Interesting trend reported in USA Today: Couples are supplementing the
traditional wedding band with pearl strands, emerald bracelets and hip
sterling baubles meant to celebrate love in a unique way. Check it out:
By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY
Some brides these days are snagging really big rings. Big enough, that
is, to drape necks and encircle wrists.
The wedding band is being appended, if not replaced, by the wedding
necklace or bracelet, pieces that symbolize togetherness in a more
contemporary way. The expanding category of commitment jewelry is yet
further evidence of continued departure from one-tradition-fits-
all, experts say.
"Brides are more in touch with their sense of style," says Diane Meier
Delaney, author of The New American Wedding: Ritual and Style in a
Changing Culture. They want their jewelry "to really speak about them."
Her book tells of a bride who chose a bracelet of emerald-cut
diamonds. Another opted for a strand of pearls; her husband adds
pearls to it every anniversary. "She was married in a choker," Delaney
says. "On their 20th anniversary, she'll just wrap it around and
around."
In an era of second and third marriages and older brides and grooms, a
not-unheard-of $40,000 ring "doesn't always make sense when you've got
children to educate and mortgages to pay off," Delaney says.
Online wedding resource The Knot sells a Family Medallion stamped with
three interlocking circles, a "big seller" for second marriages, says
senior editor Kathleen Murray. Everyone wears one "because it's more
like the family is getting married."
Sometimes the rule-breaking is about practicality. Sure, Rebecca
Romijn received a 6-carat yellow diamond engagement ring from Jerry
O'Connell. But while shooting WB's Pepper Dennis, she'd swap the rock
for a matching yellow diamond earrings, also from O'Connell, because
her character is single.
Susan Grant Fox's diamond band gets worn a few days a week. The rest
of the time she wears a pendant she designed, part of the Family Ties
Collection.
One side features a Celtic knot, representing longevity and love; the
other side, a Chinese symbol signifying "the interwoven nature of
life," according to the website.
"The wedding band is a lovely symbol, but I think it ends up just
looking like a piece of jewelry," Fox says. "I look at my medallion
and it represents my entire family to me, not just my husband."
Gail Scott and her husband, Frank, were married last year in Palm
Beach, Fla., in matching gold bands. The rings rarely grace their
fingers. Instead, the couple, both on their second marriage, don their
oxidized silver Family Ties medallions, suspended from black rubber
cords.
Says Scott: "It made a statement, but it wasn't screaming."
Four-strand freshwater cultured pearl necklace, $455. Get it at www.moonriverpearls.com
.
As for me, I'll take a 4-carat sparkler on my finger any day. Hey, a
girl can dream.
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