Groom's Ring

Those of you who know me are probably aware of the fact that I have a fairly simple aesthetic. I don't wear bracelets, watches, necklaces, really any accessories. Those of you who knew me in high school will find this surprising, but such is the case these days. At the end of the day I generally just flop into my bed, and my headphones are always dangling and getting unplugged, seemingly all day long. I'm not good with danglies, I suppose. So getting a ring is a tricky proposition.

We went to about a half a dozen jewelry stores to look at men's rings, try on the different metals, and get a picture of pricing. Luckily the mall in which Shannon works contains more than six jewelry stores, so it was all on one trip. On that trip I picked titanium as my metal of choice for my ring.

I know there are some risks with that. Titanium is one of the hardest and strongest materials in the world. If something were to happen to my hand while wearing my ring, the ring itself could not be cut off. They'd have to remove my finger. So that's a little scary. But I don't do a lot of dangerous work with my hands, and I can take my ring off if I ever do. The other thing is that you can never have a titanium ring resized. You just have to get a new ring milled. That is also fine. The ring is an important symbol, and I'll obviously always keep any wedding rings I own forever, but transitioning from one ring to another as my fingers chunk up over my lifetime isn't that bad.

My choice of titanium had threefold reasons. First of all, it's extraordinarily light. You can hold a titanium ring in your hand and it feels like almost nothing at all. As a non-accessorizer this appeals to me. Second, the balance of light and dark in titanium is perfect to me. It's not too gloomy, but it also isn't blinding, and it works with both black and brown based outfits. And lastly I've had a patch of irritable skin on my ring finger since childhood. Ominous, I know! And I've never been able to pursue my dream of being a professional left hand model! But in all seriousness, titanium is non-reactive and gentle on skin.

So here were the options, ending with my final choice.





The one with the red enamel stripe really appealed to me, but felt like a casual ring, not a lasting symbol of eternal love. The option with the flush set diamond is lovely, but a bit pricey for the moment. It really came down to the last two, and while I enjoy the brushed texture and sterling silver inlay, I really like they bare symbol of a plain round ring. I can always upgrade to a diamond or sterling-boosted model down the road, but as my first ring I really enjoy the simplest option. Also, we're ordering from Etsy because it's nice to support independent artists. This is, of course, not the first time you've seen that site featured on this blog, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

And that's that! That's the ring! I'm going to have it on my finger forever!

BYE!