Weddingbee Blog

Part of what sparked the whole ring drama with Mr. Funnel Cake was that after I chose my beautiful engagement ring, I went online to search for wedding band ideas and had NO idea what would match with it. I just knew that I really didn’t care to have a band like this on my finger:

Do you recognise my original engagement ring up there? (It’s the one Mr. Funnel Cake proposed with the first time.) I thought it would be really sweet if I decided to use the silver band FC proposed with as my actual wedding ring, but I still did not like the ring that much.

It still had its uncomfortable sharp edges and paired with my band, I felt like the metal overpowered my dainty engagement ring’s weight and made the diamonds look even smaller in proportion. I wanted to like the combination for the sentimental reasons, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

(1mm band via The JBB.com)

If it were possible to find a band as thin as my engagement ring (which is pretty darn thin) then I felt like the wedding band wouldn’t have enough substance to represent the commitment Mr. Funnel Cake and I would be entering into. I’ll be honest hive, I really wanted some bling. Blingy blingy bling. (And I don’t think I’m the first woman to want some rocks on her wedding band!)

Like any other part of the wedding planning, I had started my search online and I was finding set after set of wedding bands. CRAP! Engagement rings come in SETS! I totally forgot about this!

(Search screenshot from Bluenile)

Suddenly I was kind of annoyed with myself that I forgot about engagement rings and matching wedding bands. They are fairly common in the States but honestly don’t really exist in Switzerland yet. Women over here might be catching on to the whole engagement ring thing, but the jewelers haven’t gone so far as to offer brides sets. (They do however have way more matching his and her sets here!) I almost wished I had waited longer for the engagement ring to order any one of these amazingly beautiful sets from The Marlene Harris Collection:

($1900 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($2475 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1920 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1620 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1650 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1250 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1375 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1475 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($4300 Wedding Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

Wow. That’s a whole lot of bling. Besides being a little over-the-top, I’m sure all of those rings are way more obtrusive than what I ended up with anyway. But I really enjoyed how you could pick out an engagement ring with almost any shape (halo, round, square) and they would have a matching band paired up that you could even double up on if you wanted a sandwiched engagement ring. Can someone go buy one of these rings so I can live vicariously through them??

While I had already screwed up my chances for an easy choice with a matching wedding band, my early searches proved there were lots of creative wedding bands out there to choose from that were a lot different than my mother’s simple gold band. I thought the symmetry of stacked bands was beautiful, as well as coloured gemstones.

($1020 Stackable Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($1200 Stackable Ring Set from Marlene Harris)

($650 Reversible Estate Wedding Band from Marlene Harris)

($1000 Modern Wedding Band from Marlene Harris)

In case you are wondering by now, I did actually look at a lot of other sites besides Marlene Harris. I just kept going back to her site the most to lust over all her estate and antique jewelry. I still want some of the big, oversized gemstone rings she offers!

All the time searching, I was using keywords like “unique” or “antique” wedding bands to find something besides simple white gold. I was sure by now that I did not want a traditional wedding ring.

($530 Thumbprint Set by Etsy seller fabuluster)

I thought the idea of thumbprint rings was incredibly romantic. Mr. Funnel Cake wanted to engrave our rings… and how sweet would it be to always have the impression of your loved one against your skin? I thought the idea was so sensual I contemplated forgoing diamonds on the rings, but as soon as I told Mr. Funnel Cake about it he thought thumbprint rings sounded really creepy. He still thinks they are creepy. Sigh.

(Handwoven bands from Handwovenbands.com)

I also contemplated metal-only bands when I saw these lovely woven bands. They had such nice texture, but I was a little insecure about what they would look like next to my engagement ring. That was the snag with buying a ring online anyway - Mr. Funnel Cake would have never agreed to buying rings online. He felt this was really something you had to go and try out in the store before committing to the purchase. And as he wanted to give the rings as a gift, I had to respect that all our ring shopping would need to be done in local stores, in person.

And Mr. Funnel Cake was right, after we started ring shopping I realised that rings often looked very different on my finger than how I had imagined and I didn’t feel confident in how an online-ordered ring would sit next to my e-ring. But even though we wouldn’t order something online, you can bet I was lusting after some of the amazing things above for months!

What about you? Are you a fan of simple wedding bands or did you want some bling in yours? Is your ring part of a set?