Engagement Ring and Wedding Band

Engagement ring and wedding band are a tradition. The tradition of wearing a wedding band on the left hand, on the fourth finger from the thumb, has its roots from Greece in the 3rd century B.C.

History of Engagement Ring and Wedding Band

The engagement ring can be traced back to Pope Innocent III in 1215 AD when he confirmed a waiting period between engagement and marriage. At first plain bands of silver, gold and even iron were used as gems were used as a measure of status among aristocracy.

Laws were on the books to separate classes and only the privileged were allowed to wear jewels. Eventually, laws were relaxed to permit others to wear jewels in their engagement ring and wedding band.

At first, engagement rings and wedding bands contained stones, with one pattern having six birthstones to mark the birthdays of the engaged couple’s parents and themselves. In the middle of the 20th century, diamond producer DeBeers, started standardizing the diamond engagement ring and wedding band with a wide advertising campaign.

Like most personal or familial traditions, they are begun and stressed by those companies which have the most to gain from a raise in popularity. An engagement ring and wedding band are no different in that over the years their use and cost has been pushed by those who will advantage the most from their acceptance.

Cost of Engagement Ring and Wedding Bands

Over the years, the Cost of the engagement ring and wedding band have also been raised as in their early use, whatever the man could afford was acceptable even with the origins of band made of iron being a token of the pending marriage.

At present, the cost of engagement ring is between two weeks and three months of the man’s salary being spent.

The Basics of Choosing a Lovely Engagement Ring and Wedding Band

The basics that you should know before making a choice in the type and quality of engagement ring style are very simple. You should know what she likes, her birthday, her finger size and the type of color (and type of clothes) she prefers and so on.

There are many other criteria that go into choosing the right engagement ring and wedding band. Let us visit each of the basic concepts here so that the choice would be the best possible in the circumstances.

• Metal she prefers – most girls love gold, though silver and platinum are more fashionable nowadays. Hence, in case you have not asked her directly or she has not told you otherwise, order the engagement ring style to be made in gold.
• The way she dresses during  her day-to-day  activities  - the type of ring you choose for her, would have to complement what she wears otherwise it will be extremely difficult for her to keep it on a daily basis.
• The cost you can afford – this is of course the most important factor. If affordability does not permit, you cannot do much. You take your bride-to-be into confidence and explain to her the situation and hope that she would like to trust you this one time and then for the rest of her life.
• Lastly, just in case you cannot conjure the right engagement ring and wedding band you would have wanted her to have,  you may attend the ceremony with any type of ring and then take a few days/week time to get the ring you (and she) really want to have.

In most cases, you can become engaged before choosing an engagement ring and wedding band and then sit down to discuss the particulars together in order to make the right decisions. Start with the budget, then work your way through preferences until you can agree upon the right solution.

In United States, under legal rules of property engagement rings are considered as conditional gifts and it is accepted by the woman as an agreement to be married.

If later the wedding is called off by the woman, then the engagement ring is to be returned to the man. If the man calls off the wedding it can be treated as an unconditional gift, and is kept by the recipient.

The idea that gifts cannot be taken back includes this exception as in Meyer vs. Metnick (Michigan, 2001) found that an engagement ring as a condition gift. Therefore, in order to find to whom the engagement ring would legally belong to, there is a necessity for determination as to who broke off the engagement.

Male Engagement Rings

The jewelry industry in United States tried to establish the usage of the male engagement ring, even touting a supposed historical example of medieval times, but failed. They did however succeed in encouraging the use of wedding bands for men. The notion of an engagement ring and wedding band for the female is now the established “tradition.”