Miss Cherry Pie, Seattle/Polebridge, Montana
Age and Occupation: 25, Marketing Communications Specialist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Nurse Practitioner
Engagement Date: August 26, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: April 1, 2008
Venue: A tiny town just outside of Glacier National Park
About Me: I think of life as a journey and I love the places it's taking me! I went to school to study Magazine Journalism, ended up with a second major in Japanese language, and now work at a company that makes software for libraries. I love writing, computers, photography, and the great outdoors. I spend most of my time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or geeking out online with Mr. Cherry Pie. I'm happiest when I'm on the road, especially traveling abroad, or just nesting quietly at home with my sweetie, who is a fabulous cook and bakes a delicious rendition of a certain cherry-filled dessert!
What To Do About A Wedding Band
April 7th, 2008 @ 6:10 pm by Miss Cherry Pie
My engagement ring has a unique and beautiful shape, designed by Mr. Cherry Pie himself at Greenlake Jewelry. We looked at rings together just so I could show him the designs that I liked and we could see what best fit my finger, but this was months before the engagement and I had no idea he was working on something custom-made. He really surprised me by coming up with a design all by himself. I love wearing it every day and knowing there’s no other ring like it out there.
There’s just one problem… We’re starting to look into a wedding band to pair with it. The band will have to be custom made to fit with the shape because standard circular bands sit all crazy-like on top if it. My engagement ring, it seems, is kind of difficult to work with. We’re going to have to be creative.
Our jeweler made us a batch of very rough preliminary sketches for wedding band design options. Some of these options are seriously crazy but I’m willing to entertain anything as long as it looks good in three dimensions:
I also remembered seeing an ad in a women’s magazine for a Tacori ring design that was fabulously similar to mine. I think I actually tore the page out and saved it but I’ve since lost it and the ring is no longer in production.
But it occurred to me that Tacori might still have similar rings and probably makes wedding bands to pair with their ring designs. Sure enough, when I wandered over to their site for inspiration, I found the following designs:
The main difference between these bands and my e-ring is that the diamond setting is much higher and more aggressive. But the concept is similar.
I like the idea of designing a wedding band similar to the first Tacori picture, but without the diamond pave all the way along the edges. If I had any pave, it would be limited to the section just over the central diamond. Or maybe, because my band has more pronounced “divets” on the side, we could use small diamonds to fill those spaces.
Seeing the Tacori bands helped me visualize some of the sketches, but I still don’t know what I want to do.
What do you think of the designs above? Are there any that stick out to you?
37 Responses to “What To Do About A Wedding Band”
My e-ring is from GreenLake too!
I like the bottom left one. Have you thought about getting two, to sandwich your e-ring?
Because designed carefully, it seems that if you did two, you could stack them together (slightly twisted to sink the diamond shapes together) and then you might have the option of just wearing your wedding bands.
Which is my problem with trying to design a wedding ring. I’d like one that looks normal by itself as well.
Like cs, I like the bottom left one too and for the same reason.
If you don’t want to get two right away, you could always add the second for an anniversary gift.
Also, since you are outdoorsy, you should think about whether you want something you can wear camping or if you’d be more comfortable leaving the rings behind.
I really love the second one down on the right. Some of the others look a little too much like eyes for me! 
That one echoes the shape of your [gorgeous] ring but looks like it would fit flush, and then you’d end up with a cool sort of lattice design. (I also like cs’s idea of having two bands - I thought that too!)
Gorgeous ring!
I’ve thought about the same thing for a while, because I’m very likely getting a ring that will not be able to sit with a standard wedding band. I’m actually a fan of moving the e-ring over to the right hand ring finger and just wearing your band on your left hand in the case of non-traditional e-rings. Then again, I’m not the most traditional girl, so I don’t have a problem with doing that, but I can definitely see why people wouldn’t want to do that. I just think it looks cleaner and neater to do so, and then if you ever want to wear your band alone, it won’t look funny without the e-ring above it.
That being said…the one I like the most out of the options you showed is the 2nd one down on the right.
