Should My Wedding Band be Custom Designed?

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Most trustworthy jewelers today have the capacity to custom-design jewelry. Usually, this service is reserved for women who are looking to have some fashion or bridal pieces made according to their personal style. However, there’s no reason why men shouldn’t take advantage of this fascinating technology too!

If you’re choosing a wedding band with which to tie the knot, you may have a vague inkling that custom design is a term that’s thrown around in the jewelry industry. But if you’re not up on jewelry, it may not have been something to which you paid attention.

Still, custom design is an amazing way to express your personal style, and if you’re a man who appreciates seeing a wedding band as unique as the romance that inspired it, custom design is the way to go.

The Pre-Design Process

It’s important to have a list of information in hand before you head down to your local jewelry store and have them design your wedding band. The most apparent questions should be the ones at the forefront of your mind:

For example, you should have a clear idea what your wife-to-be wants in her wedding band. She may have an idea about matching her bridal jewelry with yours. If she has a dream of making sure her and her fiancé have sapphire-studded wedding bands to match with her Tacori engagement ring, it might offend if you run off and have a ruby wedding band designed without her input.

Also, you ought to know your ring size, preferred design, and budget in mind before you begin the process. Because your ideal wedding band may be more expensive than you imagined, it’s a good idea to have backups in mind. For example, choosing white gold instead of platinum.

What to Ask For

The answer to this section’s implied question is “nearly anything”. Granted, you’d have to find a niche designer if you’re looking to have your wedding band hewn from a really out-there material like wood or marble, but if you’re working with a professional designer who has years of experience under their belt, the sky’s the limit.

The most common materials for wedding band design are silver, platinum, and gold. Gold is further subdivided into white, rose, and yellow gold, and its karat purity (represented by a number and the letter “k”) represents the amount of harder metals alloyed with the gold. If you’re a man who works with his hands, you may benefit from a lower karat of gold (like 14k), because of gold’s natural softness.

It’s not necessary for your wedding band to have jewels, but if you want some, your jeweler should be able to source some for you. Your wife’s band may have been made with loose diamonds, but a traditional diamond look for men favors the mysterious black diamond. Other popular masculine gemstones that you may want to take note of include: carnelian, garnet, lapis lazuli, malachite, tiger’s eye, onyx, and sapphire.

What to Expect

When you come to a decision about what you want from your custom jewelry design process, you can expect a four-step process. First, your jeweler will pair you with a design specialist who will discuss your idea and sketch it out. That sketch will be remade in CAD, allowing you to visualize your concept in 3D. Once approval is given, the design will move onto the third step.

The third step depends on the jeweler, but more often than not, you’ll be given a wax model of your CAD design, followed by another approval. If your jeweler doesn’t normally offer a wax model, they’ll finalize the design and just offer you a quote. The final step involves your wedding band being sculpted with your chosen metal and jewels.

Remember that if you’ve chosen exotic metals, designs, or jewels, the design process may take a little longer! It’s crucial to remember that you should have your wedding band in hand at least a month before your wedding.

Happy Designing!

Whether you’re interested in custom design, or you’d prefer the simplicity of choosing a luxury-designed piece, Luxurious J&T is your first stop for advice about men’s jewelry and timepiece fashion. Visit us regularly to keep on top of new trends in the world of aesthetics!

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