Wedding rings are literally one of the smallest aspects of a wedding, but really in many ways are one of the largest. After the ceremony is over, the guests have left, the pictures have been taken, the flowers have died and the dress has been hung back in the closet, the rings are the one small daily reminder that you wear with you for the rest of your life as a symbol of your love and the reasons why you tied the knot in the first place.

We have a lot of other things to buy for the wedding, so we are definitely on a budget, but I wanted to make sure whatever rings we picked out were what we liked and were high quality, since they are going to get a lot of daily use. I also wanted them to be special and sentimental as well. I would have loved to have a wedding band with little diamonds all the way around it, but that simply wasn’t in our budget right now. I wanted to try to get both of our wedding bands for under $800.

Since I had already given up on the idea of diamonds around my wedding band, I decided I just wanted a plain, simple, thin white gold band that would match the band on my engagement ring. I originally talked to the lady that made my engagement ring to talk to her about making me a thin, simple band. Then I realized that I already had a ring that looked like a wedding band– my promise ring. Drew gave me my promise ring on my 17th birthday, now nearly 4 years ago. It is engraved on the inside with the words, “Andrew and Caitlin Forever.” I wore it everyday from then on, until the day we got engaged when I replaced it with my engagement ring. It really meant a lot to me, and I was sad for it to just be sitting unused. It didn’t however, look very good with my engagement ring. It was too thick for my tastes and was rounded on the outside, which I didn’t like either.

See what I mean? The thin, delicate look of my engagement ring just didn’t look good with my promise ring. So, I took it to a local jeweler here in New Orleans and had them make it skinnier and more flat on the outside, while still keeping the inscription inside. It turned out a little thicker than my engagement ring band, but still much thinner than before. I think it was as thin as they could go without having to re-engrave the words inside and make them smaller. I love it so much more now that it looks like this:

It is hard to believe that it is the same ring! It looks so much better with my engagement ring and I’m happy that I got to re-use it since it has a lot of sentimental value. I’m so happy that they were able to keep the original inscription without having to re-engrave it as well. Plus, guess how much it cost? $70. Much cheaper than it would have been to buy a new wedding ring!

I was so excited about getting it back and seeing how it turned out. We also ordered Drew’s wedding ring at about the same time. We ended up having it made by the same lady that made my engagement ring, so that they would be more cohesive and because we really liked that lady’s work. We also couldn’t find anything like what we wanted in the jewelry stores we looked in and their prices were much more expensive than what the custom-made lady was going to charge us. Additionally, I wanted to add a little something more sentimental to Drew’s ring as well. Since mine was engraved, I thought about having his ring engraved, but in the end decided that I would prefer to have a little tiny heart etched in the inside of his ring instead, to literally mean that he holds my heart. The lady that made it was happy to add that tiny detail. His ring is 6mm wide, smooth with a satin finish in white gold. Here is how his turned out:

I love how mine turned out to be a mini-version of his:

I love them! Drew’s ring was $725, which was quite a bit cheaper than the $1500-$2500 that we saw for similar rings in the jewelry store that re-did my ring. Plus I love that we both have rings made my the same lady and that she was able to add that tiny heart to it as well. So, our total for both of our wedding rings was $795!! $5 below our original $800 budget! How awesome!

If you are interested in looking at work by the lady that made our rings, you can see her work in her Etsy store, here, or on her website, here. She is really nice, does amazing work, and her prices are pretty reasonable for custom handmade jewelry compared to a chain jewelry store. (My engagement ring was actually appraised at several hundred dollars more than what we paid for it!) If you like my engagement ring, there is one that she has for sale that is almost identical, here.

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I haven’t shared much else about wedding planning lately, but since some people are really interested in my planning process, here is what else we’ve gotten done in the last couple months:

-We completed our wedding registries at Target, Macy’s, Dillard’s and our hometown Durham’s Hardware Store
-We sent out our Save-the-Dates
-We booked our honeymoon!! We did this in mid-December. We are flying into Boston, Massachusetts and spending a few days there, heading on up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a few days, and then heading on up to Portland, Maine for a few days! We can’t wait to see this area of the country (I’ve been when I was a baby and my parents have been several times and always talk about how beautiful it is!), and we have cute little Bed and Breakfasts reserved to stay in and can’t wait for sailboat rides, seeing lighthouses, art museums, Drew’s brewery tours, and relaxing and enjoying our first week of marriage!
-I picked up my wedding dress
-I bought my wedding shoes
-I ordered and picked up my veil
-We booked the DJ for the wedding ceremony and reception
-We picked out the men’s tuxes.
-We met with the caterer to discuss the reception menu.
-We talked to the florist.
-We booked our cake baker.
-We reserved a bed and breakfast for our wedding night.
-We, of course, ordered our wedding rings!

We still have lots to do, but it is nice that most of the big things are out of the way. We just have to get the bridesmaids dresses done (my mom is making them), design/print/mail the invitations, get all the small little decor/favors/table decorations, etc… bought/made/completed and about a million more things, but at least we are down to the fun decorative to-do items! I can’t believe the wedding is just over 2 months away!!