Wedding Blog

Our budget is $4k and we spent $600 on both bands… a whole 15%.

We’re spending a bit more because we both want platinum, which is ridiculously expensive these days. I’d go for white gold myself, but my engagement ring is platinum, and I don’t want to get into the re-dipping thing in a few years. Mr Pencils, after hearing that matte finishes often don’t last if you use your hands a lot, chose a platinum band with a brushed titanium inlay. It’s quite a masculine ring. He really likes it, and he wasn’t all that thrilled about wearing a ring in the first place. Mine is a very plain platinum band. BTW, for those who saw my beehive question recently–I did go to the Bowery jewelers, and talked to some guys in the Diamond district, and they can get the squared band for me, but it would be almost twice as much as the rounded edge band on e-weddingbands.com. I tried on the rounded-edge style again, and decided that although I like the squared-edge by itself more, I like the way the rounded-edge fits snugly with my engagement ring. So rounded it is.

i really dont think there should be a budget on both bands if the both of you can afford it. I know that the entire wedding planning process is EXTREMELY expensive, but sometimes when you think about it, this band will be on your fingers FOREVER, and sometimes even passed on from generation to generation. I wouldnt mind spending the extra money and getting a band we both like.

We didn’t consider e-ring, or the wedding bands as part of our budget, since they are something that we will wear for the rest of our lives, while the wedding is just one day. The total cost of the 3 rings is more than double what we are spending on the wedding (think very low thousands for our wedding budget).

I know ppl always say “you wear your wedding ring forever,” but is that really true? A lot of older couples I know “upgraded” to an anniversary band 10 yrs down the line. That’s why I don’t feel bad about spending just 2-3% of our budget on rings, to me it’s something upgradeable, just like honeymoons and engagement rings.

i was wondering how to interpret these stat results… b/c the amount spent on rings is a percentage of the wedding budget..meaning someone who spends $500 on rings can still be in the 1% bracket along with another who spends $2000…

either way, miss e, i love your wedding band! nice and SPARKLY! it’s always nice to know someone in the business~

Ugh, I’m allergic to nickel. White gold is mixed with nickel, because white gold by itself would be too soft to use in a ring. I’m not sure the extent of my allergy, as the only reactions I have are from cheap jewelry that’s most likely all nickel. But, I don’t want to spend money on a high karat white gold only to find out down the line that the nickel content was still too high. I couldn’t even get a college ring because they only came in white gold and wouldn’t work with me on using other metals. My e-ring is in platinum, and I absolutely feel awful because I know FH paid way more than I ever hoped he would. Sadly, it looks as though I have to go platinum for the band, too.

I’ll probably get a plain band, and then add to it when we have the means - I once heard a story about a couple who added to her ring every Christmas (big diamonds in prosperous years, small gemstones in poorer years) and she had a one-of-a-kind piece that told their story

I’m with Tessa on this one. Our bands were about $720 and our overall budget is $4,500. So, we were at about 16% of our budget.

FI and I went to Diamonds on Wabash (Jeweler’s Row, also) and he paid close to $1500 for 2 almost eternity diamond bands set in 18k wg for me… his was from Whitehall Jewellers, 18k wg+platinum combo and it was $900… so our wedding rings were a big chunk… and not counted within our wedding budget, that was our treats for ourselves.

We didn’t consider our wedding bands as part of the overall budget, as we will be wearing them the rest of our lives. And I would never “upgrade” my wedding band. How could I improve on the ring that my husband used to marry me? No diamond could make it more precious. I’m going to be very sentimental about that ring. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like an anniversary band someday, but it would never be a replacement wedding ring. (Unless I, heaven forfend, somehow lose my ring.)

Pencils - that’s how I am about my engagement ring. My theory is that while we are engaged he can upgrade that ring if he wants (since we’re paying for our wedding it’s not likely to happen) and then once we get married I’m not touching the e-ring but will take upgrades on the wedding ring - I guess the ring I will upgrade depends on the stage we are in if that makes sense…

Then again, I like the idea of keeping everything exactly how it was. Maybe I’ll see if we can buy a new “starter” ring for use with my idea above. Then, we can work with my allergy and find something like tungsten or titanium that doesn’t have to match my e-ring but can be cheaper than platinum!