Solving an Internet Wedding Ring Disaster, Before and After

Michelle Happy With Her New Wedding Set

This is a story about a wedding ring disaster...

.... with a happy ending. It started on the internet, far far away.

Then it got local and transformed into a happy set of wedding rings. Let your Santa Barbara Jeweler tell the tale.

Michelle, a Happy Wife with a Sad Wedding Set

Michelle had a platinum "just the facts Ma'am" engagement ring. It was purchased from the internet. She and her husband who ordered it for her didn’t know that platinum dings up a lot faster than white gold when the setting is plain. (Plug: It's great to work with a Jeweler who tells you stuff like that before you order your rings.)

Two Problems With the Engagement Ring

This Ring is Similar to Michelle's Before we Did the Work on it.

One, even though it was her correct size, it disappointingly spun on her finger.  Two, after wearing it for a few months, it had that dinged up platinum look that's as dull as a metal-shop-nickle.

Wedding Band Blues

The wedding band with diamonds which started out wonderfully had gotten damaged. In a few short months the design that exposed the edges of the diamonds, had allowed them to get chipped.

Michelle and her husband decided they needed to redesign her whole wedding set.

The Phone Rang and I Got to Know This Wonderful Couple

Thanks to the Lord Google, this Santa Barbara Jewelry Designer was called in to come up with a new wedding set design.

They Wanted to Start From Scratch

It was evident that the wedding band was not salvagable. It’s design which allowed her wedding diamonds to scrape against her platinum engagement constantly, was damaging her diamonds. It was also scratching the platinum daily, making it look really bad.

All Was Not Lost

The engagement ring looked salvageable to me. I could see why they had chosen it. It was simple and pleasing in design. Just very dull looking.

Why Platinum Gets That Icky Dull Look (Calla Gets Technical)

White gold in 14kt is 58% pure gold with the balance being hardening metal alloys. Alloyed gold just has a harder finish and keeps its shiny finish for a lot longer than platinum. Platinum being softer and used more purely, often 95% pure, just dulls up a lot faster.

A plain expanse of shiny Platinum quickly dulls down into a lackluster, dull finish with everyday wear. Much more quickly than gold.

Platinum works better in an everyday wear situation with little sparkly details like diamonds or hand engraving.

Saving Michelle's Engagement Ring

I suggested that for less money than a redesign, we could hand engrave Michelle’s existing engagement ring and give the Platinum the details it needed to sing on its own.

To address the fact that her ring spun, I suggested speed bumps in the bottom of the ring. (See my blog post on Speed Bumps.)

Engraving Gives New Life and Sparkle to Michelle's Engagement Ring

Engraving Made it Look Amazing

It looked fantastic with its new engraving! They were thrilled. Oh and the ring wasn’t spinning either, thanks to the speed bumps.

Then We Addressed the Wedding Band

Next we took out the damaged diamonds from the wedding band and designed a new ring.

It made sense to go with an engraved design to go with her engagement ring.

Each diamond is bezel set for protection from Michelle's active lifestyle.  It is an eternity band style, so it can turn all day long and it'll always have beauty facing up.

Michelle's Engraved Wedding Set

Versatility is Designed in

Michelle's wedding band also looks great when worn alone.

And I love that they turned to the web and found Calla Gold Jewelry, even after their previous web wedding ring experience wasn't so great. I love a happy ending.

What's the Takeaway Message Here?

Michelle's New Hand Engraved Eternity Wedding Band

Choose a Jeweler you feel good about who'll answer your questions and let you know the facts that help you better choose the right metal, gems and design for you and your love.

To help you choose that Jeweler that's right for you I've written a blog post about it, "Twelve Questions to ask yourself When Choosing a Jeweler."

Happy Jewelry Designing - Calla Gold