wedding bands! + wedding jewellery

the 4-part series.

engagement ring

lhy had absolutely no clue what to get for me. he asked me what i liked and he was already considering to get me a wooden ring:

what?!?!

no. it's not even a wooden ring of taste, like this:

ok, nice, but i still won't want a ring like that for my engagement.

then he asked, "what about jade?"

in his words, so i can be emperor or an auntie?

uh, not really. and as much as jade is nice, i see it as accessory rather than everyday wear.

he also suggested the ring from LOTR.

seeing how this was going nowhere, i decided it was time to help him, so i sent him these: 

yea, i like vintage-y rings, with patterns like braids or twists.

actually i had gotten much of my inspiration from etsy!:

WHAT SO GORGEOUS. just look at this! S$700

S$900

a set of 2 rose gold rings, you can even use the other as wedding band, S$940

S$510, oh gosh, this is too amazing.

ok there is alot more on etsy as i'm browsing now to find some nice examples to show you how you can get an engagement ring at 10-15% of your bf's monthly salary, and not 5 times.

i'm starting to regret not getting the engagement ring online all over again! :( i was really excited to browse their rings then, cos since i was like 18 or something when etsy first appeared, i've been browsing their stuff and i simply love the eclectic stuff that sellers feature. 

i've talked to a software engineer who works there and he says that etsy takes great pains to weed out non-original work/ manufactured stuff (like all the stuff you see on everywhere else). they even manually curate their stuff for the featured products! so much respect for etsy and its DIY culture.

so yeah, we didn't in the end cos han yang convinced me that we should spend the money on a legit GIA-certified, genuine diamond. and who knows whether the diamonds online are fake/blood diamonds?

:( so we did. we went to eclarity (they sell pretty affordable diamonds that are GIA certified, and you get to pick the diamond and the setting as well and they will customise it for you) i picked out the smallest carat that was GIA certified (0.3c) and i didn't even care cos they looked the same to me. and because i had wanted to get my wedding band in gold/rose gold, i decided to go with silver for the engagement:

my phone camera is damn good!

i got it set on this twisty design which i like. don't get me wrong, my ring is pretty and i like it cos it's a symbol of lhy's commitment to me, but i'm sad that i could have gotten something that was hand made, nicer, and at half the price (or 1/3 for that matter). i always had a soft spot for self-made designers. and the idea of carats or whatever grade is lost on me anw cos i just don't care. yea, so if you don't really care for such things, don't get cheated by this engagement ring industry! 

ok i change my mind.

 IF you care, then you need to reassess your motivations of wanting a diamond ring. is it societal or what. 

i don't know, but to me it's a huge scam. :(

---

my wedding band:

anyway, after the engagement ring experience, i decided to follow my heart for the wedding band. to be honest, i've not seen a nice wedding band in singapore in my life. all of them look like small versions of men's rings:

this is quite ok already.

what in the world is this.

is it just a matter of taste? i don't know.

ok anyway, i should stop insulting the local rings; maybe i'm the one with weird taste.

on etsy..

another totally chio stackable set of rings, S$580 only

 i think i am an auntie at heart, $650

some kinda turkish/ middle eastern design, $400

oh this ring is just divine! a pity this is the first time i'm seeing it, S$650

anyway, i eventually bought this in 14k rose gold! S$560

i think it was an extra US$25 to get it shipped. yea, you could probably find cheaper options in Singapore but not the design, no. 

only at Etsy.

tah dah

when worn together. 

the wedding ring is slightly larger but i didn't adjust cos i will probably gain weight at some point in my life anyway, so i use the engagement ring as a stopper.

i love them together!

