Learn Me: Wedding Rings

My gold band was showing lots of nicks and scratches, so I replaced it with a polished tungsten carbide band. The new ring cost about $20 and is as hard as sapphire - a couple of years later and it doesn't have a scratch.

Jewelry bought at retail depreciates substantially. If you really want to go grassroots, vintage/used jewelry may offer substantially more value. My wife and I have made friends with a couple of local jewelers who collect and sell vintage pieces, and my wife is a member in an active online community of jewelry fanatics who are always trading pieces.

You can find the tungsten/cf ones on Amazon for about $40. I lost my 5mm 'comfort fit' gold ring in the ocean and have been wearing the Tungsten/CF one instead. About the only issue is that the CF does get scratched--about the same as gold--but harder to polish the epoxy back into shape.

Since I have gotten bigger since I got married; ahem, the wife bought me a replacement gold band at Sam's Club for under $100.00.

For the car guy, it has to be a full carbon fiber ring, like the one my wife found me. I don't wear jewelry, so I jokingly told her the only way I'd wear a wedding band is if it was carbon fiber. So, sure as E36 M3, she goes and finds a place that makes carbon fiber wedding bands.

http://www.titanium-buzz.com/10cafiri.html

I have the matte finish, narrow band variety. They're cheaper than gold, absolutely indestructible (which is good, because a gold one would get ruined after about 4 days at my job), and don't weigh a thing. It is more noticeable on your hand than gold, because it's black, but that sort of thing really doesn't bother me that much.

1988RedT2 wrote: Unless you're looking for something a little different, I'd say one of the warehouse clubs. Small guys have to charge more. Big guys move volume and can sell cheap.

That's not my experience.

We got beautiful custom rings with similar bands (though different scale- mines is proportionally bigger than hers) and hers had stones from her mother's wedding ring set into it for SIGNIFICANTLY less than the big guys were charging. Like 1/3 of the price we could have bought plain mass produced bands.

Small guys charge more for each hour of their time. Big guys have to charge for their warehouse, and manufacturing facility, and distribution chain, and website, and warrantees, and Visa up charges, and shipping insurance, and product liability costs, and.....

One warning on gold, be sure to get the non shrinking gold. My wedding ring has shrunk to the point where I can't get off. Funny how much it can shrink after 23 years. You know I have also noticed that jeans sizes have changed over the years. I don't know how they size them but now I have to get 36s when 30s would fit.....

I spent a little more and got one with some diamonds in it. I figgured i was only going to do this once. Its lasted 20+ years by the way. This was before I was in the buissiness.

A plain gold band is inexpensive considering. Also it can be easily resized by stretching or shrinking as needed. Just dont let anyone cut and solder/weld it. It is then too weak at that point to stretch and will break there.

Titanium is cheaper but cannot be resized. A reputable dealer and manufacturere will exchange it for free or at a nominal price if you need a different size in the future. Provided they are still in existance. It isnt that difficult to cut off if need be. Simmilar to gold.

Carbide is a little more expensive than titanium and cannot be resized. Again a reputable dealer and manufacturer will exchange as with Titanium. Carbide is super easy to remove in an emergency. Just grip it with vice grips and POW, it shatters. Easier than all others.

To the original poster I will shoot you an email with contact info at work. I work in a jewelry store. Im not in sales, Im the watch maker. The sales weasels owe me a solid.

I really lucked out with rings. For her engagement ring she found one on ebay for $35 that she wanted, OK. Then for our wedding bands I was going to order from overstock, but I wasn't comfortable with sizing. We ended up picking out 2 from Walmart on V-day, $50 each. Hers is Tu with a mother of pearl inlay and mine is Ti with 2 inset bands. I really like the lightness of Ti.

I'm not much help since I don't wear jewelry at all. Used to even carry a pocket watch, stopped now that I carry at 2 cell phones. One a work blackberry that works overseas and my personal 'droid. I use them for clocks/watch now. I don't even wear a wedding ring. My wife used to bug me until she met a friend of my dads that is missing his ring finger. She didn't bug me again till I retired from the army. Convinced her that I wear my ring around my waist, a sign of her cooking and her mark on me. She wears the ring we bought a couple years after we were married bought in the army PX. Couldn't afford one when we got married, cost my savings to get her to the states on a fiance visa from Korea. 30 years we're still together and I still don't wear jewelry. Irritates our youngest daughter, she works in jewelry. If you were closer she could help.

My wedding ring started off as a cheap plain silver band that I bought at a sidewalk vendor. I picked out one I liked and made sure it was the right size by wearing it for a week or two. Once I was sure it was what I wanted, I sent it off to a machinist and had him duplicate it in titanium. I don't remember the price, but it was unexceptional and certainly only two digits. The same guy made the Ti shift knob on my Locost That particular wedding never actually happened, but I really liked the ring so I started wearing it on my right hand. It's completely unadorned.

This was about 14 years ago. When I got married in 2007, I bought a titanium "comfort fit" to use as my wedding band but I found it too big and heavy compared to my old one. So I swapped my old faithful over to my left hand and that's where it lives.