50% of Wedding Band Shopping, Done!

Mr. Coach and I started our search for wedding bands just a few months after we got engaged. Our first outing was pretty spur-of-the-moment, but left us with a little more information about what we liked and didn't like, as well as how hard it was going to be to match my engagement ring.

Because I can't talk about rings without showing you all my favorite piece of jewelry...

Photos by Megan Fortner

Personal Photos 

Mr. Coach did all of the engagement ring looking/searching/shopping on his own. The only information I gave him was a short list of things I didn't want (no yellow gold & no past/present/future type three stone ring) because they didn't really fit my taste. Other than that, he was on his own (by choice) and I think he did a wonderful job of finding something that fits my personality.

What he didn't do was find a ring that was easy to match a wedding band to, but no complaints - I like a challenge! We started our search at James Avery. We were actually looking for a Christmas gift (or birthday? can't remember) and ended up browsing through the wedding bands. At this point, I really thought I wanted a simple, white gold or sterling silver band to place next to my ring. There is so much going on with the ring, I thought anything more would take away from it rather than accent it.

Athena Wedding Band via James Avery Online / I wish I had photos of the rings together, but I wasn't anticipating getting to share this process with all of you wonderful members of the hive! Forgive me!

Although it looks wide in the photo, the Athena was actually fairly dainty in person. By itself, I loved the band, but it did not sit flush next to my engagement ring, and really did nothing for me as part of a pair. It was at this point that I realized there is the sliiiightest curve in the band/setting of my ring - the center area rounds out just a tad. So, unless I found a band that mimicked that curve, anything else I tried wouldn't sit flush next to the ring.

A few weeks later, Mr. Coach and I headed to the store where he bought my ring, hoping to find a better match.  I tried a few more solid bands, hoping to find a better match - no luck. The salesperson also tried to match the smaller (pavé?) diamonds on the sides of the band, but this was rather hard to do without blowing the budget. Even the bands that did match still didn't sit right next to the engagement ring. It was a little nerve-wracking - I was worried that if we couldn't find a match at the store where he bought my ring, we weren't going to find one at all! (Dramatic, I know.)

Fast forward to our recent trip back to the store - I wanted to get my ring cleaned and we figured we'd do a little more searching. After trying on a few more bands with no luck, I stumbled across this beauty:

image via Helzberg Diamonds

What a pleasant surprise this ring was! With the slightest curve, it sits perfectly next to my engagement ring. Once I realized how much I loved it - I got a little nervous. My past experience with diamond bands was that they were way more than we wanted to spend on a band. The salesperson checked the tag, and with a smile said, "It's on clearance"- My favorite words, EVER. She went to check on the price to be sure, but came back and told us it was marked down to just a little more than a third of the original price, score! After a few minutes of "Are you sure it's the right one? Do you think I'll find anything better?" with Mr. Coach, we made the purchase and it was a done deal. I'm somewhat extremely indecisive about purchases like this, but it was just too good of a bargain to pass up. 

And here is the happy couple, together at last!

Was your engagement ring easy to match or did you have a difficult time finding the perfect partner? I can only hope we will have the same "ah ha!" moment when shopping for Mr. C's ring - here's to hoping!