Choosing the Right Metal for Your Wedding Jewelry (2024)

FAQs

What metal is better for wedding rings? ›

Palladium is an exceptional choice in wedding ring and like Platinum it is a very hard wearing and durable metal. Palladium has a lustrous silvery-white finish similar to platinum but has a less heavy feel to it.

The strongest metal for rings, hands down, isn't gold or platinum. It's tungsten carbide. This once-unfamiliar wedding ring metal has become a quick favorite with those shopping for men's wedding bands and who love the superior scratch resistance. A tungsten ring just can't be scratched.

For jewelry, gold matches the value of high value stones. It's also more durable than silver and can maintain the setting's shape and shine for a much longer time.

While the traditional plain band of gold is still the most popular choice for a wedding ring, brides and grooms today have the luxury of choosing from a wide range of styles and metal types.

Platinum: The King of Precious Metals

Platinum jewelry is exceptionally durable and resistant to wear, making it an ideal choice for pieces meant to be worn every day, such as engagement rings and wedding bands. Its hypoallergenic properties also make it suitable for those with sensitive skin.

Tungsten. Tungsten is four times harder than titanium and the most scratch-resistant metal you'll find for a wedding band. If you're looking for high scratch-resistance with a comfortable price tag, tungsten is your best bet.

Being the more solid and durable material, tungsten has a heavier weight and may feel as such when worn. Titanium, on the other hand, is incredibly lightweight even being so durable. If you have an affinity for lightweight materials and don't want the heavier ring on your finger, stick with titanium.

Platinum has for a long time been known as the best metal out there for wedding and engagement rings. It's extremely durable and will last someone a lifetime. Platinum is also one of the most expensive metals because of its rarity and density.

Tungsten Wedding Bands Are Durable

While tungsten's hardness is what makes it so durable and scratch-proof, tungsten is so hard that if it comes in contact with another extremely hard surface (tile floor), it can crack. But don't worry, it's a rare occurrence and cracking is covered under our lifetime warranty.

Alloys are added not only to change the color, but also to make the metal harder and more durable. Rings made with 14K gold are harder and wear less over time than rings made with 18K gold.

What is the best choice for a wedding ring? ›

18-karat gold is the best composition for wedding rings. It contains 75% gold and 25% alloying metals. Thus, it has abundant pure gold to maintain its sparkling shine while having enough alloying materials to be very durable and scratch-resistant. Platinum is another popular metal for wedding rings.

If your ring is made of 18K gold, it contains 7.5 grams of pure gold and the rest of it is made up of other metals. If your ring is made of 14K gold, it contains 5.8 grams of pure gold and the rest of it is made up of other metals.

The metals that you should avoid in jewelry are lead, nickel, cadmium, etc., which may hurt your health.

Historically, yellow gold has been a more popular metal for women's and men's wedding bands than white gold. However, white gold has become much more popular over the last decade and is currently the most popular type of gold for engagement rings and wedding bands.

24k gold is 100% pure gold, and pure gold is much too soft and flexible to make into a wedding ring. 18k and 14k yellow gold engagement or wedding rings have the best balance of gold and alloyed metals.

Titanium is also more hypoallergenic than Tungsten, albeit Tungsten is pretty hypoallergenic in its own right. To put the durability in perspective, Titanium is about 1/4 the weight of Gold, but is 3 times as strong/scratch resistant. Tungsten is slightly heavier than Gold, but is 3.5 times as strong/scratch resistant.

If you're looking for a ring that is stylish and comfortable, easy to care for and maintains its appearance for a lifetime, then a titanium ring ticks all the right boxes for you. Whereas, if you want something that embodies delicacy and sparkle, but can't afford to spend huge amounts, try stainless steel.

Titanium provides several unique factors that make it a good metal for jewelry. It is very strong, more dent, bend and scratch resistant than gold, silver and platinum, is lightweight and importantly offers an exotic array of colors which other metals simply do not.