The Tamesis
In May 2022, while we were honeymooning in Barbados, my husband inspected the new wedding ring on his finger and said with a smile, “I should dress nice.” Patcharavipa’s matching rings, both made from twisted gold cord, were identical except for one detail: mine was set with 360 pavé diamonds. I chose a chunky ring that was a bit more showy than a regular, plain precious metal ring because before I got married, I decided to wear a ring as a symbol of my marriage. It feels more equal and intentional than wearing an engagement ring. It also helped that I decided long before I was officially off the market that Pacharavipa’s ring was the one.
Today, women are looking for personalized engagement rings that increasingly don’t adhere to the solitaire convention. Interest in colored gemstones, cognac diamonds, antique cuts, east-west settings, mixed metals and large bands is on the rise, driven in part by A-list stars like Taylor Swift, Zendaya and Miley Cyrus opting for non-traditional engagement rings. “It’s really unprecedented and there’s a lot more freedom of expression,” says Lylie founder Eliza Walter, a London jeweler. Not only is she seeing a growing interest in Art Deco designs, angular clusters of stones and “bigger, bolder, chunkier pieces,” but brides are also starting to invest in one-off rings. She attributes this in part to the growing number of straight couples designing wedding rings together, rather than waiting for women to get down on one knee and propose.
“I wanted something simple, modern, but also stunning,” says jewelry publicist Rosie Lillis, who, six years after her wedding, swapped her engagement and wedding rings for custom designs by London goldsmith Jessie Thomas. Lillis has always taken an unconventional approach to wedding jewelry, opting to wear her original engagement ring, a stunning Chanel Camellia design, on her left hand and her wedding band on her right hand, stacked with other jewelry. “After two kids and a kitten, it felt like it was time to take the plunge,” she smiles of her upgrade: a curved design in 18-karat gold set by a 1.5-carat pear-shaped floating diamond.
While wealthy couples may choose to invest two budgets in one ring, others are more economical. Walter mentioned two of her clients: A couple who had exhausted their wedding budget, chose to exchange vows with inexpensive rings, and then romantically upgraded their single ring as a first-anniversary gift. The recent spike in the cost of precious metals can also cause price fluctuations in engagement rings. Fortunately, more affordable lab-grown diamonds allow couples to invest in fancier, more eye-catching alternatives.
Jewelry publicist Anna Beesley ditched her wedding ring in favor of jewelry that paid homage to her fiancé’s Indian heritage. “Traditionally, the groom would place a mangalsutra around the bride’s neck at the wedding. It’s a sacred necklace made of black beads believed to protect the couple from evil, while the gold represents love and devotion.” It helped that her engagement ring required absolutely no decoration. Late one Sunday night in 2025, Beesley’s husband proposed to her with a box containing an unmounted antique Asscher cut diamond. The stone becomes the protagonist of an Art Deco-style bezel-set ring with baguette diamonds set in yellow and white gold.