---

lhy's wedding ring:

han yang is the kind who doesn't care about what he wears much. even though he is always smartly dressed, most of the time they are hand-me-downs, or stuff he bought 5 years ago on exchange. at home he usually alternates between five 5 - 8 year old shirts that have discoloured and started to smell strange even though we wash them frequently. his berms are also tatty and elastic has been changed multiple times.

obviously, i was more interested in finding a wedding band for him than he did.

i found out from research that alot of guys buy rings made of a material called tungsten carbide. it is much cheaper than gold, and is super hardy (doesn't tarnish at all).

here's an example:

yea, looks just like gold right. they say it's bullet proof. you can't even cut through it.

hence, that is also its disadvantage. you can't resize the ring.

but some find it so cheap (like maybe $50? or even less) that they buy multiple rings and change them out as they lose/gain weight.

anyway han yang didn't like the idea cos he felt gold was symbolic of love and its value or something like that. what a sentimental.

we went online and searched some local jewellery shops and they were all in the range of S$800 and above cos the rings are thick, hence more gold.

anyway to cut the long story short, i found out from someone (can't remember who now) that Meyson sells affordable rings! so i decided to drag lhy there. we went to the one at bugis.

most of the rings didn't look nice aesthetically, but the cost was indeed lower than most other places. we were getting ready to leave already, and then this ring caught our eye!:

(han yang is wearing his 2012 faded shirt)

it was in 18k rose gold, with simple swirls consistent across the ring. lhy tried it and it looked nice on him! he thought it would have been nicer in matte, but he tried another matte ring and it didn't go very well. well, and it was S$450 (!!!), and it matched the colour of mine, so we were out in 15 minutes! whoopeedoo! why is it i took weeks to decide on getting mine?

another one of it upclose.

---

wedding jewellery:

my mum wanted buying me some wedding gold, and she also had a pile of heirlooms at home for me to pick.

so one day she brought all of them out! 

so many gold chains! all 3 of us (incl. my sis) liked the thinnest gold chain (the one to the left of the donut jade)

my mum said she wore all of the gold when she got married. what a #thug. she said it's gold across different eras. from left, she said the 2nd (leaf) and 6th necklaces (with pendant) were like the in thing. i thought the rest (older necklaces) were more classy.

anyway because it was split between her, my sis and i, i got to pick out 1 necklace to keep, and some other accessories :) my sis doesn't like gold much and hence didn't have preference.

i picked these out!:

the consistent theme is hints of jade :) 

1. i picked the thicker chain in the end cos my mum liked the thin one. also because wedding wear thick chain nicer.
2. 2 bracelets - the clasp bangle and the jade bracelet. my mum had a set of 2 clasp bangles and 1 was a gift from my dad to her, and one from her mum (my grandma). the 2nd bracelet is from her grandma (my ah chor), the cutest grandma ever
3. the donut jade pendant and the jade ring came in a set. my mum said her mum had bought it from an 'estate sale' type thing (cos they were poor). she didn't want me to have them cos it was not auspicious, and wanted to get me new ones. but i insisted cos heirlooms are cooler than buying new jewellery, and also cos mama said she always wore the jade ring and people came to recognise her jade ring first before noticing that it was her.

tah dah, major love <3

wearing the bangle/bracelet

so anyway i still had to get some additional stuff, like earrings. i went to lovisa, which has tons of designs, mostly very in trend.

i got these:

for the wedding dinner. would have liked them in gold cos i was pairing with green dress, but don't have!

i got these genuine jade earrings from chomel for about $80

on that day my sis gifted me a pair of earrings from holstad & co! she said she spent a lot of time picking it out the day before (also partly why we needed so much help from my LG for the church deco lol) 

anyway these red earrings with an oriental touch were just perfect cos after altering my wedding dress into mandarin collar i didn't have any earrings that could fit the dress as nicely. <3

mama and papa helping me put on my jewellery on that day

only for show cos wear gold necklace to church abit too heavy

earrings <3

sister love

jade earrings, and 2 necklaces. i borrowed the extra chunky one from my mum.

i dont have many upclose photos of the dinner! but anyway, here's the earrings and jade bracelet with the green dress.

i also got gifts from ma and pa (han yang's parents):

they asked whether i would like jewellery and i said yes because i wanted to keep them and hand them down to my future kids <3 but i also told them to get something simple, don't need 四点金. they agreed too.

picked out a simple design from heng heng!

han yang's god ma, mummy, also got me bracelet. so sweet of her.

my 2 姑姑s from johor figured i didn't like gold (how wrong they were heh) and bought me pandora necklace and bracelet! heh, i'm still finding an occasion to wear them cos i don't fancy them as much as old school jewellery. 

so yup, that's the story of my wedding jewellery! loved every part of the whole experience.