Kiss kiss, love love, matchy matchy, VOMIT!  Let me clarify lest you misunderstand me. . .Of course I love: love and couples and happily ever after!  I just don’t believe  people should give up their individuality in exchange for wedded bliss and babies.  We all had personalities and interests before we settled down (most of us anyway), why would being in a happy committed relationship change any of that?  Compromise for the betterment of the unit?  Sure. . .to the extent that you don’t lose sight of who you are and what make your sig. other fall head over heels in swooning love for you in the first place!

So my answer to the question do wedding bands have to match is a big resounding NOT IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM TO.  Same goes for engagement rings and wedding bands (unless you are the poster girl for twin sets, twill and Tiffany’s)–don’t have to match.  Don’t worry, people won’t think less of you and your marriage won’t be jinxed.  Trust me!

For the Boys

Ladies, keep in mind that many men are not used to wearing jewelry on their fingers, it might feel strange to them at first.  For the macho metro man I really like to keep things simple.  Men’s bands should be proportionate to their hands unless their personality dictates otherwise.  Translation: if your man has big hands lucky you and get him a wider ring to balance them out.  If your guy has smaller hands but is into monster ballads and motorbikes, you should still probably go with a wider band.  Traditional types like a simple gold band, the more metro boys may prefer a matte platinum band.  Chances are, you can match his ring to his personality while still forgoing the frills and keeping things simple.  If you’re guy is like Brad Pitt and likes to get involved in designing of your ring, he might want to have some input into his as well.  Bottom line: you know your man and deep down you know if you’re bullying him into getting a ring he doesn’t feel comfortable in.  That’s the number one concern for men: they have to feel comfortable in the ring.  My poor father has still not gotten used to his ring and keeps it in the vault.  My husband, however,  loves his but has lost it 3 times (I blame it on the lanky European genes).  Not a problem, I just make them smaller every time and we went from platinum to 18k white gold because it gets to be an expensive habit (and men need consequences).  : D

For my DMD Darlings

You probably have a good idea of what you want.  Whether your idea of the perfect wedding set is a matching band or something a bit more adventurous keep in mind that while the pieces don’t have to match, they should share a similar aesthetic.  If your engagement ring is super romantic and slightly antique-y, don’t try to get all modern and abstract with your wedding band.  Either stick with a similar theme or just keep it simple and elegant.

The most important rule for women whose wedding bands match their engagement rings: YOUR WEDDING BAND SHOULD BE SLIGHTLY THICKER OR SLIGHTY THINNER THAN THE SHANK OF YOUR ENGAGEMENT RING.  It just looks better that way.  If the two rings are the same width and worn together it looks terribly boring and a bit cheap flimsy.  If your wedding band is just a touch thicker or thinner than the shank (aka band) of your engagement ring it gives the eye some contrast to pick up on and elevates the whole look exponentially.  Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of how NOT to do it to drive my point home but if you Google “matching engagement ring and wedding band” you’ll quickly see that the more appealing sets are never the same width.

I just finished a gorgeous set for a client whose wedding I will be attending next week, I will post pictures after the wedding because even though I suspect its not bad luck to blog about the wedding band before the wedding, I’m not taking any risks!  Per the norm, when in doubt feel free to contact me and ask.

Big Kiss and Bigger Diamonds,

JZP