Hello everyone

After a bit of advice regarding what material to get my wedding ring in. As far as I can see the most popular choices are platinum, gold, white gold or palladium.

We have a budget of £100 each for our rings so I think platinum is out of the question straight away. My engagement ring is silver so I wasn't sure if I should stick to silver? I've heard stories about white gold the finish wearing off and needing to be replayed over time. Is this true? Does anyone have a palladium ring. From what I can tell it sounds like a good budget alternative to platinum.

Any advice or experience you can offer would be great!

Thanks

It all depends on your lifestyle really.

I can't have silver or white gold as the cleaning soloution and soaps I use all day at work turn them both funny colours.

Yes white gold needs replating depending on your skin and lifestyle between 6 months and two years and most jewelers cost around £30. There is a company on here that do free replating but their plain bands are over 4 times the price of some other places.

Even though palladium is cheaper you still might struggle with that budget.

I have found a highly recommended online seller that does palladium rings in our budget. For my size at least not H2B but he's easy as he wants titanium so he can wear it at work and it won't get trashed.

I was all settled on silver really until I saw the palladium ones that I could afford and thought it might be a bit more hard wearing. I work for highways so am out and about on site quite a lot so maybe this would be better, but then I wear my engagement ring all the time and it's stood up to it so far.

If I go silver it will save a lot of money, as relative to the other metals silver is dirt cheap. Maybe that's what's worrying me, that people will think I'm cheap, I know I shouldn't care what other people think and I've always been a silver over gold girl. Arrggghh! I'm just getting myself all tied up now. I think I should stick to the original plan of silver, I'd never even heard of palladium until I started wedding research so haven't exactly dreamed of the day when I got my palladium wedding ring!

Thanks for your help ladies.

You could go for titanium, it's much tougher and better wearing than silver, I have a silver ring I've had for years, it's dull as anything and bent out of shape because silver is a really soft metal and not really good for rings worn on a regular basis.

Titanium has endless good qualities and it's really cheap, H2B and I are getting ours at a total of £114.

I got a palladium and diamond ring from the bay for about £90. Love it. It's only a thin band with tiny diamonds but was just what I wanted.

mmmmm i'm not sure if silver would hold up against palladium as its a harder metal i think! i would possibly ask a jeweller's opinion as you don't want your wedding ring to wear away your engagement ring

We've got stainless steel, just to be different :o)

Hi folks

I just wanted to add to the discussion (confusion!) about wedding ring metals

Here are a few facts about the differences between them

Platinum - quite hard, tough and very unlikely to cause an allergic reaction. But not cheap - usually about 50% more than 18 carat gold and about 3 times the price of Palladium

White Gold - good quality white gold is a mixture of yellow gold and other metals to make it whiter. It is then plated with Rhodium to make it really white. The Rhodium will wear off in time but is easy to reapply. However the white gold underneath will still be white with just a tint of yellow.
But beware - some companies sell 'white gold' which is just Rhodium plated yellow gold that doesn't contain whitening metals and has just been plated with Rhodium but is still bright yellow underneth - they'll turn yellow within months. It may be cheap but if you want a white ring you should opt for better quality white gold or Palladium

Yellow Gold - not as popular as it was but still great value and long lasting

Palladium - From the same family as Platinum. Very white (never needs replating) and tough. Hypoallergenic and comfortable to wear. Has all the qualities of Platinum but is about 60% cheaper!

Titanium - extremely tough greyish metal that the blokes love. Not a precious metal but very attractive especially in a brushed finish

Silver - Very inexpensive but very light weight and tends to tarnish. Also easy to damage and bend so care is needed.

All of these metals have different qualities and its up to your personal choice and your budget. They wil all scratch and scuff but many companies (like us) will re-finish them for you whenever you want. We do it free of charge and so do a few other companies. Most high street retailers will make a small charge for this.

Sorry another technical question. What is the difference between palladium 500 and palladium 950. Which is better? I see a lot of rings are advertised as light weight, heavy weight, super heavy weight but all the palladium ones I've found just have these numbers no indication of weight, can anyone shed any light on this?

Mine is palladium and H2B's is titanium. UKBride recommend smooch i believe - thats who we got ours from :)

I've put a link on your wall to the place we're getting ours which I suspect might be the same place as hello-kitty

TeganandRob

We wouldn't recomend putting Palladium with Silver. Silver is very soft and would wear.

However we could make a new 'shank' for your engagement ring and transfer the diamonds over to that. Or you could have a combined wedding and engagement ring with some sparkly diamonds in it.

The difference between Palladium 500 and Palladium 950 is like the difference between 9 carat gold and 18 carat gold - the higher the number the purer the metal. There is also a slight colour difference - Palladium 500 is 'darker'.

As heelo-kitty says titanium is very strong and can be polished to a very high shine but it is quite a bit darker than silver - more of a grey colour. It is very strong but it will still scratch - just like any jewellery metal

You don't have to go to Birmingham either - we come to your home and bring loads os samples. Your Smooch Advisor will work with you to find a ring that fits your budget. Other companies also do home visits but I'm not sure if there are any in Devon

QuanN - seriously? You choose to spam a thread that isn't even relevant?

It's great! We plan to take advantage of their sample service sometime soon!

I've posted the link on your wall. :)

There is a smooch lady in south Devon we got our rings from her and we in Paignton, I say defo get them to come see you and talk to her and see the rings.