Mens Wedding Ring Guide

If you’re looking for a mens wedding ring, sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. Which metal? What size? What width? What if you get it wrong? With so much choice, it can be overwhelming, which is why we’ve created this buyers’ guide. Follow along as we guide you through the process of finding your perfect wedding ring.

Know Your Size.

Knowing your size will quickly help you determine what rings are immediately available to you. We’ve created a “How to find your ring size” guide that will help you do just that. Once you know your ring size, you can then go to our “All Mens Rings” category and use the size filter above the rings in the catalogue to only show which designs are available in your size. Keep in mind that we are often able to produce custom sizes in most designs, so if you are happy to wait a little longer, and pay a little more, you may not want to filter by size, so that you can see all of the designs available. If you need it quickly though, it’s best to find out your size as quickly as possible, and then use the filter system to see which wedding rings are available for fast shipping.

ring-sizer
Free Ring Sizer With Every Ring Order

So what happens if you get your size wrong? Well, don’t panic! Ring sizing is not always an exact science, as different widths and thicknesses can affect what size will feel most comfortable for you, and temperature can also make a big difference. If you go to a local jeweller and get sized up in cold air-conditioning, your finger will actually slightly reduce in size. So when you then buy a wedding rings in that size, then go out into the summer heat, your ring may feel a bit tight, as your ring size has now changed due to the temperature difference. This is also why when you go to different jewellers and get your finger sized, they may give you different answers as to what they think your ring size is.

Ultimately, the ideal way to find out your ring size for a wedding ring is to find out your approximate size, and then try on your desired style ring in that size in a variety of temperatures and conditions. It should be firm but not too tight in warm/hot conditions, and movable but not too loose in cold conditions. If you have bought a precious metal ring, you can have it resized to fit perfectly, or if you have bought a modern metal wedding ring, you can exchange it for the correct size. Here at Mens Rings Online we provide a free ring sizer with every order to make sure you can accurately determine what size you will need if you decide to exchange. This is really important, as otherwise you may end up doing a lot of exchanges before finding the perfect size.

Weight A Minute

Another event that can throw a spanner in the works is that your finger may not stay the same size throughout the course of your life. You may gain weight, or you may lose weight, which can affect the your ring size. With a fashion or dress ring, this may not be a problem, but with a wedding ring, it can be an issue.

If you’re wearing a precious metal wedding band like gold or platinum, you can have it resized fairly easily (and why not get it repolished while you’re at it). If you are wearing a titanium or tungsten wedding ring, then you will need to exchange it, or buy a new one, as they can’t be resized. This is why we have a “Fit For Life” policy, where you can exchange your old ring for a new one in the size you need for a small fee (similar to the cost of resizing a precious metal ring).

Throughout this discussion on finding the right ring size, you’ll have noticed that we’ve talked about precious metals and modern metals, and how they have different qualities and sizing issues. So how do you go about choosing the right metal for you?

Choosing Your Metal.

With a wide range of metals now available, it’s a good idea to know which metals will not only suit your tastes, but also your lifestyle. Precious metals have hundreds of years of tradition behind them, and can be resized, but modern metals like titanium and tungsten are hardier when it comes to everyday life. No one metal is better than all the others, as they all have strengths and weaknesses. Only you can decide which metal is best for you.

Precious Metals

Metals like gold and platinum have been the obvious choices for a very long time now, as they are considered to be rare and precious, which symbolises the love you have for your partner. They are also often chosen because they can match the metal used in the Bride’s wedding ring set perfectly. Probably the biggest benefit to precious metals though is that they can be resized in the event that you find the ring to be a bit loose or a bit tight, or in the event that you gain or lose weight throughout the course of your life.

Two Tone Gold Mens Wedding Ring
Two Tone Gold Men’s Wedding Ring

Precious metal rings are not without their drawbacks though, which is why modern metals have become so popular so quickly. Precious metals by their very nature can be a bit “precious”. They scratch, bend and dent quite easily compared with the tougher metals, especially for men, who tend to have workplaces and hobbies that inflict more wear and tear on their wedding rings than women.

The other barrier for precious metal wedding rings is cost. Precious metal prices have increased very significantly over the last couple of decades, and with increasing costs for other areas of the wedding, this can be a significant factor. Another overlooked potential cost is the fact that husbands don’t tend to have a great track record of hanging on to their wedding rings. A large number of our customers come for wedding ring replacements, where the husband has lost or damaged their wedding ring beyond repair. While a husband can lose any kind of ring, the cost of replacing a lost precious metal ring is a lot more than the replacement cost of a modern metal wedding ring.