I like either the top left, if you want a plain band, or the bottom left, if you want to add a little more bling. Are you going to get them welded together?
Another option, as brooklynbaby says, is to have a completely separate ring, and wear them left and right. That way they only have to complement each other, not fit together.
And I love your ring!
I may be in the minority but I actually don’t like when the band is designed to perfectly fit a unique e-ring. I think it makes the wedding band disappear.
I hadn’t thought about wearing the band separately on the left hand and the e-ring on the right hand. Maybe I could do that.
I do want a band that I could wear separately, but I can’t imagine really wanting to take off my e-ring either.
I also have a custom designed e-ring that I adore! Now it’s time to design my band, and we’ve moved from Michigan to Seattle in the meantime, so I will DEFINITELY be trying out Greenlake. Thanks for the great tip!
Beautiful ring!!
I would also second the option to put a band on top and on bottom.
I also think it would look nice to have just a plain band that didn’t fit flat against it.
Whatever you do decide to pick make sure you could potentially wear it on its own. I keep being told by my mother/MIL that there may be a period of time when you may not wear your engagement ring for one reason or another and you want the band to be able to stand alone if necessary.
In the sketch, 3rd row, right hand sketch is my fave So beautiful. Bravo for Mr. Cherry designing your ring! Its so gorgeous, he did a really beautiful job!
3rd one down on the left is watching me. And I think laughing at me a little bit.
Hi Miss Cherry Pie! Welcome to the hive (I don’t think I have formally welcomed you yet). I had a similar problem and had to have my wedding ring custom made. If you’d like to see my process from start to finish, check out my post “a ring is born”: http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/07/13/a-ring-is-born/
Hope this helps!
Maybe I am the odd one out… I like the ring as is. DO you really have to have a wedding band?
Top left is my favorite. If you’re want something that you could wear alone while you’re camping and want to leave the e-ring behind, you could easily just get a simple band at a jewelry store for cheap. That way you could have your one for normal use that fits your e-ring perfectly, and then have one for camping, yardwork, etc. Just a thought:)
And tell Mr. Cherry Pie he did a fantastic job, that ring is gorgeous!
I would wear the ring without a wedding band (it is beautiful on its own) and then get a totally different wedding band and wear it on your other hand.
I really like the designs of the first Tacori option, or of the 2nd from the top righthand drawing. I would think you wouldn’t want to “fill in” where the metal crosses, as you might lose some of the drama of your e-ring design… if that makes sense.
for my own twisty e-ring that has a somewhat similar look to yours, I’m going to keep the e-ring & wedding bands separate, and maybe go with something that echoes the twist like this: http://www.clay-pot.com/catImages/sholdt9980_small.jpg
Your ring is beautiful! My FI also custom designed my ring with our jeweler to create the look he knew I would love. It is so great when guys really take our desires into consideration!
I like the top left and third row (left). Your ring is gorgeous by the way.
My fiance bought me a beautiful ring with trillion diamonds on the side. I haven’t found anything that I love with it, so I think I’m just not going to get a wedding band and use my engagement ring as my wedding ring. If I change my mind later, maybe the boy can get it for me for an anniversary.
i like the top left one. it appears nice and simplistic which i like.
Hmmm I’ll have to take a picture of what a friend of my did. Her ering similar to yours wouldn’t sit flat with a normal band. They had a band custom made - I’m not exactly sure how it wraps around but it fits on the top of one side and the bottom of the other side. So it kinda wraps diagonally. I hope I’m making sense. Since it’s diagonal it’s not a complete circle - it just comes up to the main stone and stops. Hers is soldered together. Which of course is the one negative - but hers looks so great together!! I’ll email her for some pics and send them along!!
