A wedding ring is a symbol of lifelong commitment between spouses. The process of picking out a ring should be taken seriously because it is a daily reminder of your love and loyalty for each other.

“Learn before you buy, you’re not going to make a mistake,” said Gary Youngberg, of Ames Silversmithing. When dealing with custom rings, Youngberg said anything can be done.

Custom rings are becoming more popular for a couple reasons, Youngberg said. The first is you do not have to buy something off of the shelf that is not exclusive to you. You can go buy a diamond ring anywhere. The second reason is a custom ring does cost substantially more money than one off the shelf.

Youngberg said there is a wide range of ways to pick out rings but one common way is for the guy to buy a ring based on what his fiancee showed him on Pinterest. To design a custom ring, Youngberg said you can bring in a picture of a ring you like, then change X, Y and Z to make it the way you would like.

“Sometimes if men are unsure what she will like, they do what is called a solitaire,” said Lane Jahn, of Riddle’s Jewelry.

A solitaire is when the man will pick out a diamond and it is placed on a plain gold band. His fiancee can then come in to Riddles and design her own ring. They can often incorporate the gold band into the final ring.

Jahn said there are many different processes couples will go through to pick out the rings. The most popular is when the couples come into Riddles Jewelry together, and they look at everything they like. Then later, one comes back to get one of the rings they both liked. This way, she does not know exactly what she is going to get. 

Kyle Youngberg works with his dad, Gary Youngberg, at Ames Silversmithing. When asked if people ever use their ancestors’ old jewelry to incorporate into their wedding band, he said they support that idea and it is called remounting a family stone.

He also said if the woman has an engagement ring along with a wedding ring, they can sauter the rings together. It is healthier and more common to have the rings attached, because the two rings do not to rub together.

So what color of gold do you pick?

“White gold is on its way out,” said Michael Gilger, of Gilger Designs.

He said that although yellow gold has never completely left, it is trending again. Rose gold has also been growing in popularity.