You’ve found ‘the one’ and you’re ready.

Your engagement ring symbolizes one of the most memorable highlights of your life. The tradition of exchanging wedding bands is meant to illustrate lifelong love. Concentrating only on the diamond when searching for an engagement ring is like building a home without a solid foundation. Even though the diamond is the focal point of a wedding ring, the band is the base that holds the ring together and is just as essential. What style of metal fits your future fiancé? Classic metals like gold, platinum, or silver? Or will it be something more contemporary and unique like tungsten and titanium? Maybe even something ultra creative like hardwood? Each metal has advantages for affordability, looks, and durability so to help you choose the perfect engagement ring, take a look and explore your options.

Yellow Gold

Gold in its purest form is a soft, malleable metal. This is why gold rings are traditionally mixed with other metals like copper or zinc. Because of its natural warming color and shine, gold has been the standard when it comes to wedding bands. Yellow gold also looks nice on all skin tones. It is a versatile metal and will go with any other jewelry your fiancé currently wears on a regular basis. Gold engagement rings are a classic choice.

White Gold

White gold is pure gold combined with other alloys like silver or nickel. With similar coloring as platinum, white gold is more affordable and has become more popular in recent times. If you are looking for an affordable engagement ring, white gold is a timeless metal and a safe choice for your fiancé to be.

Rose Gold

Due to its warm, reddish hue, rose gold jewelry has a unique and romantic feel. Rose gold has been increasingly popular in the last few years. One of the variations of gold, rose gold offers a classical style with a unique twist. Just like white gold, rose gold is surprisingly affordable and compliments all skin tones. If you’re future fiancé is more fashion forward and trendy, rose gold is an excellent choice.

Platinum

This metal type has been one of the most commonly used metal for wedding and engagement rings. Platinum is more dense so more of it is required to make a wedding band. This means almost all wedding rings that are platinum will contain 95% pure platinum, making this material more expensive. Platinum will always stay white and is very durable so if you have the budget, go for the platinum ring.

Silver

Sterling silver is another very affordable precious metal. Its coloring ranges from grayish white to a full bright white and can have either a shiny finish or matte finish. There are many choices for silver, which makes this metal very versatile in style. Just a reminder, silver tends to tarnish so when you store your engagement ring, place it in a cool, dry place to keep its shine.

Titanium

A naturally gray and silver material, titanium has the malleability to be altered into serval colors, such as black, to give it a more unique take. Titanium is a very resilient metal. It is resistant to cracking, bending, and has strong scratch resistance. Because of its strength, titanium allows more delicate stone setting than your traditional, softer jewelry precious metals like gold.

Tungsten

Similar color to titanium, tungsten has a silver and gray sheen. It is a metal-ceramic that has a high hardness rating.  But it is brittle – if tungsten is hit hard enough, it will shatter. Tungsten is very scratch resistant and is heavier than most metals because of its density. One of the best advantages to tungsten is that it can be permanently polished. Your tungsten band will look just as new as the first day you wear it and will never need to be re-polished for as long as you have the ring.

Wood

A natural, earth grown material, wood is a trending alternative to the traditional metals. Wooden wedding rings are perfect for the eco-friendly couple. Wooden engagement rings are also inexpensive and intricate designs can be easily crafted with high quality if you are looking for low-budget wedding rings. Hardwoods like ash, hickory, oak, cherry, and maple are the best woods to use for wooden wedding bands. Special care instructions will depend on the type of wood you are using. Be sure to have a new finish applied as needed to protect the wood.

Silicon

Silicon wedding bands are a growing trend because of the convenience factor. If you or your future fiancé have day-to-day activities where you both are working a lot with your hands, silicon wedding rings provide an easy way to keep your wedding ring on your finger without having to worry about ruining your traditional wedding band.