Need help with wedding band design

[LydiaLY]

Hi guys! I've been checking out this website for a quite a while now and have learned so much from all your posts! I'm really hoping this community can offer me some advice regarding the style of wedding band that would best suit my e-ring.

Background : I inherited my mother's wedding set and wore it at my own wedding (2007). Last year I noticed my center stone was loose and brought it in to have it looked at. Turns out most of the prongs were weak and quite worn and I was one good knock away from losing my center stone. I had two options, rebuilding it exactly as it was or redesigning it. I opted for a redesign by reusing all the stones and purchasing some more. Well, I finally picked up my custom e-ring a couple weeks ago and now I'm trying to figure out the design for my wedding band.

Here are pictures of my e-ring. I'm sorry the quality of the pictures, they really don't do the ring justice!




It's a graduated 5 stone, 1ct center, approximate total ct weight is 2.25, size 8.5, 14k white gold. I love it! The only thing that needs revising are the prongs. They're a bit too pronounced for my liking.


My ideal wedding band is a trellis set (to closely match my e-ring) graduated eternity (or 3/4) ring. I'm hoping for a minimum of 5-7 0.25ct (preferably graduated) on top for full coverage and reusing the remaining stones from my mother's set to go down the shank. The closest example I can find is this ring which belongs to someone on Pricescope (I'm SOOO sorry but I don't know the user's name) :
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Questions :
Should I graduate the top stone (lets say from a 0.38 centre down to 0.25) or have them all the same size?

Should I keep the ring straight or adjust it/curve it so it hugs my e-ring? I don't think I'll ever wear them separately but I'm REALLY on the fence as to whether or not I should curve it... how much will the gap between the rings bother me? will I change my mind later about wearing them on different hands, making an adjusted one look a bit odd by itself?

How have you guys addressed gaps between your e-rings and w-bands? I see some people really don't mind but I'm putting the question out there anyway. I've looked at so many pictures but haven't landed on one where both the e-ring the w-band are graduated ...


WHY is this decision so difficult?!!!! Surely because I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be, probably... I guess it's partly because I won't have the luxury of going through this process of redesigning/upgrading in the future and I'm hoping to get it right the first time around.


HELP!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Your ring is very pretty! To be honest, I think a band without diamonds would look best. Yssie has a graduated 5 stone ring and I know in the past she wore a 2mm engraved wedding band with it sometimes. If you do go with a diamond wedding band, I 100% would recommend the stones all be the same size. Two graduated rings won't look right together, in my opinion. I think larger stones will take away from your e-ring, also. So plain or engraved metal band or small pave diamond band would be my recommendation.

For future reference, questions about diamonds or settings go in Rocky Talky. This forum is for showing finished jewelry.

 

[LydiaLY]

That is such great advice diamondseeker2006! A graduated w-band might be overkill...too much of a good thing! I like the idea of the plain band as well but it would just pull at my heart strings to not incorporate the rest of my mom's diamonds into this project. Maybe 0.25ct on top, with the graduating only starting down the shank... hmmmmmm...

Oops! Sorry for posting it in the wrong spot! can a moderator move it?

 

[Acinom]

You have a gorgeous ring! I completely agree with DS that a more simple band allows your ring to take center stage.

Here is the set that Yssie wore. To my eyes it's very stylish and the e-ring gets the attention it deserves.

 

[Acinom]

+1: perhaps you could have a pendant or right hand ring created with the remaining stones?

To move your thread: go to your first post and hit 'report concern'. You can then ask the moderators to move your thread to the Rocky Talky section

 

[LydiaLY]

Thanks for the picture Acinom! Gosh her ring is to die for... and that center stone!!! argh! I wish I had the budget!

Whether stone or no stone, I still have the issue of a curved wedding band or not. They way the ering is set makes it impossible for a wedding band to sit flush to it. I will always have a slight gap starting about 1/2 way through my 2 and 4th stones towards the shank.

should I just suck it up and deal with it or get a curved band?

The jeweler had also recommended a right hand ring. I guess it's a sentimental thing - reminds of my Dad who's passed away. I have my mom's wedding band plus my own (had 2 wedding bands) that I wanted to incorporate. I used all three on my wedding day. Maybe I could have him do a graduated 2 row right hand ring (because the stones aren't all the same size and I don't know what else to do with a bunch of different sized stones). When I get all emotional about it I can stack it with my new e-ring and w-band for a while.

Thank you for telling me how to move my post - I put a request in just now