One way to reduce the cost of a gold wedding ring is to buy rings with a lower gold content. 24Ct gold is pure gold, 18ct gold is 75% gold and 25% filler, and it goes down from there. Did you know that 9ct gold is only 37.5% gold?

–> Click here to browse our range of precious metal men’s rings.

Modern Metal Wedding Rings

When we talk about “modern metal” men’s wedding rings, we’re primarily referring to titanium and tungsten wedding rings. These two metals have grown massively in popularity over the last decade in particular, and now make up the majority of our wedding ring orders.

So how did this happen and why have they become so popular? The reason it has only happened fairly recently (in terms of the full history of wedding rings) is because it’s only over the last couple of decades that we’ve had the technology that has allowed us to work with such difficult metals in a cost effective manner. They are difficult because titanium is so strong, and tungsten is so hard – which are two very different properties, with two very different sets of pros and cons.

Titanium Wedding Rings

Titanium Gold Mens Wedding Ring
Titanium & Gold Men’s Wedding Ring

Titanium is famous for being both light yet very strong. This makes it a perfect choice for someone who doesn’t particularly like the feel of a ring on their finger for example. Its strength also means that it doesn’t dent or bend like precious metals can. One myth that often surrounds titanium though is the idea that it doesn’t scratch. Titanium is more scratch resistant than precious metals, but it will still scratch over time. Titanium can be repolished however, without wearing down the metal like repolishing gold can.

Titanium also cannot be resized like precious metals, so it’s important that you buy from a store that has a great exchange policy as well as a long term exchange policy like our “Fit For Life” program, that allows you to change the size should you change weight in future.

Overall, titanium is the most popular choice for men’s wedding rings, with tungsten a close second.

–> Click here to browse our range of titanium rings.

Tungsten Wedding Rings

Tungsten is the new kid on the block, and may be the fastest growing segment in the men’s wedding bands market. Tungsten is the second hardest material on earth next to diamond, and as such, it can only be scratched by diamonds or materials that are equally as hard. One of the drawbacks of hardness though, is brittleness. Diamonds are the hardest material on earth, yet they can be fractured to created the stunning faceted diamonds that we all know and love. Tungsten as a pure metal is also quite brittle. A pure tungsten ring is virtually scratch-proof, yet would shatter into a thousand pieces if dropped. This is why carbon is added to the tungsten to create “Tungsten Carbide”. This keeps the scratch-proof qualities, but adds strength. In an extreme situation, even a tungsten carbide ring can break though, so it’s still important to look after your tungsten wedding ring, even though it may seem bulletproof.

The scratch-proof qualities of tungsten are hard to comprehend until you’ve seen a polished tungsten wedding ring that still looks like it’s brand new after many years of wear and tear. No other metal can come close, and it’s almost certainly the main reason tungsten wedding rings have become so popular.

–> Click here to browse our range of tungsten rings.

Emergency

One area of concern with modern metal rings, is whether they can be removed in an emergency or not. We have taken our titanium wedding rings and tungsten carbide rings into a hospital emergency room, and were surprised to find that their ring cutting tool actually had a tungsten carbide blade! Needless to say, it cut through both the titanium and tungsten rings with no problems.

The Perfect Metal…For You

As you can see, there are definite positives and negatives to each metal, it comes down to what kind of lifestyle the Groom leads, as well as his individual preferences. No one metal is perfect for everyone. Once you have decided which metal you want, you can filter the search results by material, and quickly remove all rings that aren’t made from that metal. Now that we’ve filtered out any rings that aren’t the right size or metal, we’re really getting somewhere!

Width

Are you looking for a slimmer ring? Or do you need a wide ring (generally suits larger sizes/fingers, or longer fingers). 6-7mm wide are good for sizes up to around 9/R.5, while 7-8mm are good for sizes 10/T.5 and above, but this is just a guide, as everybody has their own personal tastes. If you know what width you’re looking for, you can also filter by width by using the filter above the rings in our online catalogue. Of course, if you find that the ring is too wide, or not wide enough, you can exchange it for something different.

Find A Design That YOU Like.

Remember, it is the Groom who will be the one wearing the ring, so it’s important that he is comfortable with the design. Does he like brushed or polished? Rounded or flat? Maybe he likes two-tone rings, or rings with a non-metallic inlay like wood or carbon fiber. Whatever you like, make sure it is something that he will enjoy wearing. If you’re looking for something a little more edgy or fashionable, check out our “Collections”.

Remember That You Can Change Your Mind!

Unless you have purchased a custom made ring, we offer a 60 day change of mind guarantee. If you don’t like the size, width, or design of the ring, simply send it back, and we’ll help you to choose one that will be more suitable. We really want you to love the ring you buy from us, as you’ll be wearing it for a lifetime.