You’ve celebrated your romantic engagement. Now as the happy couple you begin planning for the wedding. As the plan unfolds you might wonder if expensive wedding rings are worth it and how they might fit into your wedding budget.
Expensive wedding rings are worth it if the couple decides that they want them to be. Budgeting, communication, and expectations for rings must be considered when purchasing rings that symbolize love, fit the aesthetic, and are durable. Generally, 3% of a wedding budget is spent on rings.
Read on to learn more about the cost of rings and how to decide if expensive ones are worth it. You’ll also learn tips about finding affordable rings that can be worn for decades.
Deciding if an Expensive Wedding Ring Is Worth It
Making a decision on purchasing wedding bands should be approached the same way as you would with all costs for your upcoming wedding. The most important thing to do first is to communicate with your future spouse.
A wedding may be the most expensive event you’ve had to plan, and making intelligent and intentional financial decisions will give your future together a strong start. You certainly don’t want to go into debt over a set of rings, however, purchasing wedding rings is an important emotional and financial investment in your relationship.
During communication with each other, you should consider the following.
Discuss Expectations As a Couple
Consider what you each want to wear for the rest of your lives. These wedding rings are something that you’ll use to display your love and commitment to each other. They should reflect your individual personalities and you should both feel proud to wear them.
Some women like wedding bands to coordinate with their engagement rings, which may be fused to the engagement rings or may be thinner complementary styles made of the same metal. Men often like rings to take on a masculine look, and they’re usually much thicker in width than women’s rings.
Many people need to consider their occupation when choosing their ring. There may be safety implications if they are caught on any machinery, or the ring may need to be removed frequently to protect clothing or gloves. If this is the case you may need to choose rings that are sized more generously, or made from different materials than traditional metal rings.
Decide if you prefer vintage or modern styles of rings. Sometimes the two rings will match and complement each other.
If you decide you both want to engrave the rings with your wedding date, the width and style, including any additional gemstones, may also come into play here.
Shopping Around For the Best Price
Consider the following questions:
- Where do you want to get your rings from?
- Are you looking for a particular brand or hoping to support a local business?
Shopping in person allows you to try on many options to see if you like how it looks on your finger or paired with the engagement ring. You may enjoy the process of shopping for the rings together.
Shopping in-store also allows you to have your finger measurement taken by a professional. You can then use this measurement if you shop online.
Online shopping may be an option, especially if you can get free shipping and returns if the rings don’t fit or don’t like how they look. Often, you can find an online customer service representative or salesperson to help you choose the right wedding rings for you.
Consider If You Can Afford Them
Make a budget and stick to it.
Look at your income and how much you earn, the basic expenses per month, and how much is set aside for savings. Talk about your spending personalities, and be honest about your financial situations, taking into account any college or personal loans or credit card debt.
Investopedia describes our “Money Personality Type” as generally falling into one or more of these five categories:
- Big spenders: These people like new gadgets and brand names and aren’t typically bargain shoppers. Big spenders don’t generally worry about debt, take more significant investment risks, and comfortably spend money.
- Savers: Savers are the opposite of big spenders, turning off lights when not in the room, shopping only when necessary, and only shops for bargains and deals. These types of people may not have any debt, don’t invest with high risk, and may be seen as cheapskates.
- Shoppers: Shoppers have an emotional connection to shopping and buying things they may not need. They shop even if they think it isn’t financially reasonable to do so, and love bargains to get more stuff. Shoppers may make some investments or a plan to get to it eventually, meaning it’s often not a high priority for them to do so.
- Debtors: These people just don’t spend much time thinking about money and, as a result, don’t keep track of what and where it’s spent. They may be more deeply in debt than other types of spenders. Often, debtors aren’t investing, and they just spend whenever they want to.
- Investors: Investors are very aware of their money, trying to put the money to work by investing for greater returns. They may have passive incomes and make more careful decisions in risk-taking that meet their overall goals.
These money personality traits aren’t necessarily one-size-fits-all, and people may have characteristics that come from several of these, but it can be really useful to consider what applies to you and your partner’s situations.
Sometimes the characteristics appear in specific situations or as the result of a change in income or finances. However, understanding each other’s money spending tendencies will help you communicate and support each other through one of the more expensive experiences in your lives together.
Generally, couples spend about 3% of their wedding budget on wedding rings, whereas engagement rings make up about 14%. For example, if your wedding costs $20,000, this would be $600 for wedding rings and about $2,800 for an engagement ring.
If you want to spend more than 3%, find areas in your budget that you can spend less on to make up the difference.
We show you how to make these changes easily in our article “5 Simple Steps To Decide Your Wedding Budget – Debt Free!”. You can also find there our Free Wedding Budget Calculator spreadsheet to help you calculate your budget splits automatically.
