Wedding band question

[DearBuddha]

Hi ladies.
I've a few questions for you all regarding the choice of wedding bands. My fiance and I are getting married on July 27th, and we spent this weekend browsing bands, trying to decide what we'd both like. His is a relatively simple choice-a tungsten carbide band with a platinum centerband.

I, however, am finding it much harder to decide. I absolutely feel in love with this band: http://jeffcooperdesigns.com/item.php?cat=4&item=42.
The clincher for me is the asscher sidestones (my e-ring is a fancy blue diamond asscher centerstone with trillion sidestones, set in platinum. You can see it here: http://forum.purseblog.com/the-jewe...oes-yours-look-like-18567-66.html#post5408511).

The only problem is the price. It's a $4,000 ring. It's not beyond reasoning for us, as we make good money, but it's more than we anticipated spending. Combined, we were going to spend $4,000 on rings. With the skyrocketing costs of platinum, it's a tough choice. But I also know that I never want to upgrade my wedding set, and I should get a ring I'll be just as in love with fifty years from now.

My questions are these:
-What helped you to make a decision when picking out your own bands?
-Is the cost of a ring really worth it to you?
-What did you looks for when choosing a band?
-Has anyone been "forced" to settle for a band they didn't really love as much as another?
-What's an appropriate amount to spend on a band?

Thanks, lovelies!

 

[musey]

-What helped you to make a decision when picking out your own bands?

FI hasn't picked his yet, but I had a lot of factors in choosing mine.

(1) I wanted to be able to wear it at all times without having to worry about cleaning or damage issues, so even though I LOVE eternity bands, this requirement took them off the option list for me.
(2) It had to coordinate with, but not match my engagement ring (just don't like matchy-matchy sets, for me).
(3) I had to be able to wear them as a set--some of the 5-stone asscher bands I loved were stand-alone. Maybe for a RHR
(4) It had to be the same metal (platinum) as my engagement ring, as I didn't want to worry about metal-mixing damage to either.

-Is the cost of a ring really worth it to you?

Yes, though mine will be under ~$1400-1800 because I can't/won't have any diamonds (or other stones) in it, so cost isn't as much of a factor. Think of the cost as being diffused over a lifetime--because it's going to be there, hopefully, for a lifetime.

-What did you looks for when choosing a band?

I quickly found that there was a problem with my first requirement (to have a rough & tough 24/7 wedding band): plain bands looked pretty horrid with my antiquey bead-set asscher engagement ring. So I was looking for something that was technically 'plain,' but had some visual interest to balance with my more 'busy' engagement ring.
That's when I discovered gatsby-style carved platinum bands!

-Has anyone been "forced" to settle for a band they didn't really love as much as another?

Well, sort of. The band I loooooved first is the Tiffany Legacy 2mm bead-set band. The band I'm having custom-made now is beautiful and I love love it, but in a different, more practical way.

-What's an appropriate amount to spend on a band?

That's as broad a question as engagement ring budget! I don't think I could justify spending more than $3,000 or so on a band intended to wear as a set, but that's likely because anything over that price point would be something that would overwhelm (not complement) my delicate engagement ring. This would be different for every engagement ring match-up, though... mine is a 2mm bead-set pave with a 2ct. asscher, so it's pretty dainty... but if someone were wearing a 5ct round with a shared-prong 3ctw. band, I'm sure a well-coordinated band could easily run more than my $3k price point. If that makes sense!

If it were a stand-alone band, the budgeting would just work the same way as the initial engagement ring did.

 

[sputnik]

db, i love your engagement ring!
i think you should go with a simple, thin band. i think a curved band will actually detract from the beautiful simplicity of your ring.
i like the idea of your ring in a thin channel set band except i think you should go for all baguette diamonds instead of baguettes and round brilliant like in the link you posted. you could get that for less than 4000 and just IMO but i think it would look better with your ring too.

like this but narrower
http://www.shenoadiamonds.com/catal...tml?ct_medium=shoppingengine&ct_source=nextag


http://www.jewelleryart.net/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=121

no idea about the websites i posted. i just googled thin channel-set baguette band and this is what came up.

 

[missyiovely]

My questions are these:
-What helped you to make a decision when picking out your own bands?
We both tried to limit ourselves to which designers we prefer first.

-Is the cost of a ring really worth it to you?
I think you should go with the ring that you really like, cost is important but try to find one that's around your budget.

-What did you looks for when choosing a band?
I want a simple, white platinum ring that I can wear it everyday. Prefer a classic designer piece.

-Has anyone been "forced" to settle for a band they didn't really love as much as another?
You should not. My DH and I came to a conclusion that we both need to love that ring since this ring is for life

-What's an appropriate amount to spend on a band?
Depends on how much your budget is. Our set was about $3500 by Cartier from the Bridal Collection. Its the Platinum 950 wedding band, with a single diamond. 30/10 width.

Happy Ring Shopping and congrats!

 

[DearBuddha]

I'm so excited! We just heard from our SA and he's informed us that the ring is available in palladium, reducing the cost to only $1950! We're jumping for it, and my fiance has agreed to upgrade it to platinum for our first anniversary!

This has just made my day!

Thank you all for such wonderful input; you've helped a ton

 

[Blue824]

Thats great that you got a better price on it!

I was going to say anyway, if you love it, go for it. We are not getting married until next March, but we are trying to space out the costs, and we looked a couple weekends ago, just to get a sense of what we were in for. I wanted something simple and thin so I thought for sure I could stay on budget, well... sure enough, what i LOVE is double. And I mean, LOVE LOVE LOVE it. And my FI loves it, so we're just going to save up a little longer and make sure I get the perfect ring. So, even if it is more than you expected, if it is PERFECT, get it!

 

[ame]

Whats appropriate is getting what you want and not sacrificing. That to me is worth any dollar amount.

I know that Signed Pieces makes platinum bands with asschers in them, though they are not curved.


www.signedpieces.com (facets collection)