MsMaven, 45 years, now THAT is killer!

I'm surprised at all the sapphires, they are so pretty!

I find older rings tend to be yellow gold and newer one's are white gold or platinum (or palladium). In fact, when I went ring shopping with hubby to be a few years ago, there weren't even any yellow gold rings in the stores to look at!

Beautiful rings ladies! My husband and I never had a formal engagement so I don't have an engagement ring (though I wore a promise ring he gave me just out of high school up until the day we were married). We didn't want to spend a lot on our wedding rings; we'd planned to do custom designed rings for our 5 year anniversary (which passed in Nov.) and have since decided to bump it to 10 because these rings are in better shape than we'd expected. Most likely I'll treat this band as an engagement ring when we get the next rings and work it into the design.

Photo #1 was taken at our wedding, and photo #2 I took just now.

Thank you all for indulging me, keep the pictures coming!

thx, Angie - but do Protestants wear their rings on their right hand in any other country? Why in The Netherlands?

Lynne, my mum is Protestant and my dad is Catholic and they married in a Protestant Church. Both wear their rings on the right hand. That's the norm in Germany, by the way.

This is a fun thread! Engagement rings and diamonds aren't my thing; my band is a simple platinum one.

Here's a link to a picture of mine:
http://www.benmoss.com/home/pr.....catid=1477

Hubby and I were married in 2005 when we were dirt poor, brand new professional trying to make ends meet in Vancouver. We didn't buy an engagement ring and I paid for my own wedding paid with my teensy-weensy salary. Things are a lot better for us now, but the ring reminds me of that exciting and challenging time in our lives.

There are some very pretty rings in here!

I literally wore my first ring out! It became so thin from age that it became bent and unwearable.

Here's a picture (photo #1)of my original band side by side with the more *grown-up* version that my husband gave me for our 25th wedding anniversary five years ago. You can't tell from the photo, but my original band has a row of tiny diamond chips. I loved it so much and that's why we decided to go with the same metal and a very similar style.

What an interesting thread! It's fascinating to see the rings, but even more so to hear the stories behind them. I feel I'm getting to know the ladies of YLF a little better because of it.

@ Janet: The inherited ring on your right hand is exquisite. I totally concur with your thought of wearing it on the left hand, with your wedding band.

@ Kate S: I also wear the wedding ring of my maternal grandmother! Like you, I feel privileged to do so. It still has the inscription from my grandfather, when they were married. There was enough room for my husband and me to inscribe our initials and wedding date. The only time I've not worn it was when we lived in Rio de Janeiro, and I didn't dare risk having it stolen on the street.

My engagement ring is an emerald - my birthstone. I used to wear it daily, but now tend to wear it mostly for social events. Instead, I wear the eternity band my husband gave me for our 25th anniversary, and I mix it up by stacking it with another ring selected from several vintage favorites.

The photos show wedding band, eternity band, and engagement ring.

This is a great thread -- such interesting rings and even more interesting to read the stories.
My husband and I were students when we became engaged. My "engagement" ring is a plastic heart purchased from a coin operated trinket machine at the (now defunct) Dart Drug on Rugby Road in Charlottesville, VA. My husband was rather disappointed that the machine gave him a heart rather than the one with a spider on it! (At least that's the way he likes to tell it.) Hard to get a good picture of that one.

My wedding ring is a simple gold band (identical to the one worn by Mr. Ryce). The only time I've taken it off was during pregnancy and for a minor surgery.

A few years after the wedding, and once we were both gainfully employed, I received the ring I wear daily with the band -- an oval diamond flanked by twin oval sapphires, platinum-set, on a gold band. It's very 80s and I love the fact that it's so identifiable as being from the era when our marriage began.

@ Ryce: That is the best story! Love that your husband got your ring from a vending machine, and was disappointed it wasn't a spider. LOL! You must have fun together.

This thread made me reach for my wedding DVD so I can grab a screenshot to attach here We have designed our rings. Made by a very skilled goldsmith, their profile exceeded my expectations, it is very rounded and comfortable, both rings feels unbelievably soft. I never felt like my ring is made of metal, more like some warm, ready-to-melt material. I love wearing it.

When looked at from above, my ring is 3/4 of the circumference white gold and 1/4 yellow gold. My husband's is the opposite, 3/4 yellow gold and 1/4 white. You can't really see it from the photo I'm attaching, but the interesting thing about this shot is that while taking it, we had realized that the rings fitted perfectly into each other

What a fun thread this is. The glimpse of Aida's wedding dress makes me want to start a wedding dress thread:)

Here's my band and engagement ring. Not likely to set hearts aflutter for uniqueness...I wanted a plain band and a plain ring that would go with anything I chose to wear for the next 60 years.

Ryce - My husband has his PhD from UVa, so we lived in Charlottesville for a while.

Beth - We did have a wedding dress a looong looong time ago. Let me try to dig it up.

What a gorgeous emerald, Deb. Such an attention getter.

Here's mine. I need to get it resized so I can wear it again. Hubby took me on Valentine's Day to look at rings, not actually intending to buy one, but this one was so perfect that we put it on hold and started hunting a diamond (we weren't technically engaged yet). He surprised me by having it ready and proposing on St. Patrick's Day (our dating anniversary was the 18th). The setting was designed for a 1/4 carat round stone to be tension set but I wanted a radiant cut and Hubby wanted a bigger stone so the jeweler added prongs for us.

It kind of looks like two rings already so I didn't get a separate wedding band. DH's band is a simple yellow gold band with a stripe of white gold down the center.