Consider setting up and using budget apps on your phones, such as Monarch or You Need a Budget (YNAB), so that you and your future spouse can set yourselves up for future success and hold each other accountable for spending.
Monarch helps track your banking and other financial accounts for spending optimization to achieve goals. YNAB allows users to gain control over money, get out of debt, and save up.
Create a balance between your budget, expectations, and shopping preferences so that you both are satisfied with your wedding rings. This conversation is important since it’s likely to drive your future spending habits as a married couple.
Tips for Purchasing Wedding Bands
Booking the wedding venue, choosing the dress and suits to wear, making seating charts, choosing flowers, and so on may take precedence in wedding plans, but your wedding rings shouldn’t be a last-minute task – they will be your daily reminder of your wedding into the future!
It’s important to purchase wedding bands with the expectations mentioned above, budget, and shopping experiences in mind. Overall, it’s possible to spend less money on wedding bands by implementing some of the following tips.
Give Yourself Time To Shop
Some people may wait until a month before the big day to get wedding rings, but this creates undue stress. Generally, it’s best to start shopping at least three to four months before the wedding for rings. You should complete the purchase of the rings you want at least six to eight weeks before the wedding to ensure they’re engraved and sized on time for the big day.
Shop For Wedding Bands When Sales Are More Likely To Occur
Towards the holidays and end of the year many companies offer more deals to boost their overall earnings so this can be a good time to buy. If you wait until the wedding season, generally May through October, rings are likely to cost more as the demand for them increases and sales are less common.
Shop Around At Different Businesses
Look for and try on rings in-person in large and small businesses, and browse online. Take notes on average costs. If you find bands you really like regarding style, see if you can find the same style in different places and compare the costs.
Ask the jewelers how long it will take to receive your purchased rings, including engraving and resizing time. You could also look online ahead of time to find ideas of what you both might like before shopping.
Choose Durable Wedding Bands
These rings will likely be worn every day, and you want them to last decades, so you don’t want cheaply made rings. So, make sure you see a low price that isn’t due to a more inexpensive and less durable material. You can find durable rings at an affordable cost.
14 karat gold is a popular option for women and it is the least expensive and most durable.
18 karat gold is a bit more costly with more gold in the composition and more prone to scratch but holds up in durability.
Platinum is the most expensive, requiring more maintenance, but the most durable option.
Titanium and tungsten carbide are popular ring options for men who choose not to have a matching or complementary band. Tungsten carbide is very durable and resistant to scratches. Titanium is also durable but can scratch more easily than platinum or gold. Often these two options are overall cheaper than gold.
Regardless of the ring material chosen, it should be cleaned and polished on a regular basis.
For info on caring for gold rings, Bevilles has a great information page here.
For platinum rings, visit The Platinum Ring company for more info on how to care and clean them.
Consider Cheaper Wedding Bands That Are Temporary
If your current wedding budget doesn’t stretch to cover the rings you really want you can always buy cheaper ones now, and budget for more expensive ones as an anniversary gift. However, keep in mind that it’s likely that life experiences such as homeownership and children will demand future finances, and more durable rings may be lower on your priority list when these other responsibilities arise.
Purchase Insurance Or a Protection Plan For Your Rings
Insurance may be something you wish to consider, especially if you wouldn’t be able to recoup the cost of a lost, damaged, or stolen wedding band or engagement ring. These could be covered under a homeowner or rental insurance plan or purchased as a separate option from the jeweler.
This is something worth discussing with your partner to see if it’s worth the additional cost. You’ll need to get your rings appraised and reappraised over time to ensure they’re insured or covered properly.
As with any insurance policy or protection plan, make sure you read and understand the fine details.
Average Cost of Rings
Engagement rings are usually much more costly than wedding rings. On average, an engagement ring can cost $6,000, whereas a wedding band for women can be anywhere from $200 up to $1,100 and for a man up to $500.
The following factors can affect the cost of a wedding band:
- Material: Many women opt for a gold metal, such as white, yellow, or rose gold, which is more costly than a tungsten carbide metal, a popular option for men. Prices can fluctuate on metals depending on the current market trends as well.
- Location: Some parts of the world have higher overall pricing and manufacturing costs.
- Company vs. local business: A larger company may have more variety and options and financing than a local jeweler. However, a larger company could be more expensive since they have more staff and higher advertising costs. Local jewelers may also offer financing or lower prices due to a lower overhead cost to run their business.
- Style: In addition to the material used to craft the ring, the thickness and ornateness of a ring can increase the cost. Engraving the rings and the bigger the size needed for the finger also adds additional cost.
Final Thoughts
How much you decide to spend is a personal decision you should make with your fiancé. With all the tips and suggestions above, you can make good decisions and purchase wedding rings that fit comfortably within your overall wedding budget.
For more information on how to set your wedding budget, click here to read our article “5 Simple Steps To Decide Your Wedding Budget – Debt Free!”
