Weddingbee Blog

Like most things wedding, I had no idea what type of wedding band I wanted before getting engaged.*

I mean, they’re just little pieces of jewelry, right?

No big deal. Just little pieces of jewelry you wear for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. Little pieces of jewelry that symbolize love and commitment and a whole bunch of other big, weighty hard-to-describe emotions. Little pieces of jewelry you have to stare at for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Whoa! That means that in the grand scheme of wedding planning, wedding rings are a pretty big deal! We won’t have to live with our fill-in-the-blank-with-almost-any-other-wedding-detail-here for the rest of our lives. Nope. Just our rings and each other.

We could just go the easy route and get something matchy matchy a la:

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And while I LOVE LOVE LOVE my engagement ring, with the additional wedding band, all that sparkle is a little too rich lady smoking Capris and carrying a yappy dog for my taste. Not to mention how hard on my hands I am at work. LOL. It turned out to be true! Poor, poor wedding jewelry…

So then I thought I’d love something a little different. A little more hip. An odd juxtaposition like turquoise and diamonds, because odd juxtapositions make me so happy. Maybe one of these bad-ass rings?

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Then the practical part of me looked up the facts on turquoise (and despite these rings having already survived 60+ years in the world) it just didn’t seem like a tough enough stone to survive a few more years, let alone a lifetime on my left hand.

So I continued browsing vintage rings, but they were all too blingy or precious or ornately carved with flowers, and wheat stalks and other lovely-but-dated details that hold no meaning or interest for us. Kinda like this:

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Maybe I should just go modern?

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And then I came across this absolutely effing awesome ring. And thank god I quickly downloaded (read stole) some photos from the site so I could admire her whenever I liked, because when I went back to look at her again, she was gone! Yup, someone else (fingers crossed-another awesome bride) snapped her up OVERNIGHT. Honestly I wasn’t that sad because she was WAY too expensive, but I did find myself randomly opening the pics on my desktop and staring at her a little too much…

So I did what any internet-browsing, blog-reading, bling-loving bride-to-be would do: I made an alchemy request, uploaded my stolen photos, and waited.

I didn’t have to wait long though—the responses started pouring in! Lots of jewelers thought they could make the EXACT ring I had uploaded pics of using CAD… and even more amazing, the price was right! Read: the price wasn’t even close to the $1000 the vintage ring was sold for.

Oh sorry! You wanna ogle her too?

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I sorted through a bunch of responses and finally picked Adzia based on her previous work and customer reviews, but mostly because of the thoughtful content of her emails. She’s been gracious, able to accommodate my requests, and has had wonderful suggestions along the way. And as soon as I get over my irrational fear of ordering the wrong size ring—seriously people I have skinny ass fingers and giant effing knuckles, she’s gonna get started on my ring.

The experience of finding a ring that meets all of my expectations and commissioning an artist to create it has reaffirmed what has snuck up on me as my hands-down, most-favorite part of wedding planning. And that lovelies, is the amazing feeling you get when you take your time and really choose who in this vast universe of seemingly endless and overpriced wedding vendors you give your hard earned cash to. The choice to support artists and craftspeople we admire and to forge relationships with them on our way to the altar makes me feel all ooey-gooey inside and I’m not even a big ol’ hippie. I just love art and community and I’ll leave it at that, lest I incriminate myself any further and accidentally let it slip what brand of toothpaste I use.

Did you find custom jewelry to be surprisingly and awesomely affordable? AND is anyone else loving their vendors this much or am I a freak?

* Interestingly enough, F Stripes always knew she wanted a plain gold wedding band. She also wants a first dance and a cake to cut, which reminds me to write a post investigating wedding traditions and which ones are important to each of us.

** F Stripes loves daisies.