Most people looking for unique diamond wedding rings scour the jewelry stores closest to their city or town.
If that’s you, you’ve probably come up frustrated and possibly empty-handed. Maybe you resigned to the idea that you’ll never find that one-of-a-kind wedding ring that complements your style and individuality.
You’re not the only one.
Many jewelry stores sell two main styles of wedding bands: a white gold band with pave diamonds or a white gold channel set diamond band. These are the traditional styles of wedding rings you’ll see in stores.
Local jewelry retailers have to sell you what’s popular. They have to pay vendors to house their inventory in the jewelry cases for customers to buy.
If they catered to a bunch of unique engagement rings and wedding bands, they’d only appeal to people with a particular taste or style. If no one buys it, that unique wedding ring collects dust in the jewelry case.
Why Buying Unique Wedding Rings Is Easier Online
If you’re looking for a band to be the perfect match to your traditional OR unique engagement ring, you’ll want to buy online.
Most online retailers don’t have to purchase inventory unless the jewelry piece is bought from their website. They don’t have to pay for inventory.
They can dedicate more of their budget to buying unique wedding rings and styles.
Ways to Make Your Wedding Ring Unique
There are different ways to make an engagement ring or wedding band unique. It’s not all about the setting itself. A unique wedding ring is a ring you might not see in traditional store stock.
The wedding ring could have a vintage feel which is pretty popular as far as unique rings go.
It could come from a specific period, like an Art Deco ring, Victorian ring, or Edwardian ring. People love vintage wedding rings from these periods but they’re hard to find inside jewelry stores.
The point is, your unique wedding band doesn’t have to be a wild and crazy look. If unique doesn’t mean strange, it’s different.
Choose a Different Ring Metal
The majority of engagement rings and wedding bands are set in white gold. White gold became the most popular choice for engagement rings in the 90s alongside other white metals, like platinum. Just keep in mind that platinum is a heavier metal than any color gold.
Before then, a yellow gold ring would dominate the jewelry industry as far as jewelry metals go. Nowadays, you hardly see yellow gold engagement rings in stores. Most stores don’t keep eye-catching designs in yellow gold, rose gold, or platinum.
Rose gold is a unique choice when buying rings because it’s the least common metal. Many places only offer a select few rose gold engagement rings. You’d be lucky to find a rose gold band.
Choose Colored Gemstones
You might be the kind of person who likes a little–or maybe a LOT–of color in your life. If that’s you, then white diamonds might not be your thing.
Perhaps you’re inspired by colored stones. The problem is not every gemstone is suitable for daily wear.
Or maybe you like the idea of a colorless rock, but not a diamond. Colorless gems like moissanite, white sapphire, and white topaz are popular picks for diamond alternatives.
The biggest thing you want to choose when looking for a stone for your non-diamond engagement ring is its hardness rating.
Every mineral has a hardness rating measured on the Mohs scale of hardness. There’s a common confusion among customers on what hardness is.
Hardness isn’t a stone’s resistance to breaking or chipping. The cleavage of a gemstone determines the likelihood of breaking if hit with a hard blow. Gems like diamonds, topaz, moonstone, and tanzanite have perfect cleavage.
That doesn’t mean that these gems will break if you choose them for your ring. If you hit it hard enough, it’s more likely to break. Not most likely.
The Moh scale of hardness tells you how well the stone stands up to scratching.
Hardness isn’t durability. It’s scratchability.
The best-colored gems with a high rating on the Moh scale are diamond, sapphire, ruby, and moissanite. All of these gemstones are between a 9-10 hardness rating. These unique wedding rings and engagement rings would be ideal for daily wear.
Lab-Created Colored Diamonds
Maybe a diamond ring is your style, but white diamonds aren’t. Why not choose a colored diamond for your unique engagement ring or wedding band?
In all honesty, you’re going to be less likely to find colored diamond bands because they’d be costly.
Most natural colored diamonds with a vivid and beautiful color throughout the stone are tens of thousands of dollars at a half-carat or more. Some are hundreds of thousands.
Even colored diamonds in a simple wedding band style with pavé diamonds would be expensive. So, most jewelers only offer colored diamonds as a center stone on their site.
Some diamond colors are less expensive than others. Black diamonds, yellow diamonds, and champagne (brown) diamonds are more affordable than blue diamonds or pink diamonds.
But if you don’t like one of those three colors, you might not be able to afford the colored diamond you want for your engagement ring.
That’s where lab-created colored diamonds come in. They have the same attributes as natural colored diamonds and honestly have much better color. It’s much easier for a scientist to manually introduce the impurities that cause a diamond’s color in an isolated lab environment. For that reason, they’re a lot less expensive than natural colored diamonds.
Choose Unique Shapes
Those of you searching for unique engagement rings might want to opt for a shape outside of the norm. Everybody and their sister have a round or princess shape in their engagement ring. Round cuts have the most sparkle and shine, so it’s not hard to see why they’re the most popular.
Why not opt for a shape outside the box?
Step-cut shapes are a good option. Emerald cuts and Asscher cuts have a different kind of shine than other shapes. They cast dramatic flashes of light rather than a glitter effect.
