Choosing the Right Metal for your Wedding Rings
When choosing your wedding rings it’s important you select the right metal for your lifestyle. There are a lot of metals available and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Brides will generally match the metal of their engagement ring to the metal they choose for their wedding rings. This post will hopefully give you a helping hand when selecting the perfect metal for your wedding rings:Precious Metals
Platinum:
Platinum is the most prestigious and popular precious metal, it’s extremely hard-wearing and very rare. Most UK platinum is 95% pure and is low maintenance as it doesn’t require rhodium plating like white gold. Platinum is the ideal metal for your wedding ring, being extremely rare it can be an expensive; but it’s definitely worth it!
Palladium:
Palladium is from the same group of metals as platinum but isn’t as hardwearing and is lighter in weight. Most UK palladium is 95% pure and similar to platinum in as much as it doesn’t require rhodium plating. Palladium is a cheaper alternative to platinum, so ideal for brides and grooms on a budget.
White gold:
White gold is naturally a grey colour so is normally rhodium plated to achieve a silver finish; this rhodium plating does wear off over time. White gold is available in different carats, 9ct rings are 37.5% gold and are the most hard-wearing, 14ct rings are 58.5% gold and 18ct are 75% gold. The rest is made up of silver, cobalt or zinc.
Gold:
Gold is available in different carats and the colour of gold is affected by the carat; 9ct rings are hard-wearing and a lighter yellow as its 37.5% gold. 14ct rings are 58.5% gold, 18ct are 75% gold and 22ct is less hardwearing than 9ct as its 91.6% gold so therefore a deeper yellow colour. The rest is made up of silver, cobalt or zinc.
Rose gold:
Rose gold is back in fashion and is also available in different carats. 9ct rings are 37.5% gold and are pinker in comparison to 18ct which is 75% gold, the rest is mostly copper and a small percentage of silver.
Silver:
Silver is another precious metal but isn’t very hard-wearing and is therefore inexpensive. Silver is not a common metal to use as wedding rings due to these properties.
Non-precious metals:
Non-precious metals like titanium, zirconium and tungsten are becoming more popular, especially for grooms as they are all relatively hard-wearing. Zirconium has the option of black zirconium which is heat treated zirconium and therefore a unique idea for a wedding ring.
We hope that this has helped you understand all the different metal options that you have! There are definitely plenty to choose from!