Say goodbye to the cookie-cutter wedding ring set of yesteryear! These days, it’s all the rage to mix and match the rings in your engagement and wedding ring stack to create something that’s totally personal to you.
At Holden, we’re HUGE proponents of this trend, as celebrating your uniqueness is kind of what we’re all about. But if you’re just starting to look at engagement rings, planning for your eventual stack can be daunting. Luckily, we have 7 tips on what you should keep in mind when shopping for a layered engagement ring look to help make the process as seamless as possible. ☺️
1. Pay Attention to Height
When choosing a band for your engagement ring, keep an eye on its height/thickness. You’ll want to make sure that you match this as closely as possible when picking out your wedding band, as you’ll want to ensure that the engagement ring and wedding band sit flush!
Getting the right fit for your rings is also an important part of the puzzle, since an ill-fitting ring can definitely throw your stack off-balance. To help you find the perfect size the first time around, you can order one of our free size kits here.
2. And That Goes for the Setting, Too
If you select a lower setting for the center stone on your engagement ring, you may limit your options for a wedding band, especially if having the rings sit flush is important to you.
However, note that while it’s customary in the United States to wear the wedding band beneath your engagement ring on the left ring finger (more on this here), there are no hard and fast rules on how to stack. Go for the wedding band you love best, and pop it over to a different finger if you have to!
Want to keep things traditional and already have a low setting? Not to worry! You can learn more about whether a curved band might be right for you here.
3.Protect Your Fancy Shapes
Opting for a marquise, pear, or princess cut center stone? You might want to consider protecting fancies featuring sharp points with a bezel setting, since these areas will be more vulnerable to chipping!
Diamonds are exceptionally hard, which make them great choices for everyday wear. But like all good things, they aren’t completely indestructible! A hard blow to the cleavage plane could damage your rock, so protect your pretties and thank us later.
4. And Think Twice About Delicate Gemstones
Have you ever heard of the Mohs Hardness Scale? We suggest you do your research if not, but the TLDR is that not every gemstone is hard enough to be suitable for everyday wear.
Skip those pearls and go with something that has a hardness of at least 7 (ideally 8+) for your center stone. Anything below that may not last you a lifetime, which would be a serious bummer.
5. Consider What You Wear Everyday…
For metal, our best advice is to keep the colors you wear every day in mind. If you love a mixed metals look, then the sky is your limit! But if you have yellow gold accents on your glasses and rarely break out the silver, it might be ideal for you to choose a similarly colored band.
Additionally, keep in mind that the metal you choose for the setting of your diamond engagement ring may impact your center stone’s performance! Generally speaking, a colorless diamond (D-F) is typically set in platinum or white gold in order to maximize its lack of hue. If color performance is important to you and your heart was set on a yellow gold band, you can definitely switch it up and go with white for the setting only.
On the other hand, if your diamond has a color grade from K-Z, a yellow or rose gold setting will help minimize its yellow appearance. However, we’ve found that it’s not strictly necessary to follow these recommendations, so you can absolutely go with the metal color you love best! (Bonus tip: opt for a lab grown diamond to get a better color grade for less!)
Not sure how to decide between yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, or platinum? You can check out more tips on how to choose metal colors for your rings here.
6. …But Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
Keeping things traditional can be great, but only if it’s true to you! We recommend trying out as many different stone shapes, settings, orientations, and band widths as possible when picking out your ring.
We’ve found that it’s not uncommon to surprise yourself during the ring shopping experience, as many will end up going with something completely different from what they’d originally envisioned! Many today even skip the center stone and go with an eternity band as their e-ring, which can be ideal if you’re a fan of more minimal diamond rings and subtler stacks.
7. Plan Ahead
If you’re planning to add an anniversary ring (or multiple rings!) to your stack later on, be sure to save some room! You’ll want to account for the width of your engagement ring and the width of your future wedding band when determining whether you’ll be able to add new rings to the same finger.
To give you a better idea of what different widths will look like IRL, dig into your pocket for some spare change. A 1.5mm ring will be about the width of 1 US penny, a 3mm ring will be about the width of 2 pennies, and so on. Not sure how that will equate on-hand? We also made this visual guide to give you a general idea, though it will look slightly different depending on the shape and size of your hand and fingers.
In desperate need of even more stack-spo? We’re so glad you asked! You can check out 7 more expert ring stacking tips here, and shop our entire collection of stackable rings here.
Questions? Give us a shout at help@hiholden.com or a ring (pun intended) at 646.722.6817.
