If you’re going to wear something for the rest of your life, you want to make sure it’s really yours. That’s why you spend so much time and effort picking out wedding rings that are just right for you and your bride or husband to be. After all, if it’s going to be there on your left hand every time you look down from now “until death do you part,” you’re going to want it to be something special and meaningful. But you also want it to be something more than that. You want it to be your special and meaningful ring, not just anyone’s. Right, but how do you ensure that?
Well, you should start by ring shopping until you find one that stands out as “right.” That’s really important, of course. But it’s not everything. There’s one final touch that will really make a wedding ring unlike any other: engraving it.
Inscribing something romantic like a poem or even simple names onto wedding rings has been a popular custom dating back hundreds of years to Medieval Europe. It’s still going strong today because engraving your personal message along the inside of the shank or even around the perimeter of the gemstone is perhaps the easiest and most effective way to customize your cubic zirconiaengagement ring and/or wedding band.
The How
Interested in having your ring engraved? It’s not hard. All you have to do is make a request to your jeweler when you order it. Most jewelers are able to meet this request. Even if yours isn’t, though, there’s no need to panic or think about changing jewelers. He’ll most likely be able to refer you to someone who can do the engraving if he’s not able to himself. Just ask!
One quick tip, though: check the spelling. The engraver will – or at least, should – engrave exactly what you tell him to engrave. So if you’ve misspelled your name or some other word, you’re more likely than not to end up with a misspelled ring engraving. Nobody wants to end up with that sort of fiasco, obviously. Always check your spelling of every word, just to make sure you’re not missing something.
Then when you get the ring back from the engraver, do you know what the first thing you should do is? That’s right. You should check it again. I’m repeating myself for effect herebecause you just can’t check this enough.
The When
Reading this blog the morning before your wedding and thinking engraving your ring sounds like a great idea? OK, that’s, well, great. You might even still be able to get it done in time for your wedding, too. That’s not necessarily the case, though. It’s true that some engravings can be done quickly while you wait for them, but others take longer, maybe up to a month.
So if it is the day before your wedding and you somehow have some free time, then it doesn’t hurt to give this a shot. For the rest of you, though, don’t wait! Ask your jeweler now – right now! – how long your engraving will take and plan ahead to ensure it’s done before you say “I do.”
The Money
Unless someone in your family is an engraver, then you’re probably not going to be able to have this job done for free. Drats. How much will it set you back? Like most things in life, the answer is “it depends.” But you should expect to pay based on the number of characters you want engraved, the font you want and whether you want it done by machine or by hand. What’s the difference? Hand engravings cost a bit more at $75ish dollars for eight characters, whereas machine engravings typically run more like $25 per 15 characters, but hand-engraved rings have an extra special hand-forged aesthetic to them.
You’ll have to decide what’s more important to you: the look or the money. Consider asking to see work examples or just try Googling hand and machine engravings to get an idea for yourself of what the difference looks like.
If you want to have the stone engraved, that’s another matter. Pricing for that is dependent on the carat of the stone, but the floor is about $15 for 15 characters.
The Words
Not sure what to say? Try a line or two from a poem, book, song or other work that means something to you. Put your initials and the date. Just say “I love you.” Or even consider writing about your love in another language or about how your bonds will last forever. The options are endless. As long as it’s about your eternal love, you can’t be wrong.