Wedding Wednesday | My Recycled Engagement Ring

If you’ve ever thought you wanted your engagement ring to be a little different than the norm, consider recycling.

I always knew I wanted a petite engagement ring with simple details. It’s a combination of small fingers and constant typing; most rings leave me uncomfortable after an hour or so, which is the worst when you plan to wear one for literally the rest of your life. And the price for large rings always rubbed me the wrong way. To each their own, but I’d rather we use those few thousand bucks towards the house. Besides, something too showy might look odd with my perpetual loose button-up/skinny jeans wardrobe — and even weirder on my beloved pajama day. We can’t have that.

So, when Lance and I became serious, I started thinking about recycling a piece of jewelry into my engagement ring. My mother was kind enough to give me the perfect piece.

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That’s my mother’s engagement ring, attached to the wedding band. (As a note, my mother pointed out that this ring is upside down, so… picture it the other way. Whoops!) My father, who passed several years ago, bought it for my mother in the 1980’s. Financially, recycling a stone made perfect sense for me. Add in the sentimental value — and the fact that reusing a stone removes the potential ethical issues — and it was our clear winner.

Only problem: It was the wrong size, the wrong style, and the wrong color.
Simple solution: I brought it back to the store, easy as that.

If it’s possible to bring the piece back to the original jeweler, do! Since my mother’s ring originally came from Shane Co., the fee for removing and resetting the diamond was waived; the only charge was for the band, which was more than reasonable.

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To decide on a look, the sales associate found a similarly-sized stone and placed it in different bands for me to try. Having the ring made took about an hour of in-store shopping and paperwork, plus a two-day waiting period before pick-up. And, of course, the Shane Co. guarantee — from cleanings to future re-sizings — was included. Oh, and the box. Shane Co. of course gave me a box. Every gal wants to keep the box, no?

My recycled engagement ring is probably the most sentimental way I have ever saved money. When I look down at my hand, I’m not only reminded of the love between me and Lance, but the love between my parents and our families. Not to get too sappy, but it’s a pretty spectacular feeling.

Would you consider recycling a stone for your engagement ring? Have you? Tell me in the comments!

7 Comments

  1. March 18, 2015 / 11:22 pm

    I plan on using my grandmother’s wedding band as my wedding band one day!

  2. March 19, 2015 / 3:10 pm

    Very beautiful and dainty!

  3. Carol M
    March 31, 2015 / 8:40 pm

    Forgive the length of this – it needs a little background to make sense. I’m a bit older than you (truthfully – old enough to be your mother), so I received my simple, round solitaire engagement ring, many, many years ago. I always thought I would pass it down to a daughter, but alas, we were blessed with an only son. My husband gave me a gorgeous diamond band for a milestone anniversary, which looked fantastic with my gold wedding band (it was my great-grandmother’s wedding band), but the engagement ring fit awkwardly with it and had become too small for me. My husband’s inexpensive band no longer resembled anything close to a circle. One Christmas I purchased a new, hefty band for him, set with the diamond from my engagement ring. It’s a perfect combination of both parents to pass along to our son. It’s a nice style that doesn’t scream “wedding”, so he can choose to use it as a wedding band, or not.

  4. March 31, 2015 / 9:30 pm

    That sounds lovely, Carol! I’m so glad to hear about people enjoying the sentimental aspect of growing families! Weddings, marriage, and any kind of love makes me a little cheesy, so please don’t mind me while I literally say “Awwww!” to my computer screen at your comment. 😉

    I’m sure your son will love the heirloom. Thank you for sharing the story!

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