As if you aren't sick enough of hearing about our wedding bands...

I found my second band! On eBay!

See, after my original post about my bands, I learned about palladium. Palladium is in the same family of metals as platinum, in that it's hypo-allergenic, but it's about the same price as white gold. Boy how I wish I had known this earlier.

Armed with a new goal, I went searching for my spare band. If you remember correctly, I was interested in bands like these, from www.applesofgold.com:

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(This one wasn't actually on my original post as it's too expensive, but just look at it! Gorgeous!)

Except these all only come in gold or platinum.

Finding a palladium ring online carved with a floral or paisley design and under my budget of $400 seemed hopeless. I searched everywhere I could think of-- even Etsy. It appears very few jewelers work with palladium yet, and therefore the options for a more intricate design were limited.

But then-- then!-- I got the brilliant idea to check eBay. And there she was, in all her glory, just a few rings down in the search results.

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The ring was $380, but the seller had a "Make an Offer" button. I figured it couldn't hurt so I did-- and he accepted my offer!

Now, to be completely honest, I usually stay away from eBay. I've heard too many horror stories about things not being what they appear, or as advertised. But this was a completely wonderful experience, and I couldn't be happier with the results. Once my offer was accepted (the same day), I received an email from the seller stating that it would take about two weeks to make my ring and then another week to ship it to me.

It was in my hands twelve days later. Check it out!

It came in this cute little box. I untied the ribbon and. . .

Found another box! My little ring was nestled within (sorry no picture of that step, I was too excited!)

And here it is! (On my index finger as the fit is a little tight since it's so hot right now, and I'm paranoid of getting it stuck).

Aaaaaand once more, all together with feeling! I'm so glad our little collection is complete and I'm all set for rings for the next century or so. I think.

Kidding.

Mostly.

Was it a trial to find your wedding ring?

*All unsourced photos belong to me.

The One Ring (For Now)

S. and I have very different opinions about our wedding rings. Obviously, I'm a little neurotic about mine, whereas for him, the decision was pretty simple. For me, the ring(s) that S. puts on my finger on our wedding day are the ring(s) that I want to wear for the rest of my life. For him, a cheap, durable, easily-replaceable ring was a must, in case of an accident or loss.

So the hunt was on.

At first, we both really liked this titanium ring, with a carbon fiber inlay, from Zales (though quite frankly, you can find it quite a bit cheaper elsewhere online):

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I'll be honest, I liked this ring a lot (and still do) because of the carbon fiber. S. and I share a passion for cars, after all, so it seemed like a solid contender. But my fiance is nothing if not diligent (I leave it up to him to research all major purchases because he's so good at it!), and his searching turned up the fact that the carbon fiber in these rings is softer than the metal and can scratch or fray. So, this one was out.

After visiting Zales in person a couple of times, and looking around online, the mister decided he wanted either titanium or tungsten, which he then narrowed down to tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide is extremely damage resistant, and will still look new for many years to come. The only real downside is that it can't be re-sized.

With the metal selected, he just needed to find a ring. Enter www.sparklecartel.com, which features a new piece of jewelry at a discounted price until it sells out (usually about one per day). S. watched the website for a few days until a tungsten ring came up that he liked and that was it! Easy as pie. The best part? It was only $26.00, so if he does need to get another one someday, no big deal.

So are you ready to see his ring? It's very shiny, and we all know how I feel about shiny things!


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Aww, our rings are so cute together!

How does your fiance feel about his wedding band?

Ta-Da!

So, I did it. I went on Friday and bought (one of) my wedding band(s). I stopped by the Zales store where we had first seen the band, and they had it there but the price had gone up. Well, they'd changed the tag on it but it was still the same price in the system. I won't go into whether I believe the reason they gave me for its disappearance from the website and the price increase, but either way, I was frustrated, and a little sad. And that's how I figured out that I do, in fact, really like this band.

So, I bought it. Yes, I bought my own band-- no point in having S. come out to get it for me, he'll pay me back for it later. In the meantime, I've been quite pleased with my decision. Now I just have to decide which other band to get of the three I posted about here. Ready for some glamour shots?









What do you think?

(All pics my own).

Wedding Band Epic

Fair warning: this post is going to make me sound neurotic, crazy, and self-absorbed. It's okay. I have been known on occasion to be all three.

The hardest thing about planning this wedding (thus far) hasn't been picking the cake pattern, or finding a DJ, or an endless hunt for the perfect dress.

No, I have all those things squared away. The hard part has been finding a wedding band to go with my engagement ring.

If you remember, here is my beauty:



It's platinum, with a cathedral setting, and alternating round and baguette diamonds down the sides. It's a hard ring to match.

I've been going into every jewelry store I pass trying to find "the one". I haven't been having any luck.

I have quite a few considerations, too. First of all, I'm kind of superstitious-- I want to wear the ring that S. puts on my finger on our wedding day for the rest of my life. So getting something "for now" doesn't really work for me. I also want to be able to wear it both with and without my engagement ring. Because my e-ring is so large, a band will probably only look good with it if it's narrow. But a narrow band won't look good on its own. And I do want to continue to wear my e-ring where it belongs, and I do want to look married when I do (so no moving it to my right hand or only wearing it).

Secondly, I work with animals, specifically large, unpredictable animals. I don't want something that's going to break or fall out if I have a bad day at the ranch. I want a band that will lay flat against my hand and not cause a danger to my animals, or itself.

Thirdly, I love sparkle. I really, really want more diamonds in the band if at all possible, and besides that, plain metal looks strange with my ring.

Fourth: I have sensitive skin and all the women in my family have had reactions to their wedding jewelry. My engagement ring is fine so far, but it's platinum, whereas theirs have been white gold. I don't want to have to buy a platinum wedding band but I'm worried about long term wear-ability if I don't.

And fifth, but really key, is cost. S. already spent way more on my e-ring than we thought we would.

So, to sum up, my ideal ring:

-Will look good both with my e-ring and on its own
-Won't cost much
-Will be made of platinum and have diamonds.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I've been thinking it too, lately. Such a ring doesn't exist!

I'm coming to terms with this. Right now, my best solution is to get two bands, one to wear with the e-ring, and one to wear without.

Here are my contenders if I go this route.

This one has a slight curve in it, but it lies nicely along my e-ring:

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And one of these for everyday (animalday) wear:


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Of course, none of these are platinum (sigh) but I think if I want to keep it under budget I'm going to need to give up on that particular dream. My mom has this old trick of painting the inside with nail polish to keep it from causing a reaction. Hopefully that will be enough!

S. has also expressed an interest in maybe getting matching bands, so that might be an option too.

Did you have any trouble finding a band to go with your e-ring? What do you think of my choices so far?