A bride’s wedding day is the most important day of her life, and requires a considerable amount of planning to ensure she can get hitched without any other unwanted hitches! Many of the chores that need to be attended to are the transportation, booking the church, invitations, dresses for bride and bridesmaids, photography, and the list goes on. Ultimately, these things (hopefully!) are only necessary once, on the wedding day itself. But the one thing that carries over, day after day, is the wearing of the wedding rings by bride and groom.

There is a bewildering number of choices on the market for wedding rings, from plain precious metal wedding bands, to ornately designed bespoke pieces featuring a gemstone or several gemstones. Whichever designs the couple opt for, there is no escaping the fact that these rings are going to be worn every single day for the rest of their lives, and so the choice of metal is perhaps the most important factor. Of course, it will be the price that determines which precious metal to choose, and many people are comfortable wearing any kind of material. For the unfortunate few, however, some metals pose a real problem, particularly anything containing nickel. Contact allergy is fairly common in people who develop a nickel hypersensitivity. The thought of having to wear a white gold wedding ring everyday for the rest of their lives, for example, for these people will probably cause them to recoil in horror.

White gold is generally made from ordinary yellow gold mixed with nickel and sometimes other metals. It is these others that produce the mechanical hardness associated with gold jewelry. Remember though that the bright silvery white color of white gold rings is due to a finishing plate of rhodium; this means that a white gold wedding ring should not pose an allergy problem until the plate has worn away over time. The solution to this is to get it replated.

For the formal look, and to avoid allergies altogether, go for yellow gold or platinum if the budget allows. If not, then sterling silver is a good and inexpensive option, but silver requires more care than gold as it tends to be less inert, and can leave green stains on your fingers as it reacts with moisture.

So while the family are making all the preparations for the big day, make sure you take the time to pick the right wedding rings that will help you make a wonderful future together.