From a traditional standpoint, significant others have exchanged rings going back many millennia during the marriage ceremony. In today’s modern world, many people are beginning to wonder what is the difference between engagement and wedding rings. Even more telling is they aren’t sure of the answer to the question, “are wedding rings and engagement rings the same?”
If you aren’t particularly tuned in to all things revolving around weddings and engagements, you may not know the answers to certain basic questions. I’d like to help dispel these myths for you today, so you better understand the difference between wedding band and ring and other important topics.
Are you ready to learn the truth? Keep reading to find out more.
What Is the Difference between Engagement and Marriage?
First things first. We definitely need to answer this question before we began, because the rest will make a great deal of sense once we know the difference between the two.
As you can likely imagine, an engagement – or being engaged – means you purchase an engagement ring and ask your significant other for their hand in marriage. You ask them to become your husband or wife. And if you are officially engaged, it means that this individual accepted your proposal and has made a full commitment to marry you at some point in the future.
As a couple, you will choose the time and place. You may be madly in love and decide to get married right away in more of a shotgun style wedding. Or you may have other hopes, dreams, and goals that you intend to achieve before getting married and decide to put the wedding off for many months or even years into the future.
A marriage, on the other hand, is exactly what you think it is. The happy couple make a commitment to live together and combine their lives together as a family. In most cases, but not always, you will combine your finances, one partner will take the other’s last name, and you will make this commitment in front of a minister, priest, or judge and this solidifies the vow and makes it a legally binding contract.
What’s the Difference between Engagement Ring and Wedding Band?
Speaking strictly from an engagement perspective, the overall reason to have an engagement ring is it signifies that you have proposed marriage to your better half and your significant other has decided to accept your invitation to wed, so the couple is now engaged to marry one another.
For the most part, an engagement ring is going to have a larger stone in the center of the band that typically dominates the entirety of the ring. But things are different in modern times and other choices do exist.
You now have more options than ever. You can choose cluster rings with multiple diamonds or three stone rings that are smaller but look much bigger when they are together in a group. They even sell bands that typically mimic wedding ring styles more often than not.
And let’s not forget about choosing the best option for the wedding itself, because there is a difference between wedding band and wedding ring that you’ll need to know. Ultimately, the purpose of this ring is to signify that the couple is now married and living together in a happy union as a family.
Do You Buy an Engagement Ring and Wedding Ring?
This is the age-old question that many people – men and women included – wonder the answer to because they aren’t 100% sure of the final outcome.
From a traditional standpoint, the bride will typically wear her wedding ring and engagement ring together as a set, so it’s often wise to purchase both of these rings at the same time. Or at least have a matching pair in mind and ready if you think she is going to accept your wedding proposal.
In some instances, the bride will have her wedding band and engagement ring soldered together so it becomes a single piece of jewelry that signifies your happy union. This is a wise choice because many joyful brides do not want to wear too many pieces of jewelry, so combining the two rings into one beautiful and attractive piece makes tremendous sense if you think about it.
Now that you know the difference between engagement and marriage ring options, you also should know that as long as your better half accepts your proposal, you will eventually need to buy a wedding ring or wedding band on top of the engagement ring.
More often than not, you will shop for these two rings together, even if you do not purchase the wedding ring until a later point in the future. Ultimately, you want an engagement ring that perfectly matches or combines with a wedding ring or band, and the best way to do this is to choose a matching pair that was already predetermined by a trustworthy jeweler or online jewelry and wedding and engagement ring focused website.
What Do Wedding Rings Look like?
Ultimately, this ring or band is going to look like the particular design that you chose. Some people prefer a simple wedding band that’s basically round and circular in shape. Other people like wedding bands consisting of two bands that intertwine with one another to make one thicker and more attractive ring. These bands can even have diamonds and other gemstones on them to enhance the overall aesthetic appeal.
And if you’re looking for something fancier, you may want to forgo choosing a wedding band altogether and instead to choose a wedding ring. Some of the designs that you’ll see on the Internet are absolutely gorgeous. They consist of a large round cut diamond in the center with smaller round cut diamonds going around the ring setting. All these diamonds truly make the ring sparkle and stand out and look brilliant. Which is exactly what you want when choosing an aesthetically pleasing wedding ring for the beautiful person that you intend to marry in the near future.
