Our Affiliate Policy

All contents © 1998 - 2006 Mrs. Gottrocks Fine Jewelry and Gifts. Please honor our copyright.

WEDDING AND ENGAGEMENT RING ALTERNATIVES

Occasionally Mrs. Gottrocks receives requests for information about engagement or wedding ring alternatives from people who cannot, or prefer not to, wear rings. Whether the reason is a handicap of some sort or a desire not to draw attention to the hands, there are alternatives available.

Coming up with just the right idea can be difficult, especially if you are buying the item for another person. You should choose something the person will want to wear frequently, so be sure to take lifestyle and personal jewelry tastes into account when designing alternative bridal jewelry. And be sure to remember that your wedding ceremony will need a little creative thinking if you plan to exchange alternative bridal jewelry during the ceremony.

ENGAGEMENT EARRINGS: For a bride, our personal favorite for alternative bridal jewelry is diamond stud engagement earrings. While her friends are sporting their diamonds on their fingers, our alternative bride can wear her diamonds in her ears, where they will be just as admired and noticed.

Earring jackets, which fit around pierced earrings to dress them up, can be bought, or made from small wedding bands if she desires a wedding band as well. The bride could also wear her wedding band on a simple chain around her neck, or forgo the band altogether in favor of larger diamonds. Later on in the marriage, when her friends are getting anniversary bands and new rings to replace the old ones, our alternative bride's spouse has many choices in anniversary jewelry as well, adding diamond earring jackets, a diamond solitaire pendant, a diamond pin, or a diamond bracelet to her diamond jewelry ensemble.

EARRINGS AND SECURITY: We know that some women are nervous about wearing diamond studs, especially wearing them to bed. Many a woman has woken up, only to launch a search through bedcovers and floor for a lost earring or earring back.

Screw-on backs are secure enough for some women, but for others, there is a post and back set available which is actually a flat disc that locks onto the post, and cannot be removed without pressure on the sides from two directions (two fingers squeezing).

These secure posts are not for the faint hearted or quick change artist, however. Getting them on and off can be a real pain, especially if you have arthritis or long fingernails. But if you want the best security available, these are for you.

These post and disc assemblies can replace existing posts and backs on many styles of earrings, and a woman who wishes to wear her earrings 24/7 would be wise to have them fitted on her earrings. Ask your jeweler for "La Pousette" earring findings, or you can order the parts from Mrs. Gottrocks (email us).

They cost about $42 per set. You'll have to pay a local jeweler a small fee for soldering them to your earrings. If your earrings have stones other than diamonds, or are not made of 14K or 18K yellow or white gold, or platinum, check with a jeweler to see if the posts can be replaced easily and what it will cost. All in all, these backs are a worthwhile investment if you wear the same earrings for long periods of time, considering the hundreds or thousands you have to lose if an earring goes missing.

BRIDAL PENDANTS: Bridal pendants are as diverse as the imagination - here are a few ideas from Mrs. Gottrocks. One ideal is to use wedding rings, but not in the traditional way. For instance, sometimes the bride and groom want the tradition of choosing wedding and engagement rings, but don't think this is feasible because one or both cannot wear them. Not so!

After choosing them, why not make them into pendants, by simply soldering the rings together creatively? A flat piece of gold can be used as backing, with the rings laid on top so they overlap and the diamond ring stands up a bit to show off the stone (choose a mounting which is flattering to the partial side view of the stone). Flat gold sheet comes pre-formed in many different shapes, and can also be cut to your specifications.

There are many variations on this, with or without use of a gemstone, such as:

• Soldering a circle of tiny wedding rings around a centered diamond
• Soldering tiny wedding rings into a "V" shaped pendant, with a stone at the center and dedicated chain on either side (great for adding diamonds as the years go by)
• Soldering the engagement and wedding rings on either side of a cross or other religious pendantSoldering rings between two gold letters - one for each first name.

OTHER PENDANT ALTERNATIVES: But you don't have to go with the tradition of rings, there are many ways you and your loved one can make your bridal and engagement jewelry special. The simplest is the diamond solitaire necklace. A single diamond, set in one of many available styles, can be just as spectacular and appealing as a diamond engagement ring. No matter what style pendant you choose, you should pick a durable chain style, and make sure the clasp is very secure and is checked for defects on a regular basis. Other ideas include:

• Centering an engagement diamond on a flat gold pendant and placing the couple's names on either side using raised gold letters, cut-out lettering or elegant engraving
  
• Buying gold letters, which come in many different font styles, and having them soldered together into a pendant
• Using gold charms, which come in many themes and sizes, to bring some unique personality to the pendant - for instance, a dolphin lover could center the engagement diamond between two leaping dolphins, or a florist might want the diamond in the center of a beautiful gold flower arrangement.

