – men tend to be a bit harder for jewelry than women!

There is no such thing as “pure rose gold” since rose gold is created by alloying pure gold with copper. Sometimes it can be easy to confuse copper jewelry with rose gold, so be sure to confirm that you are buying rose gold and not just copper before you buy! Even though the terms rose, pink and red gold are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference: namely, the amount of copper they have in them. Higher copper content will result in a “redder” coloration. The most common alloy that is used to make true “rose gold” is a mixture of 75% gold and 25% copper. Red gold, on the other hand, will most likely be at least a mixture of 50% gold and 50% copper.

The highest karat version of rose gold is 22K, sometimes referred to as “Crown Gold”, and is not commonly used to make jewelry. To achieve 18K rose gold, usually, 75% gold is mixed with 21% copper and 4% silver. This results in a rose color which has a beautiful color and luster but still may not be the best choice for men’s engagement rings, or any jewelry for men for that matter. Stick with 14K or 10K for wedding sets, as they will be much stronger and will not get scratched as easily as 18K rose gold will.

If you are concerned with price, as many people are today, many cubic zirconia rings are now being set in rose gold and would be a great choice for a cost-conscious shopper. Only a jeweler would be able to tell the difference between a cubic zirconia rose gold wedding band and a wedding band with a diamond in it. The choices are almost endless, so don’t be afraid to venture into the world of cubic zirconia and rose gold!

Just keep the information above in mind while you shop for rose gold wedding bands, and you will be sure to end up with something that is beautiful and will last you a lifetime. Have fun shopping!

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Find Out About the Beauty and Versatility of Rose Gold Wedding Bands

One of the best new trends in wedding jewelry is for couples to choose rose gold wedding bands instead of white gold or yellow gold wedding bands. Rose gold isn’t for everyone, but if you like to march to the beat of your own drummer instead of following the crowd (or the rest of the band), then you really should look into rose gold wedding jewelry.

Rose gold doesn’t occur naturally. All gold is yellow in color when it is mined. Pure gold, also known as 24-carat gold, is mixed with other metals called alloys to make colored gold. The alloys added to pure 24-carat gold to make rose gold are copper and sometimes silver. You may hear the terms “pink gold” and “red gold” used when referring to rose gold, but those are really different alloys, with different amounts of copper and silver added to them than rose gold has. The most common type of rose gold sold for jewelry is a mixture of 75% gold and 25% copper.

When choosing rose gold wedding bands, it is important to stick with 14K or 10K rose gold, especially for the ring that will be worn by the groom. Men are usually harder on jewelry than women, and anything more than 14K rose gold will be too soft to withstand the normal wear and tear a man will put on a ring that is worn all the time.

Rose gold is very versatile, and looks great with most other jewelry, in case you might worry that rose gold wedding bands might not look good with your current and future jewelry collection. Rose gold wedding bands and Le Vian chocolate diamonds look sensational together, as they also do with Pandora bead charms in colors of pink and green. Don’t dismiss rose gold because you think it will be limiting!

Rose gold wedding bands might not be for everyone, but they are so pretty and versatile that they are certainly worth a look for any couple undecided about what kind of wedding rings they would like to have.