Help me upgrade my wedding bands!

[hypermom]

I think whether long term you upgrade your er with a CBI (I have and love!) or an OEC I think French cuts would be fabulous!
I also do like your current er! It’s very pretty and bold.

 

[Tonks]

You have such a gorgeous e-ring! I think elongated baguettes or elongated frenchies or small square frenchies will look amazing with your ring. These are all VC bands. His work is amazing (I have 4 rings from him myself).
I have an OEC with french cut sides from VC and a Paraiba ring with french cut sides from Leon Mege. I am a huge fan of frenchies but they do not ‘sparkle’. It more like a shimmer. Like liquid diamond. If you are after sparkle, you could better opt for round brilliants.

Of the above VC bands I love nr 1 (baguettes), 3, 4, 5 with your ring.

Thank you!

Holy cow those bands are all gorgeous. I am loving the alternating bezeled French cuts and the square French cuts and the elongated frenchies.

Good god how will I make a decision?!?

I was contemplating a pave band stacked with whatever other I end up choosing. Would you steer away from that completely?

 

[Tonks]

I think whether long term you upgrade your er with a CBI (I have and love!) or an OEC I think French cuts would be fabulous!
I also do like your current er! It’s very pretty and bold.

Thank you!

I have drooled over your CBI and your HPD bands! You have a gorgeous set. I’m glad to hear you say you think FCs would work with a CBI if I end up going that way eventually. I would hate to do something gorgeous now that looked not right later.

 

[hypermom]

Thank you!

I have drooled over your CBI and your HPD bands! You have a gorgeous set. I’m glad to hear you say you think FCs would work with a CBI if I end up going that way eventually. I would hate to do something gorgeous now that looked not right later.

My stacker rings are more vintage looking and I love them with my CBI! That’s why I’m thinking French cuts could go with the CBI too. Thank you for the kind compliment on my set. I’m so happy with it!
I know French cuts are expensive so if you go that route I wanted to make sure your future upgrade goes with them. If you go French cuts, I’ll be drooling over your ring for sure!

 

[OdetteOdile]

Thank you! Yes, it is very geometric and clean, which is what first drew me to it. I wasn’t thinking about that with respect to bands.

You know what we need? A PS trial ring library. I’m dead serious. CZ or moissy rings and bands we can check out and ship around for people to try and photograph before they commit to the real versions.

Best idea ever!! Totally love the idea of a PS trial ring library!

 

[Tonks]

Ok, so today I had a little field trip to Tiffany.

The only baguette band was way wider than I would wear, but I tried it to get a feel for the cut. They were gorgeous. Lots of big flashy white light.



Tried a princess cut band but the stones were TINY. It did not satisfy my desire for sparkle and I actually didn’t even get a photo of it.

Next up, round brilliants in the Tiffany embrace band. This one was 1.8 carats. I forgot to ask how many points each stone was. It was gorgeous. Lots of colored fire.



Finally, I stacked the embrace with my large eternity. And about fell over. Omg. Y’all. It was amazing. Holy light show. I could almost see doing a left hand full of stacked larger eternities and foregoing an ER.

Maybe.



My conclusions:

I need to go a few more places and try some more shapes with thinner bands (especially to give baguettes a fair shake). Everything will look different because of the height difference from my current bands (the stones sit up really high).

Step cuts are going to return more white light and big flashes and mrbs are going to give more colored light and fire. Both look amazing with my ER. Step cuts play off the traps and mrbs play off the radiant.

Naturally I’m wondering about mixing the two. And about where French cuts would sit in this equation.

 

[distracts]

Yay for taking so many pics at Tiffany!

I like horizontal/east-west baguettes more than the vertical ones like that band.

I LOVE the RB eternity... I have one around that size and wear it all the time. It looks so great in that stack of bands... but I'm sure you'd be happy with a french cut band in that stack too.

Naturally I’m wondering about mixing the two. And about where French cuts would sit in this equation.

This just calls for three different bands... sometimes the best solution is also the most expensive.

 

[tinatark]

I'm in the curved band loving minority, too!

Have you tried plain bands on either side? You want the diamonds of your ER to stand out - they get lost with so many of the bands you've posted.

 

[Tonks]

Ok, we are nearing decision time. Trying to narrow things down. I have been to a few different places and am surprised by how much I liked round brilliant bands (idk why, as my current curved bands are rounds). They really sparkle and seem super classic. Loved the Tiffany Embrace (but not the price tag). Cannot find French cut bands to try locally. Did find a baguette band and it is below for shape reference.

Options:
1. 3mm shared prong eternity (a la Tiffany Embrace)
2. Alternating square/rectangular bezeled French cut
3. Channel set elongated French cut
4. One of Victor’s engraved bands (probably to pair with another option. My husband specifically seems to be drawn to this one).

This is the Tiffany Embrace band, 3mm. They won’t tell you the size of the stones, which is so odd. I have a quote in hand from Victor for this with 9 pointers and I’m sure he would do an amazing job. Love the idea of hand forged for this. Here’s the Tiffany band for reference.


