The concept of a wedding ring is as ancient as the metals and gemstone themselves.  The circular shape of the ring is not only to suit the contour of the finger, but dates back to an ancient Egyptian concept. The Egyptians used the circle as a physical representation of eternity. The shape of the circle was not the only part of the equation, for the middle of the circle or the inside of a ring, represented the known and unknown, which often is related to human emotion.

The practice of the ring—symbol of everlasting love—migrated to the Greeks who made the rings out of hemp, ivory and leather. Eventually the Romans, who also started the tradition behind the ring finger, started to use metal—specifically iron—to make wedding rings.  The Romans glided the ring onto the fourth finger of the left hand because it was believed that this finger contained the vein that leads to the heart. This practice is referred to as vena amoris, which is Latin for “vein of love”.

It wasn’t until the middle of the 19^th century that both women and men starting wearing weddings rings in the United States. In the past, only women would wear a wedding ring, usually a gold metal band, on the left finger or on a necklace around the neck. By the late 1940s, both men and woman wore gold wedding bands. This transition is often credited to the jewelry industry’s marketing campaigns in the 1920s. More recently, wedding rings are marketed as a three piece set—the engagement ring, the woman’s wedding ring and the man’s wedding ring.  The woman’s engagement ring is often merged with the wedding band and worn as one ring after the wedding.

Generally, there are two ways for women to wear a wedding ring.  One practice is to wear the wedding ring under the engagement ring because it is closer to the heart—the other is simply the opposite with the wedding ring on top to seal the marriage.

This process becomes even more complicated when considering the engagement ring. If the engagement ring is intended to be a separate piece, some women wear the engagement ring on the right hand during the wedding ceremony. Others wear it on the left finger and the man places the wedding ring on top of the engagement ring during the exchange of rings. Many women don’t wear the engagement during the ceremony, but give it to someone there to hold until after the wedding ring is received.   Despite the many options in wearing wedding rings, some people still choose to wear more traditional rings and/or disapprove the use of the many precious metals and gemstones that are popular today.

Tags: Engagement Rings, history of wedding rings, wearing engagement rings, wearing wedding rings, Wedding Rings

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under Wedding Rings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.