Wedded DUers: Did you design your rings? more questions

[bertha katzenengel]

How did you get the ideas? Did you use special stones, or unique treatments of the stones? Did you engrave them with verse or with anything else? How did you find a jeweler? Was the jeweler fair and honest? Did s/he do a good job?

Sigh.

[blondeatlast]

1. Breathe, Bertha--everything will be fine!

Didn't designe our own rings, no inscription. In fact, ours were bought at the late Montgomery Ward for less than $400 for BOTH.

I didn't know about blood diamonds then, or I wouldn't have had a diamond.

But they are beautiful, we treasure them, and we just celebrated 9 years.

It's not the ring, it's the person attached to the ring finger that matters.

It'll be fine!

[bertha katzenengel]

5. I'm not as frantic as I sound. We don't have a date.

I'm just thinking about this today, and have a few minutes spare, and I'm looking for ideas.

I've never heard of blood diamonds -- are they red?

We don't want diamonds. I'm not sure we'll get any stones at all. My favorite stone is lapis lazuli. Mmm.

[blondeatlast]

10. IF you won't be buying diamonds, I'll spare you the gory details.

If you want to know, google "blood diamonds" in quotes for info, but make sure you're pretty settled and calm when you do.

I know you and the Mrs. are already happily together, it's just nice to have that ceremony with your friends.


abit of wonderful news for a Friday morning--thank you for the cuppa cheer!

[bertha katzenengel]

12. OMG, DUH! "Blood" diamonds. Bertha catches up: film at eleven.

I got it now. D'oh!

TY, m'dear. :pals:

[Hugin]

2. Yes... To most of your questions.

[Bunny]

3. Bertha, did I miss something? Are you and Mrs. V tying the knot?

[bertha katzenengel]

8. You didn't miss anything. We will have a ceremony, but we don't

know when. We already consider ourselves married, of course. We're just waiting for our government to catch up. I don't know if we'll wait until that day for our ceremony, but I don't want to wait until that day for our rings. :)

No, as I told Blondeatlast, I'm just bored and was thinking about rings. :hi:

[Bunny]

14. I look forward to the day when our government finally "gets it".

And you and Mrs. V can be officially married.
:hug:

[tigereye]

21. it was really nice the last few days

to see pix of all those happy folks who were wed in Massachusetts.

We had our rings made by a silversmith we met at an art fair... they are pretty simple, with some symbols on them that are meaningful to us. They were also quite affordable. I like unique rings, so I think that handmade is the way to go as long as it doesn't cost the earth. I also dislike diamonds, and always thought other gemstones were just as pretty.

:hi: well, whatever you do, enjoy.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. A family friend did our rings. We had a design in mind but it was

faster to use one already done up, so we chose a very funky style.

There are only 3 of these Ron Pearson rings in existance as far as I know. I will have to take a photo sometime to show you what it looks like. :)

[jswordy]

6. We did not have rings.

[kedrys]

7. Plain silver bands, $40 each

We're coming up on 10 years next year, so we'll probably get them engraved then. We went to a well-known silversmith, and had no problems whatsoever.

The cool thing is that we didn't even discuss what either one of us wanted beforehand, and we just liked the exact same thing. That was cool. :)

[movie_girl99]

9. we bought ours from a local craftsman James Avery

and had them engraved with the date. This was my second marriage and i didn't want anything too fancy.

[bleedingheart]

11. no

I have a simple gold band and so does he...granted I have a sparkly engagment ring and later he added another ring to that after the birth of our last child...

but the originals are just plain gold.

[Shell Beau]

13. My grandmother

wanted me to have the diamond from her engagement ring. My grandmother had it made into another ring for my mom when she turned 16 and my grandfather upgraded hers. So I found a setting that fit my diamond. I went to the most expensive jeweler in town b/c the diamond was worth a lot and I didn't want to take away from it. My ring looks antique. It is gorgeous and no engraving. Didn't want any.

Mine is an anniversary type ring. You know the past, the present, and the future. The middle diamond is the one that was the gift. I have diamond bands on top and bottom of the ring. 3 rings in all.

[Redstone]

15. Designed them and made them, too.

Then lost mine.

Redstone

[Shell Beau]

16. Awww! Lost them? That sucks!

[Redstone]

18. No, I just lost mine. Mrs R. still has hers.

I have a problem wearing any kind of jewelry, despite having been a jeweler for some years. Took the ring off one too many times...

Redstone

[bugslsu9]

17. I went to a jewelry that was my dad's and grandfather's jeweler

She asked me what my now wife looked like, and suggested from there for her engagement ring. As for the wedding bands, my wife's engagement ring came with one and I used my dad's, but we had diamonds from my late grandmother put in them both.

The best suggestion I can give you, if you want it, is to find a jeweler that is not on commission. That rules out the shopping malls.

[seemunkee]

19. Had mine carved

with an oak leaf pattern. We found a small jeweler in Boston who did his own carving. I really liked it but it has since worn smooth. The inscription my wife put on the inside is still there, and no one but us know what it says.
My wife found a tri-color gold ring she liked with matching engagement. It has red gold roses, green gold leaves and yellow filled in between.

[Dora]

20. we did

I did the design, my husband approved it. I didn't want diamonds in either my engagement ring or the wedding ring, and Mr. Dora likes colored gems as much as I do. So I designed a ring with five rectangle-cut gems in a channel setting.

The ring/setting was ordered by our jeweler from a jewelry/findings manufacturer in Phoenix, so there was no special casting to be done. Our jeweler ordered sample stones in varying colors/shades for us to approve. After we made the selection (a deep red-brown citrine) he ordered the gems, and sent the gems with the rings to a stonesetter. So, our jeweler didn't do any work of his own except to coordinate the pieces and parts.

We weren't too happy with his treatment of us. Initially, everything was going swimmingly. His estimate was reasonable. But two months before our wedding he had no record of our discussions and he hadn't ordered the rings or the gems. He hadn't asked for a deposit, so we couldn't hold that over his head, and he had no record of giving us an estimate. In the end, both Mr. Dora and I felt that we had to compromise on the setting, and we felt maltreated by the jeweler. We paid approx $1000 for the rings, slightly higher than the estimate and higher than I'm sure the rings are worth (citrines are not expensive stones, and we chose 14K yellow gold, not 18K). It was when we were in the final month before the wedding that I noticed a picture of * on the wall of the store.

The rings were delivered a week before the wedding, two days before we had to leave town. And while they are pretty, they are not exactly as we had in mind, and mine will never fit like a ring is supposed to.

However, everytime I look at it, I feel blessed in the love my husband and I share: I know that this ring could be a twist-tie for all it matters, which is naught.

[Dastard Stepchild]

22. We bought two platinum bands...

We read that one of the downfalls of the platinum bands was that they ding and scratch easily. That is what sold me on the bands.. I loved the idea of watching the bands age and weather with our relationship. My ring looks really lived in - I wouldn't have it any other way.

We also got engagement tattoos together. Again, the artist warned us that they may not age well, but I find that charming.