History of Wedding Rings – How the Tradition Came into Being?

 

There is no doubt that your wedding gown, the walk down the aisle, and the vows you exchange with your significant other will be some of the most cherished memories of your wedding day. But one memory that you will physically carry into your wedding life as a testimony of forever love is the wedding rings you both exchanged. Many of the wedding customs we practice today date back centuries, and exchanging rings is one of the oldest nuptial rituals. We’ve seen wedding rings adorned, preserved, and passed down through generations, becoming treasured heirlooms. It is indeed intriguing to learn about the first trendsetting couple, ‘wedding innovators’ if we may call them, to think of this wonderful tradition of love. Although there is no clear path to its birth, the significance of a wedding ring has evolved with culture and region. They are rich in emotional significance and personal history, and this has been the case for far longer than you may think. Let’s find out why and how.

The Rise of Diamond Wedding Rings

The earliest documented diamond wedding ring was bequeathed to an English widow in her will. “Two wills, two emotions, two passions are linked in one marriage by a diamond,”; quoting a poem composed about the 1475 wedding of two Italian socialites. Diamond rings also increased exponentially in design and popularity throughout the 19th century, owing to Queen Victoria’s well-known fondness for it.

They only became mainstream when Hollywood actresses started flaunting scintillating diamonds in their films, and they quickly became glamorous emblems of romance. Of course, who can forget Marilyn Monroe’s iconic song, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

The American Wedding Ring Culture

Contrary to common assumptions, wedding rings were not always a part of American society. Puritans in colonial America considered jewelry to be frivolous. As a consequence, the man presented his fiancée with a sewing thimble. Although it was a symbolic present, the prospective wife would use the thimble in her everyday sewing chores. Brides began to cut off the thimble cup, leaving only the outer ring, and use it as a wedding band after a certain point.

Similarly, before the 1940s, men in America did not commonly wear wedding bands. It was only during World War II that soldiers began to wear rings, reminding them of their wives when deployed.

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