Other unique diamond shapes are the elongated cushion, radiants, square radiant, pear cuts, marquise cuts, and oval cuts.
Unique Wedding Bands
We can be thankful that we don’t have to have a simple gold band if we don’t want to. There are more variations for gold bands instead of the standard polished rings.
Wedding Bands Without Stones
There are options for those looking for unique wedding bands without small gems. Different kinds of finishes or engraved details can dress up a stoneless band.
If you’re looking for a bold look, you might consider a braided band instead of your typical straight wedding band.
Braided Solitaire Bridal Set
If the braided look isn’t your thing, you might consider a wedding band with a gold finish. Two tones, satin finishes, and brushed finishes make a simple gold band look elegant. Pair that wedding band style with an uncommon metal like a rose gold or a yellow gold ring.
You might be into the Art Deco or vintage styles. Art Deco rings dabble in geometric designs alongside pavé diamonds, making an excellent choice for a unique wedding ring.
Caleb 6MM Men’s Band
Wedding Bands With Stones
For those of you needing that little bit of extra sparkle in your life, you’ll have better luck than the solitaire-seekers of unique engagement rings. Most diamond bands have either round pavé diamonds or channel set round or princess cuts.
Not everyone likes a ton of diamonds in their rings but still wants something that’s not so traditional. A polished band with a few diamonds could be the right fit for you. These are very clean and modern, perfect to accompany unique engagement rings in solitaire settings.
The simple nature of the band below will allow you to have two unique diamond rings that don’t overpower each other. The band is still high- polished, but with a creative square twist.
Kent Band
Eternity bands are a sought-after band to wear as a standalone ring or alongside an engagement ring. The diamonds go all the way around the ring, representing the eternal love between you and your partner.
You could go with a classic look with a unique shape like an emerald eternity band, or you could go with a geometrically shaped eternity band.
Montague Eternity Band
Unique Engagement Rings
Engagement rings you can play a lot more with. Most online retailers allow you to create your unique engagement rings by choosing a center stone and semi-mounting.
How’s this different from having a jeweler custom create your engagement ring locally?
You don’t pay for labor.
Unique engagement rings built from a wax mold get expensive quickly. There are all sorts of measurements, mockups, and steps. It also takes a while.
But with a center stone and unique engagement ring setting, you can create a stunning ring without paying all the extra.
Solitaire Unique Engagement Ring
Solitaire engagement rings are the traditional style. They feature a single stone atop a plain band. If you come across yellow gold engagement rings locally, they’ll most likely be in a solitaire setting among a sea of white gold rings.
Even if you like the classic style of a solitaire ring, there are a couple of ways to create unique engagement rings with this favorite ring style.
One is choosing a solitaire ring with an intricate basket or prong detailing. Many solitaire designs appear sparkly from a side profile view with small diamonds up the prongs.
The kind of basket or prongs you choose can retain the natural beauty of a solitaire but still, give it some extra oomph. You might hear these styles referred to as hidden halo settings, flower settings, or crown settings.
Celine Solitaire Ring
The split shank is another distinct variation of solitaire rings. There are different kinds of split shank settings out there, with or without diamonds.
This is still a simple yet inspired solitaire setting that will turn heads wherever you go. Choose it in yellow or rose gold to make it stand out more.
Devon Solitaire Ring
Side Stone Unique Engagement Rings
You’re more limited with solitaire settings, but not when it comes to unique engagement rings with side diamonds or gemstones. There are plenty of designs to choose from, whether you’re looking to wear something dainty and elegant or
If you’re looking for unique engagement rings featuring colored gems, this blue sapphire and white diamond engagement ring might tickle your fancy.
The halo ring setting isn’t all that unique, but adding sapphires gives a unique look.
The blue sapphires in the halo are stunning against the white diamonds. The way they weave around the diamond instead of a flat halo is something you don’t see very often.
Sometimes all you need is a little pop of blue color to create an elegant and inspired sapphire and diamond engagement ring.
Entwined Sapphire Ring
Finding a unique wedding band to accompany this ring wouldn’t be too hard either because it’s a straight wedding band. You could even double up your bands on either side.
Finally, for those of you looking for unique engagement rings to wear as your only ring, there are a couple of picks for you too. Here’s where you can get creative with your choices.
Art Deco-inspired rings are great if you only want to have one ring on your hand. They make unique engagement rings because they focus more on geometric lines and shapes. Many of them are flush settings or low profiles. These vintage rings are stunning and unique, displaying diamonds in a way you won’t often see in stores like this Art deco inspired halo diamond ring.
Irene Vintage Halo Ring
If you’re looking for a diamond ring to shine above the rest, a bold look like this hexagonal milgrain diamond engagement ring set in 14K yellow gold might be the one for you. If yellow gold isn’t for you, it might look fabulous in rose gold. You see, for one person, a ring may appear too flashy, but for another, it’s their dream engagement ring.
Florence Ring
Conclusion
Finding unique wedding rings might be difficult locally. The choices and variations online are endless. There are many ways to create a one-of-a-kind engagement ring that doesn’t break the bank or require planning every distinct feature.
Whether you’re inspired by a jewelry era, minimalist rings, colored diamonds, or colored gems, there’s a unique wedding ring out there with your name on it.
