Stainless Rage - Are There Big Pro's and Con's in Wedding Bands ? You Bet!

.925 Sterling Irish Claddagh (wedding band)

Rings are an age old symbol for marriage. Popularized in ancient Rome and Greece, most cultures use a ring on the third finger of the left hand to signify "married" or "about to be". People spend hours agonizing over the band choices and what style of stone to put in it. In the USA the single diamond band is most common with engagement, a plain matching band is often later presented during the wedding ceremony. Rings vary in price range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. In the last 10 years stainless steel, which was once considered a  clunky men's ring only product, has become a popular main stay in jewelry. As technology gets better the kinds of rings we can buy made of stainless steel resemble more closely fine jewelry products. Some have a lot of detail and can really impress even the most snobby jewelry wearers. Notice the details in the ring below. I'd wear this piece just because it looks cool.

"Game of Thrones" Men's Ring

Some of the newest stainless steel rings include CZ stones that are of a much finer quality than the "rhinestone"  variety your great aunt Ethel wore when you were a kid. (You know what I mean, the kind that had gaps due to poor settings and a few too many stones.) With the better quality of today's fashions in stainless steel, many people have been buying rings online and in stores that look like platinum.  They paid just a few bucks for them even with the shipping cost. Buyers are flocking to the net due to the ultra low global shopping prices and the ability manufatcures have to quickly produce fad materials. Most stainless steel rings can take a serious beating and remain in tact, even though our traditional wedding rings do need to be protected from getting bashed.. I bought a eternity cz band in Sao Paulo in 2013 that I almost never take off for just a few dollars. It looks like a $5000.00 ring and cleans up with soap and water. It could be ran over by a bulldozer and probably still be winking back at me. I wear it in place of my wedding bands on missions so I don't ruin them. (I am also a church camp cook and I have snapped my band twice already gripping oven handles) While stainless's durability is also a great thing for nerds like me who enjoy Sci-fi , and super hero jewelry for everyday, in the world of wedding bands this can be a bad thing.

The problem with the human body is that over time it gets warped. Ring sizes can fluxate many times over the average life span. Pregnancy, Weight gain and loss, arthritis and other things can cause your fingers to swell. Many people notice that through the years their fingers develop a indentation that comes from the fingers swelling or growing.  That dent stays quite a while after removing the ring, but once the ring is off for a few days it can require resizing to put back on.. A lot of people have to get rings resized after surgery or getting a broken finger, because the skin layers around the dent have puffed back out and it can't be put back on. Stainless steel is a much harder metal than soft silver or gold. The rings made of it can experience a lot of tradgedy but not have a single sad ending. They usually out live  the trends you bought them for. 

The "stones" in stainless are a bit of a different story though. Cz in some of the rings can get cracked or knocked loose after a lot of wear, but cannot be replaced without looking junky. Here is an example of the newer stainless with stones on the market. It is pretty, but would be impossible to work on.

Wedding rings are an emotion thing. A lot of people get very attatched to their wedding bands. They associate the presence of the band with the presence of the person. Even the flaws that can develop in the ring overtime become precious to the wearer. Women sometimes are more attached than men to their rings, but to both sexes it is an important symbol. Stainless creates the problem of having to buy the same band in many sizes if you want to use it for a wedding ring (which is just kinda wierd..). The newness and lack of flaws would be disturbing to some people and others would just rather not mess with purchasing a ring in more than one size. So my advice to you is to steer clear of stainless for wedding bands, but buy up for everyday! For couples where money is an issuse, ( I am also a wedding officiant) I encouarge them to think of the first rings as their "stand ins". The stand ins can still be worn, but not counted on to be the most symbolic of the pair. Some people choose to wear both for a while or pass the stand in along to a daughter or a friend.

While in the end people choose what they choose, remember the idea is to get a life time out of the band, not just a long time. Thanks for reading!

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