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I am there with you! We are budgetting 1K total for both of our bands! You can still get something with sparkle for that much :)
I was shocked at the price of the wedding bands too!! I definitely lucked out that the FI picked a band that was only $85 (titanium, i think it was). Mine... wow. The setting for my E-ring was about $300 .. the wedding band which is the same size, thinner, same quality (14k white gold) was $100 more. I was... very shocked since i thought it would cost LESS than the ering setting since there was less metal to it.
My FH and I set a $1500 limit for me and a $700 limit for him...and came in a bit under at $1400 for me and $500 for him and we LOVE our rings!
I got 2 bands...1/2 carat TW each (so about 700 each) and LOVE the sparkle! I looked/tried on the 1 carat TW but they made my solitaire look smaller (lol) and I wanted it to be the center of attention, anyway :)
I got my plain white gold band for $130 from an etsy vendor. It is super thin, and exactly what I wanted.
The same thing happened to us... I had no idea just plain bands would be so expensive!
We ended up spending a little over 1k for ours. mine was around $350 (just plain, my ering is enough sparkle for me!) and his was around $700.
I agree... I'm leaning toward a plain white gold band and most people I talk to are dismayed that I'm not going for heavy bling on the wedding band. So I will probably end up buying a wedding band that costs less than some of my purses. I don't care, I think the plain metal bands will hold up the best over time and I kind of like the traditional classic look. I don't think the dollar cost of the ring is what makes it meaningful.
I'm planning on wearing my set for a long, long time. I felt terrible about my band costing so much, but at the time, my husband was like, "Um...I got you that ring so that you can get the matching band. I don't care how much it costs!" So, I wasn't going to argue. I love my set though and don't see myself replacing it in the future.
You could always do a less expensive band now and upgrade later to a nice anniversary band at 5, 10, 15 years...
My wedding band happened to be 40% off the day we got it which put it right under $1k. His band will end up being around $100 I think.
I spent $200 on my husband's tungsten wedding band, and he spent $700 on mine. Mine is 2 mm wide and has diamonds around half the band, to match my e-ring. I wouldn't have spent more than $1K on my band, and that would only have been if there were diamond around the whole thing, which I didn't want anyway.
You need to do what's right for you. FI and I had my engagement ring made with the idea that we would not be upgrading or trading in my ring down the line so we are in turn spending a little more money on my wedding band as well. But I know plenty of people who have upgraded their bands or traded them in later. My mother is on her 3rd set. So don't stress yourself and only spend what you feel comfortable spending and if years down the road you regret your decision, there are always upgrades to be made.
I couldn't believe the cost either! His comfort fit platinum band is going to be about $800
You may want to look at a gold & silver exchange type place (they sell diamonds, as well). The one my fiance and I went to was Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange. For men's bands, they had a lot more options (plus better prices) than other retail stores and I feel you can haggle a bit more.
I had budgeted for $1K but we found the ring he loved for $600...and they gave it to me for $400. They had to order his size, but it was delivered in 2 or 3 days. All in all, I was very happy with the entire process!
We got the rings with the idea that they are forever. I want to wear the same band that FI married me with for the rest of my life. But in case we do lose them, it's not an issue since they are fully insured.
We spent about $1200-$1400 total on ours at Blue Nile. Mine was Platinum with diamonds, his white gold. We found the prices there to be better than any jewelers.
My e-ring and band came as a set and we paid a little over $3500. FI's band was custom-made with gold and diamonds we already had. He said if we didn't have it it would have been about $1200 dollars. Luckily with the credit and a discount from the jeweler (FI's mom practically lives there) we got it for just above $600.
There is ONE band that goes SO WELL with my ring! It is seriously perfect and stunning with the ring, one issue though... it's a larger TDW than I'd prefer and it's also $1100. My FI knows how awesome it is though so I think I'll end up with that one... he "wants to do this right." ;-) I really wish it wasn't so expensive though...
I went to small, independent jeweler. My band (size 5, white gold) was under $200. FI's tungsten carbide band was closer to $450.
I got a plain 14k white gold band for $98. My engagement ring is plenty sparkly, and my band will be good to wear by itself when we're doing outdoorsy things that I'm scared to wear my e-ring for (camping, frisbee throwing, etc.).
His ring was $94, a really unique titanium one from an online jeweler.
We love them!
Sorry to be of an opposite opinion, but...won't you be wearing it for a very very long time, hopefully forever?
Consider this...how much did you spend on your food, dress, venue for just ONE day? Personally we are spending 5k on our venue, and it is a 6 hour even.
My wedding band...well I hope to wear it for 50 years.
I know that a lot of people consider going inexpensive for their wedding band, but you will have it much longer than that piece of steak from the rehearsal dinner.
Try looking for a deal. We just purchased our rings. Mine was 1,800 (same as my e-ring), but my FI got his free since the store was having a BOGO free sale.
Good luck and just do what is right for you!