This was as close as I could get to the shape of the alternating French cut band I am considering from Victor. It would be thicker, but I’m not sure of the exact width, I think around 3mm.


E/W baguettes. As close as I could get to a channel set French cut.

Loved the look of this single prong round eternity but surely it would be too delicate for daily wear? Thinking that a shared prong eternity with two prongs per stone that is scalloped (prongs kind of pinched in) would get you the same look with more security.


If anyone can help vote on options I would be eternally grateful. This was as close as I could get to the bands in question so I hope it helps!

 

[JPie]

My vote is for the last one - the shared prong round!

 

[OdetteOdile]

My vote is for the E/W baguettes or french cuts. It is just so sleek and I think your engagement ring is super sleek. That said, things look different in person, and if a round brilliant was calling your name, you should trust your instincts.

 

[distracts]

I like the alternating band best and the channel set.

re: single prong: my eternity band is the Blue Nile single prong ~2cttw and I wear it more than any other ring I own and beat it to heck and haven't had a problem, but I've only had it a year. Bought it preowned though.

 

[hypermom]

I like the Tiffany embrace and the baguette band. I’ve never shopped at Tiffany where they could ever tell you the size of the stones. Usually just total carat weight and color range. So annoying!

 

[Tonks]

My vote is for the last one - the shared prong round!

You mean the one with just one prong between stones? It’s so pretty but it makes me nervous about durability. I would be wearing this band as a wedding band, so every day. What do you think of the Tiffany Embrace style band? It’s a shared prong but with two prongs holding each stone in.

I have discovered that with round eternities I really like them to show the shape of the round stones. Some of them have prongs oriented so that the whole band just looks straight and I’m a bigger fan when it appears scalloped. So that you can see the shape of the individual stones. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Tonks]

My vote is for the E/W baguettes or french cuts. It is just so sleek and I think your engagement ring is super sleek. That said, things look different in person, and if a round brilliant was calling your name, you should trust your instincts.

Thank you!

I really liked the round band I tried on. The baguette one was ok but definitely not one I would have purchased—I wasn’t crazy particular setting.

I’m usually good at trusting my instincts, but it is hard in this instance when I can’t try on all the options.

The good news is that I’m getting the feeling there’s no bad decision here.

 

[Tonks]

I like the alternating band best and the channel set.

re: single prong: my eternity band is the Blue Nile single prong ~2cttw and I wear it more than any other ring I own and beat it to heck and haven't had a problem, but I've only had it a year. Bought it preowned though.

Super helpful to know re: your single prong band!

The alternating bezels and the channel set are definitely appealing from an ease of wear perspective. I don’t think I’d have to worry much about either.

 

[Tonks]

I like the Tiffany embrace and the baguette band. I’ve never shopped at Tiffany where they could ever tell you the size of the stones. Usually just total carat weight and color range. So annoying!

The salesperson at Tiffany couldn’t even tell me the color of the stones. All she would say is that they were colorless. I thought that was truly odd.

Thank you for the opinion!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I like the E-W baguette ring with your ering but if you are looking for sparkle, I think you would be underwhelmed. I like the Tiffany Embrace band with it is wider than your ering and I'm not sure it would be comfortable. You have a lot of great options though - guess it just depends on which one grabs you the most!

 

[Tonks]

I like the E-W baguette ring with your ering but if you are looking for sparkle, I think you would be underwhelmed. I like the Tiffany Embrace band with it is wider than your ering and I'm not sure it would be comfortable. You have a lot of great options though - guess it just depends on which one grabs you the most!

Just got out my calipers. My ER band is 2.75-2.8 at the widest part (at the shoulders), but tapers to 2.5 at the bottom. My current bands are each 2.5 mm. I am hoping to have two bands to stack here and would think staying with the width of my current stack is probably advisable.

I thought the 3mm was ok in person, but this gives me pause. I wasn’t stacking it with another band. If I go with a round band, should I have it made as a 2.5 mm? Or 2 mm? Can half a mm possibly matter?

It also just occurred to me to wonder if a round shared prong will be an issue for stacking. I need to ask Victor if the girdles of the stones are exposed.

Can I just add how glad I am that we have this place where we can dither over half millimeters with like-minded people?

 

[motownmama]

Embrace gets my vote

 

[Rubybrick]

E/W baguettes. As close as I could get to a channel set French cut.

Loved the look of this single prong round eternity but surely it would be too delicate for daily wear? Thinking that a shared prong eternity with two prongs per stone that is scalloped (prongs kind of pinched in) would get you the same look with more security.


If anyone can help vote on options I would be eternally grateful. This was as close as I could get to the bands in question so I hope it helps!

Lovely E ring! Base purely on aesthetics, the all baguette or all rounds band works best. But since you have a preference for the more sparkles of the rounds, I would go with the rounds.