Do wedding rings have to be gold?

Do wedding rings have to be gold?

No. Gold is the tradition, not a rule. A wedding ring can be titanium, black zirconium, platinum or any other metal you will be happy to wear every day.

Couples choose something else for plain reasons: a lighter ring, a black ring, a lower price or a metal that suits sensitive skin. If gold matters to you for its own sake it is still the right choice and you can also have a little of it on a ring of another metal.

Metal chooser: Answer a few questions and see which metal fits.

How to choose a wedding ring: Metal, width, profile and finish in order.

What can a wedding ring be made of instead of gold?

Titanium is the lightest. A 6mm band in UK size N weighs about 2.2g against 5.6g in 9ct gold. GIA describes it as highly durable and resistant to corrosion, wear and tarnish.

Black zirconium is the way to have a black ring that stays black, because the colour is grown into the metal rather than plated on. At about Mohs 8 its surface is far harder than gold at about 3.5.

Platinum 950 is the naturally white precious metal. GIA says it will not lose shape or abrade over decades of wear and calls it hypoallergenic. The Royal Society of Chemistry describes platinum as resistant to corrosion as gold. It is also the heaviest, at about 9.8g for that same band.

Silver and tungsten make rings too. Silver is the softest of the ring metals at about Mohs 2.75, so it marks more readily. Tungsten is hard, but GIA notes that it can crack or shatter under high impact and that tungsten rings cannot be resized. We do not make rings in tungsten.

Is titanium good for a wedding ring?: Weight, scratches, skin and resizing.

Is black zirconium good for a wedding ring?: How the black is made and how it wears.

What do you give up if the ring is not gold?

Less than you might expect. The first thing is the hallmark. UK hallmarking covers gold, silver, platinum and palladium, so a titanium or zirconium ring carries none. That says nothing about its quality.

The second is resizing. A plain gold or platinum band can be made larger or smaller by a jeweller. Titanium can often be machined a little larger though not smaller and black zirconium is not resized in the usual way, so the size is settled before the ring is made. The free ring size finder makes that a two minute job.

The third is weight. Some people miss the heft of gold and others are glad never to notice a ring at all.

Ring size finder: Find your size at home in two minutes.

UK hallmarking explained: What the marks mean and what must carry them.

Can you have a little gold without a gold ring?

Yes. A line of solid 9ct gold can be set flush into a titanium or black zirconium band and hallmarked at Birmingham, which puts real gold on the face of a light ring.

A couple does not have to choose the same way either. One ring can be gold and the other titanium and the two will still look like a pair if they share a width or a finish.

Inlay wedding rings explained: How a line of gold is set into another metal.

Do wedding rings have to match?: How couples coordinate without matching.

Does a wedding ring cost less if it is not gold?

Usually, yes. Titanium costs the least, then black zirconium, then anodised zirconium, then a gold inlay and then 9ct gold. Price follows the metal and how much of it there is. The rings below each show their current price.

Platinum is the exception: it is a precious metal, priced by weight as gold is. Ours comes as a line of solid platinum 950 set into a titanium band.

Cheapest metal for a wedding ring: Every metal in price order.

Will a titanium or black ring still look like a wedding ring?

Yes. A plain band is a plain band and its shape is what says wedding ring. Polished titanium is a soft grey white and black zirconium a deep even black.

If you would like to see it first, the ring try-on draws any of our rings onto a photo of your own hand, free.

Ring try-on: See a ring on a photo of your own hand.