BRACELETS AS BRIDAL JEWELRY: Wedding jewelry can be a bracelet, from a simple ID-style to an elegant diamond-studded bangle or tennis bracelet. Custom jewelers can build a bangle or cuff just for you, with many of the same theme and design features already discussed above. There are also bracelets out there which are designed to have diamonds added one at a time, so you can place your engagement diamond in a central spot on the bracelet, and add diamonds to it on anniversaries and birthdays as the years go by.

BRACELET WEAR: Bracelets do wear out in time, especially if you wear them practically every day. They wear at the links and hinges, so when choosing a bracelet be sure to keep this in mind and pick a style and quality which will wear well through the years and is easily repaired. Hollow link bracelets or delicate filigrees are beautiful and can save you money if you want a big look at a low price, but you need to be careful with them as they can damage more readily than bracelets made of solid gold links.

Ask your jeweler to review the bracelet you are considering, and to show you where and how the bracelet might need future repairs. Compare repair costs of one style versus another. Links and hinges can be repaired indefinitely, but some styles are going to cost you more to repair than others.

Also, you may face a time when the cost of keeping up the repairs makes it more sensible to replace the bracelet - so be prepared for that, especially if you are overly sentimental. But when your bracelet wears out, be sure to see if your jeweler can melt it down and make you a nice gold nugget to wear as a pendant - or will trade the gold value of the old mounting in towards your new one.

PENDANTS, BRACELETS AND THE WEDDING CEREMONY: One advantage in using a pendant or a bracelet, is that a couple can exchange them during the ceremony. If you choose pendants, you will either want to be sure that the chain for the ceremony will go over the head easily, or can be secured quickly and easily from the back, perhaps with the help of the maid of honor and best man. You can have huge, easily operated clasps put on your chain temporarily for the ceremony, and then replace them later with normal-sized clasps.

And the same is true for bracelets - be sure you can get them on easily, or arrange for the attendants to help you, and practice this during the rehearsal.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES TO WEDDING RINGS: There are other alternatives available - virtually any jewelry can be bridal jewelry, and there is no right or wrong, only what the couple is comfortable with. For instance, stick pins and closed back pins can be designed in any shape or style you would like, and for the daring, body piercing jewelry can be used. We've even heard of a couple using toe rings! The only limitation is your imagination, so be playful and don't be afraid of being too "out there" - you're the ones who are going to be wearing the jewelry, so choose what is right for you.

ALTERNATIVE WEDDING JEWELRY FOR MEN: There is a vendor on the marketplace today who is selling "engagement watches" for men - or basically a watch with a diamond or diamonds on it.

There are are also companies which will make a watch face specifically for you, and although this might be an expensive route compared to buying a wedding ring, a groom may delight in having his watch decorated with a wedding symbol, or the date and time of his wedding. Some men will wear an earring, so a wedding earring might be appropriate for them, perhaps the same size and style as the bride's.

Some men will wear pendants and bracelets as well. Other men may prefer a custom engraved money clip, or a diamond tie tack. But our favorite design is to take a nice, hefty gold chain and cut it in the middle, and solder a man's comfort-fit wedding band to it so the band lays flat against his chest and the chain supports it on either side. It is something a man can wear all the time, and a diamond can be added if the groom wants some flash.

To make it more masculine, don't center the diamond in the band - place it in an upper quarter on the inside edge of the band. Of course, you can always just take a wedding band and wear it on a chain by running the chain through the ring before putting it on - but the ring tends to stand up and flip around and can be bothersome to some men. Whatever you choose, make it durable and comfortable, and you might wish to choose 10K gold, as it is more durable that 14K gold.

ALTERNATIVE BRIDAL JEWELRY AND INSURANCE: While Mrs. Gottrocks recommends buying insurance for all your bridal jewelry, no matter what the style, we especially recommend you insuring these alternative jewelry styles. Because your bridal jewelry is not secure on your finger, you may be more likely to lose it due to chain failure, loss or theft. So be sure to protect your investment and have your jewelry insured.

We hope these suggestions help inspire you as you search for alternative bridal jewelry, and if we can be of any help, please feel free to email us.