Designing and Making Custom Wedding Bands?

dystrophy asks: "I'm planning on getting married shortly after I graduate in December. Because I'm a student who doesn't work much, I don't have tons of money to spend on an engagement ring/wedding band. After discussing this situation with friends and family, I discovered that poverty is the great equalizer. My parents designed their own wedding bands and had them cast for relatively little money because they inherited diamonds and gold from their family. Because of finances, they decided to forgo the engagement ring and spend what they had on wedding bands. I have some decent quality diamonds and gold from my family. I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic), but she might be willing to go with a simple engagement ring, or just put the money toward a wedding band. I have just started doing research on the topic of designing rings. I have talked to several jewelry designers in the Bay Area, but they don't want to deal with me. They want to sell me their diamonds and gold (I've heard various and interesting excuses from each). How should I go about this? Where should I go? When it comes down to the design, should I just work with my wife-to-be to create sketches to give a designer, or is something more needed? Any really cool ideas and designs for wedding bands?"

Comments

Save money, save yourself.

[presearch]

I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic)

Ewww. Good grief.
My advice. Run away, don't look back.

Re:Save money, save yourself.

[armyturtle]

You know, I've now been married for over 5 years. Luckily I was blessed to have a wife who isn't CRAZY about jewelry. I can't remember, but I believe we spent $800-$900 for our wedding set. Now I am sitting here about two days away from serving her divorce papers. Even $200 per ring is too much. It's a ROCK for gods sake! It merely *supposedly* has value because it is a rare mineral. Well if it's so *RARE* how come everyone's got one? If I ever get married again... I'm dead serious that I'm going to http://www.bigassdiamonds.com/ like someone on here mentioned. If my wife can't be happy with even a simple not-so-flashy ring and wants to make a big stink about it... then she's not the right woman for me. I want someone who ultimately cares for me... not the rock on her finger. If I were you, I'd push this subject on her and tell her you're definetely getting a cubic zirconia (even if you aren't) and get a reaction. Use this to gauge what she REALLY thinks about you. If she loves you, it won't matter. If she gets pissed and throws a big stink... move along, there are much better people out there for you.

Wait

[NickDngr]

My advice to you is to wait to get married. It's probably already too late for you, but it is good advice for anyone else thinking of getting married. There is no reason to rush into getting married. Your marriage is more likely to last if you wait until you are more established befor you tie the knot.. You won't have to fight about money, you won't be tempted to start a family that you can't afford, and you won't start making joint purchases that you don't have money for.

Communicate with your fiance IMMEDIATELY!

[GuyMannDude]

I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic),...

A few people have already said something along these lines, but let me make it a bit more explicit. If this topic gets her emotional than perhaps you'd better do whatever the hell she wants. She clearly cares about this issue and I don't think you are doing yourself a service by researching something behind her back. That is, unless you feel equally passionate about the subject of engagement rings (however, most guys don't). At the very least should be discussing this openly with her. I think she's going to be mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset") that you are soliciting the opinions of a bunch of online geeks that you've never met before sitting down with her and having a very heart-to-heart talk about this. Remember, if there is one thing that women want, it's to be the #1 priority in your life. She wants you to listen to her opinions and feelings. Not to tell her there are "better ways".

Personally, I would discuss the wedding ring issue with your girlfriend RIGHT NOW and make sure she's at least open to options. If she's not, then drop it. Do what she wants. If she is open to new ideas, THEN start to do your research, perhaps getting her to help you. I don't know your girlfriend but most women would not be pleased to find out that you've done all this research on ring alternatives without even discussing the idea with her first.

GMD

Re:i've seen this topic before

[stefanlasiewski]

pretty sure that last discussion was about "high tech" wedding rings. Like marking it with binary encoding, incorporating a Java chip, etc.

This is a different vein... simply, what do geeks (and poor geeks) do for wedding rings. Nothing wrong with that. Some of us actually get married, want to have kids, etc.

Personally, this stuff is refreshing. I'm getting sick of articles about new cell phone gadgets, the RIAA, or whatnot.