News

How to Build a Stacking Rings Set: Choosing the Perfect Wedding Band June 12 2016 1 Comment

One of the most common issues my buyers encounter is difficulty in building a set of rings that "look right" together. The most meaningful set of stacking rings most of us will ever wear is our wedding set, and many brides have a hard time figuring out how to match wedding bands to their engagement rings.

Most jewelry wearers assume that if you match the color and style of the engagement ring, it's all good, right? An advanced wearer might even consider matching the band's width (the measurement of the visible portion of the ring when worn, or the top). However, the most important and commonly overlooked factor is the band's height, which is the measurement of the profile of the band (visible when viewed from the side). This dimension may also be referred to as the band's thickness.

When reading a description from an online listing, a band's measurements will usually be written in the width x height format. For example, a ring that's "2mm x 1mm" is 2mm wide and 1mm high. A band that's designated as "full round" will only have one dimension listed, because it measures the same from any angle. While most people never consider a ring's height, I'll explain here why it's crucial to pay attention to all dimensions.

The bands below are of matching width but different heights.

With regular stacking rings sets, fashionistas can achieve an artier effect by intentionally mismatching band heights:

Stacking rings sets height comparison

But apply this principle to a wedding set and things start to look really wonky! Disclaimer: I'm sorry I don't have prettier rings to show here, but since I don't carry pre-made stock, most of the rings pictured in these demonstrations are from my errata and scrap pile!

Mismatched wedding set

As you can see, though most of the "important" factors are matched - white color and 2mm width - the mismatched height of the bands throws things off balance. As the height gets closer to matching (right) the set looks a bit more balanced, but even a tiny difference of half a millimeter makes a visual impact.

Here's How It's Done

Rings with matched height

Even though the "important" factors - color and width - are totally mismatched here, the set still looks relatively balanced because the height of the bands match. Yay!

To drive the point home, below are some plain bands to look at without the giant stone to distract you.

Bands with Mismatched Height and Width

Bands with mismatched height and width Bands with mismatched height 

Left: 1mm full-round hammered matte rose gold band with 1.6mm full-round hammered matte yellow gold band.
Right: 2mm x 1.5mm diamond platinum band with 1mm x 1mm palladium white gold band.

Bands with the Same Width, but Mismatched Height

 Bands with mismatched height: half round vs. full round Bands with mismatched height Bands with mismatched height

Left: 1.5mm x .75 half-round rose gold band with 1.6mm full-round rose gold band
Center: 2mm x 1mm hammered white gold band with 2mm full-round white gold band
Right: 2mm x 1.5mm diamond platinum band with 
2mm full-round white gold band

Bands with Matching Height

Bands with matching height Bands with matching height Bands with matching height

Left: 5mm x 1.5mm hammered matte gold band with 1.6mm full-round hammered matte gold band
Center: 2mm x 1.5 half-round white gold band with 1.6mm full-round rose gold band
Right: 1mm x 1mm palladium white gold band with 1.
2mm x .8mm half-round rose gold band

I hope you've found this helpful! Feel free to email me if you need additional assistance. I'm always happy to answer questions!