Bride-to-be Blogger Stephanie: Choosing Our Wedding Bands! (Kinda)


Bride-to-be Blogger Stephanie: Choosing Our Wedding Bands! (Kinda)

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In an effort to cross one more item off the planning list, Pat and I visited a local Jenkintown jeweler last week to choose our wedding bands.

Fred H. Straub Jewelers is where Pat bought my engagement ring. And since I’m completely in love with it and still find myself staring at it—admiring it shimmering in the light—a year after getting engaged, we made our way back to Straub.

When we entered, we were ushered over to the right, where all the strikingly beautiful engagement and wedding rings are kept. I spotted my ring beneath the glass, along with its matching band.

Fred pulled out 10 or so options for me to try, all of which were irrefutably gorgeous. I tried on the matching band first and liked it instantly: narrow diamonds across the top with a solid platinum back. But I wanted to explore the other options as well, so we tried thicker bands, thinner bands, bigger diamonds, smaller diamonds, no diamonds, etc. And in the end, it was the matching band that I liked most.

I was rather hesitant about getting an all-diamond band for fear of it being too much bling, but it was the only band that really complemented my engagement ring—which was important to me. I’m kind of irrationally sad to put another ring beside it. I love it so much on its own. But the matching band is stunning, particularly in combination with its sister ring.

I wasn’t totally convinced it was matching, however. But before we took a break from my shopping and switched to Pat, Fred asked for my engagement ring to put in the “magic soup.” When he took it out a half hour later, it was a whole new ring! How did I not notice it had gotten so dirty? The wedding band did indeed match my engagement ring—perfectly.

On to Pat—who would have thought he would have been the most difficult part of the appointment? Pat’s so easygoing and rather impressive when it comes to making shopping decisions efficiently and quickly.

Granted, Pat’s been very hesitant about the idea of wearing a ring. He doesn’t wear a watch and has me carry his wallet and phone in my purse. He doesn’t like anything on him. Thus, I can understand his tentativeness—in part.

But I was and will continue to be determined to make him reconsider. I love a man who wears a wedding band. It’s something I notice right away. I think it’s just a very special sign and recognition of a man’s commitment to a woman.

Pat’s become significantly more open to the idea, thankfully. But when Fred brought out nearly 20 options for him to try, Pat coasted through them—on, off, shake of the head “no.” In the end, there were only 3 that appealed to him: an ultra-strong yet ultra-lightweight titanium band, a rose gold band, and a hammered medal band.

My guess is Pat ends up with the titanium band, as it is very affordable, pretty nondescript, and so light he’ll barely ever notice it’s there. Or at least that’s my hope. The other bands may have appealed to me more, but I’ll take absolutely anything I can get! I’ll just be happy if he’s wearing one, no matter what it looks like.

Ultimately, we decided that Pat can make his final decision when we return to pick up my band, which I went ahead and ordered. Yay! Another check mark on the list, achieved through a rare, stress-free wedding appointment. Whoo!

How did you decide what wedding band would go best with your engagement ring? Did you groom have any hesitation when it came to his own?

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