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Wedding bands come in a variety of alloy choices, designers, styles--so what should you get? You want to get something that will last a lifetime, require minimum maintenance, and looks beautiful.
Quick Tips:
1) Weigh your options of metal choices carefully. 14K and 18K white gold can be repaired by any jeweler, do not require specialized tools, and repair costs are relatively low. However, because they are gold-alloyed they contain yellow gold (which is rhodium plated), they will scratch/yellow overtime and need to be constantly re-plated. Gold alloys also wear more quickly and your diamonds may need to be re-tipped more often.
Platinum and the new Palladium alloys are 95% pure white metals with no yellow metals added and will always remain white, never needing to be rhodium plated. These metals are also “very sticky” and have a great bond to each other. So when they are polished or used/abused, the metal gets pushed around rather than worn down. This means you can have your ring polished hundreds of times and the prongs need not be re-tipped as often. But sizing and other repair work often require a laser and other advanced equipment as well as more training than your average goldsmith can provide. So expect to pay more for repairs when they are needed down the road.
2) If your wedding band has diamonds, make sure they’re quality diamonds. We always recommend at least SI2 clarity, and H color as a minimum. You’ll get the best sparkle from VS-clarity well cut diamonds. Ideal cut melees (small diamonds) are now being offered by some of the best jewelers in small jewelry items such as wedding rings. Ask your jeweler for more details.
3) Ring sizes aren’t ever constant for most people. They get pregnant, gain weight, lose weight, etc. You should be aware some rings can not be sized; for example, most of these rings typically can not be resized:
a) Eternity Style (diamonds going all the way around)
b) Lots of Diamond Pave (small diamonds over a wide area of the ring)
c) Hand Engraved (where the engraving detail work goes all the way down to the bottom)
d) Alloys such as Titanium, Stainless Steel, Tungsten, Ceramics, Jade, or other non-precious metal rings often can not be resized at all.
If you do decide on a ring style that can not be resized, we suggest you buy from a jeweler that has an upgrade or trade in policy so that you can get the ring you want later on.
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Questions? Ask our Diamond Experts and other Members in our Diamond Forum |
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