My whole set came in over budget (stupid me for falling in love with a setting, then asking the price and not inquiring about the band too). But it's got sparkle (lots of it) so $2100 isn't horrible right? (and I got 22% off - yay!)
I do feel bad because I was looking at bands for FH and found some really nice ones that were a bit more spendy and he said "well, that's nice, but only one of us can have an expensive ring". He didn't mean it meanly, but I still felt a little bad.
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the input. Will keep you posted :)
@PinkSparkleGrl -- you're right - my mindset shouldn't be that we're expecting to upgrade or even misplace them. They should be bought with the intention of forever.
@GirlWithaRing -- you bring up a great point; I forgot that we will be insuring them so if they do get lost or something happens, they can be replaced.
All excellent points. We're just going to have to keep looking until we find the ones we really love. This was just our first outing, I'm sure there's going to be a few more!
@Nic1520 You can add your rings to your home/renters insurance too
I wanted my guy to have the more expensive, nicer ring (we are paying ourselves and on a strict budget) since I already have my beautiful e-ring. I don't feel the need to have a fancy wedding band since I have a shiny e-ring. But I wanted his ring to look super nice! His ring was $450 and mine was only $100 (plain white gold). We love them both!
Check out the zales outlet stores. That is where I got my band with lots of sparkle for only $500 and we got him a titanium band for only $100 at a local jeweler.
We'll be getting my FI's tungsten carbride band for about $100, and mine will be more expensive since it needs to be custom to fit around me e-ring.
I don't think you should feel bad about your reaction to the prices. I'll be honest, at first our plan was to get FI a platinum band, but when we saw the prices we changed our minds. And the band he chose looks amazing in white gold and according to the jeweler will scratch less.
Our budget was $1K for each ring and we were way under. His was $700 and mine was $800. That's including tax and everything. I think it helped that I actually didn't want an eternity diamond band, I chose a 7-stone .7 total carat ring and the jeweler matched the color of the stones to my ering diamond. FI's in platinum would have been more than double the $700 we paid for his in white gold.
But to your point again, we decided not to go 'all out' on the cost of our rings when I guess we could have, but we absolutely love the rings we chose and they're perfect for us. AND we feel really good about being under budget.
Well, to be really practical, gold prices are sky high right now. Three years ago and probably three years from now, wedding bands won't be so pricey. So that is something to consider.
But, I'll admit I went expensive. For both rings, it is just over $2000, with taxes (no small thing here). I had to get 18k yellow gold to match the engagement ring, and went with channel set diamonds. Honestly, I'm sort of planning on wearing it exclusively a lot. My engagement ring is...a bit much. FI kind of went overboard. So I am looking forward to leaving it in the jewelry box sometimes....
Especially if you want something simple, consider buying online. Usually it is way less expensive than buying at a store. Go and try on bands in person to see what you like and then do some price comparisons with online wedding band vendors.
I bought my husband's wedding ring online at iweddingband.com. I got him a 6mm platinum ring with a milgrain edge; I paid about $700 1.5 years ago, which is easily half what platinum cost at the time at a brick and mortar store. I just checked their site and a 6mm gold (yellow or white) band costs about $200-$300 right now, depending on what fit and embellishments you want. They had wonderful customer service and the best prices I could find. If you search for online wedding bands in Weddingbee too you will see recommendations from other bees about where to look. I also purchased my half-eternity wedding ring online from the Facets Collection and also really recommend them.
It's important to get something you love and will want to wear indefinitely, but you don't have to go broke in the process either!
etsy! We're getting ours custom made by QuiltedPony. FI's ring, custom design and all, will be $750 (white gold). Non-custom design would have been $400. Plain ones from our local jeweler would have been much less of course.
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We just got back from browsing wedding bands at the jewelry store he bought my e-ring from and I'm a little discouraged because I didn't think they'd be THAT expensive. I'm just looking for something plain, maybe a little bit of sparkle, but I definitely don't need it and I certainly don't want or expect my FI to drop another couple to few grand on my wedding ring. I know he doesn't want me to spend a ton on him either.
We didn't think they'd be as pricey as they were and we aren't looking to spend that much. Is that bad?!? I feel guilty admitting that me might be cheaping out on this aspect of the wedding. In reality, I know very few couples that have been married for 30+ years (like my FI and I hope to be some day), that actually have their original bands. In some cases (like my parents) they're on their 2nd or 3rd set of bands for whatever reasons, ie. getting lost, went down the drain, garden gnomes stole them, dust bunnies ran away with them....whatever!
Am I alone in thinking that there's little need to go and spend even more than a few hundred dollars on wedding rings knowing pretty well that despite all of our best efforts, we're very likely to end up having to get new ones down the road? The rings we end up with will be blessed and they will mean the same to us no matter what we end up spending but I feel so much pressure to spend big bucks on something I hate to admit, he may lose/misplace down the road. Am I being too pessimistic?! Watch, we'll spend little to nothing on our rings and end up having those suckers forever
!