Weddings are perhaps the most important events in society. Every culture in human history has established rituals to honor this union. In addition, weddings not only unite a man and a woman, but their families too; and in the past, even entire kingdoms.
A lot of these rituals related to weddings have survived to our days. Some are still as powerful as they were centuries ago and some have evolved in order to adapt to modern times. Among these, the use of jewelry is of special significance.
First of all, there’s the engagement ring, which the bride receives when the groom proposes to her. This can be one of the most exiting moments in the life of a woman.
Although not as thrilling as the engagement ring, wedding bands are also a very important part of the wedding ceremony and married life. Wedding bands are exchanges right after the bride and groom declare their vows, and they wear them for the rest of their lives. Or until they divorce, of course.
Wedding bands have a very powerful meaning, both to the spouses as well to society. They represent the love that unites the spouses and the unconditional support that they promised to each other. On the other hand, wedding bands are the system that society uses to identify married people and tell them apart from single people, a piece of information that is becoming increasingly important in an era where divorces are very common.
Because wedding bands are so important and people wear them for years or decades, jewelers have developed and amazing range of them. You can get wedding bands in several materials, not only silver and gold, like in the past. For example, tungsten wedding bands are increasingly popular among men because they are much more resistant to rough treatment and look darker and, in some people’s opinion, manlier. For the purists and traditionalists, gold and silver wedding bands come in hundreds of sizes and designs, with different karat values, that adapt to several budgets.
Speaking of which, the person that buys the wedding bands depends heavily on the country and traditions of the families involved. The most modern couples prefer to buy them together, which spoils the surprise but assures them that they’re getting exactly what they want. This also allows them to get matching bands, if they so desire, although it’s not very common and it depends a lot of their individual tastes. Other times, each spouse gets the wedding band for the other one. And finally, there are some countries where a third person gets the wedding bands for the couple.