I haven’t read all the other comments - but I know some suggested wearing the band on your right hand - or you can always wear the band when you don’t want the diamond on (travel, dirty jobs, hiking) and wear the ering on other occasions. You’re ring is beautiful - if you can’t find a ring that flatters it - why distract from it’s awesomeness I bought a plain band to go with my ering - because the ring is so pretty - any additional bling really distracts from it. I think it actually looks best on it’s own also
I am in a similar situation. My engagement ring was my fiance’s great grandmother’s. It has a really beautiful and unique shape around the top, and any band would have to be custom made. I have been told to just not get a wedding band, but I really want one. I want something to change (jewelry wise) that says we are more than engaged, but I also don’t want to distract from the character of the ring. It is such a fine line! I can’t wait to hear further ideas on this topic.
have you considered going with a solid band 2-3mm thick…
i know it sounds strange - but i have a similar shaped e-ring, and i think that asolid band that is not too flashy, even if it doesnt “fit” into each crevice really looks sharp… also maybe try trhe same thickness of band with a 1/2 eternity pave set.
(you dont want to take away from the uniqueness of your e-ring)
good luck!
I think the second down on the right will look really cool!
I think it’s best to stick with the sort of angled look for consistency, and that one will lie flush with the e-ring. Good luck!
I like the second down in the right-hand column because a) it looks really neat, with the diamond design, b) fits well with the e-ring, and c) looks like it could stand alone if you wanted to wear it without your e-ring for whatever reason. I’m usually not a fan of bent or notched w-bands because they really can’t stand on their own, but that design is great!
What a beautiful ring! I like the last one in the left hand column the best but I’m sure they will all look gorgeous with a ring like that.
I like the very first sketch. I think the ‘wrap’ will look beautiful with your custom design!
Wondering…did you take the beautiful photos of your ring? I know they can be hard to photograph, do you have any tips?
I don’t like it when the band sits flush against an engagement ring. Plus, on the occasions when you don’t want to wear your engagement ring (and even though you can’t imagine occasions when you would want to do that, I guarantee you they will come up, i.e., international travel, cleaning, making dough with your hands, etc.), it will be nice to have a band that doesn’t look oddly shaped because it was designed to sit next to your engagement ring, meaning you want the band to look good on its own.
I really like the 3rd one down on the right…but whichever one you chose I’m sure it will be beautiful! He did a great job designing it!
Thank you for the feedback everyone, we are finding it very useful and we’ll keep you posted on our decision.
MissPotterBear- The photos were taken by Greenlake Jewelry. The easiest way to take photos of an e-ring is with an SLR or DSLR camera using a macro lens or something with a very short f-stop. That way you can get close to capture the detail!
Gorgeous ring! He did an awesome job. We’re going through the custom wedding band process right now and had a similar dilemma. My ring was also custom made, much different design but very similar options. We’re going with one custom fit band that with tiny diamonds that fits directly against one side with the possibility of another band for an anniversary. I considered it a lot and finally realized that I’d be more comfortable buying a second very simple band without diamonds for the times when I shouldn’t wear my engagement ring/diamond wedding band combo. Good luck with the process!
I LOVE the third one down on the right column in the sketch… I love the way that the leaf shaped diamonds peak around the bottom of the e-ring - Very Nice. I thought I had a tough time picking a band for my solitare, andit is nowhere near as intricate as your ring. Good Luck!
I had the EXACT same problem with my engagement ring, so we also looked into having a wedding band custom designed. The jeweler came up with great ideas, like yours, but what I did not like was the fact that I can’t wear the band alone without looking silly. It had to be twisted and turned to match the curves of the e-ring, so without the e-ring, all by itself it looked mangled, like something was missing.
So what did we decide to do? I still got a wedding band, but I wear it on my right hand. This way if I don’t want to wear my diamond, I just switch the wedding band to my left. It works out great!
I had the EXACT same problem with my engagement ring, so we also looked into having a wedding band custom designed. The jeweler came up with great ideas, like yours, but what I did not like was the fact that I can’t wear the band alone without looking silly. It had to be twisted and turned to match the curves of the e-ring, so without the e-ring, all by itself it looked mangled, like something was missing.
[…] show him the designs that I liked and we could see what best fit my finger, but this was months befohttp://www.weddingbee.com/2008/04/07/what-to-do-about-a-wedding-band/Tacori Jewelry, Tacori Wedding Rings - MulloysJewelry.comTacori Jewelry, tacori Wedding rings - The […]
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