You’ve tackled the most exciting parts — the yes, the proposal, the dress, and the new rock living on your ring finger. On top of all the Big Day-related boxes you need to check before you seal the deal, there’s one last detail both you and your partner can consider: the wedding band. Some forgo bands altogether; others are eager to keep adding to their ever-growing ring stack. Either way, there’s a lot that goes into the decision of finding the right style. It goes beyond complementing your main engagement ring; you need to consider metals, shapes, and if the two rings will even fit together. To get the pairing down pat, we tapped the experts at De Beers, Catbird, and Erica Weiner. They help us dream up the loveliest wedding jewelry pairings that’ll make you even more excited to put a ring on it.
“There are vaguely two general directions you can go in: airy with space in between, or something that curves together and feels a bit more like a set,” Catbird co-creative director Leigh Batnick Plessner told us in an email via a spokesperson. It’s almost like a puzzle: And, in this case, the centered stone of the engagement ring fits squarely into the crevice on this five-diamond stacking ring, with a curve made with pairing in mind.
“We also love the look of a straight band paired with an engagement ring and a slim space in between to swap out or add to your stack,” wrote Batnick Plessner. The simple, soft-textured band puts the emerald on display, but also allows for everyday mixing-and-matching with the rest of your finger party.
“Consider the style of your engagement ring — is it graphic or fluid? — the color of metal, and the shape of the center diamond,” the head designer of De Beers, Hollie Bonneville-Barden, conveyed via a representative. If the interlocking pavé bands, which come together in a brilliant solitaire diamond, weren’t eye-catching enough, the subtle sparkle of the black-to-white gradient on the arrow-etched band certainly enhances it.
“I believe that the wedding ring should not overshadow your diamond — however, by adding pavé rather than plain metal you can certainly enhance the brilliance of your diamond,” explained Bonneville-Barden. Catbird’s Fairy Light Eternity Band offers a ring of endless sparkle, playing off the white-gold, diamond-encrusted, crisscross-banded engagement ring.
An open ring presents itself as an unconventional — but absolutely stunning — option for a wedding band. The aperture in the front, dotted with two pavé diamonds on either side, allows for the champagne marquis solitaire to comfortably fit the room left open front and center.
“If you’re working with a solitaire from the 1930s, ’40s, or ’50s, this is your chance to choose a full- or half-eternity band,” explained Erica Weiner over email. “Not all engagement rings styles will work with an eternity band — if the setting of your ring is already busy with stones (which I hope it is!), an eternity band will confuse the eye. But if your engagement ring boasts a big, beautiful vintage stone and not much else, take advantage of that simplicity and find a more intricate wedding band to set it off.”
This particular contemporary ring is a nod to the 1960s, but boasts the same features — a subdued setting and singular diamond — that pair well with the eye-catching hexagonal band.
Sometimes, a pairing’s just meant to be — like you and your betrothed. This engagement ring and wedding band weren’t made as a set (they’re from two different brands), but the twig au naturel look that inspired both styles feel almost cut from the same cloth.
It’s a tale as old as time — an apprehension to mixing metals. But, like all no-longer-questioned conventions, it may be time to revisit. Especially when contrasting golds can make for quite the statement in wedding jewelry. The 1.15ct brilliant diamond on this engagement sparkler sits on a rose-gold setting. A channel-set baguette band of the same hue plays off the pinkish metal, while the different stone cuts on each style packs on the sparkle in two distinct but endlessly beautiful ways.
“Filigree settings are visually busy, so you can let them do their prima donna thing and select a wedding band that isn’t going to compete,” recommends Weiner. “These undulating settings weren’t always designed to stack perfectly with a wedding band, so this could be a good opportunity to get something custom-designed, or find half of a wedding set that’s waiting to wrap its curved shoulders around a mate.”
An angled pear-shaped diamond puts an offbeat twist on a classic — one that makes finding that perfect band mate a little more involved. This hook ring is meant for stacking. And the front opening allows for it to better accommodate an unconventionally shaped stone. If it doesn’t fit exactly with the pointed end at the bottom, try stacking the band above the engagement ring. The white diamonds lining both the mouth of the band and the main rock on the engagement ring play off of each other for optimized shine.
Forevermark Free Bird Solitaire Ring, available at Forevermark; Amy Gregg Diamond Hook Ring, $1175, available at Roseark.
In terms of stone-and-band pairings, Bonneville-Barden of De Beers relates that “for a radiant, princess, or emerald cut, the more clean and graphic silhouettes are complementary.” She continues: “If the design is more fluid or the center diamond is more curvaceous — such as a round, pear, or cushion — then softer silhouettes are more harmonious.” The pear-cut solitaire, then, falls into the latter camp, so we found its match in a delicate, tapered band lined with brilliant diamonds that minimizes towards the center to let the stone really pop.
“You should love the rings on their own rather than one completing the other,” says Batnick Plessner. “Like you and your partner, you can stand alone. Great on your own, great together!” This medieval-inspired inverted princess-cut diamond ring is subtle and unexpected. The stackable yellow-gold band is also a stunner in its own right. But, together, they’re a match made in heaven.
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