We have been fortunate to have a diverse demographic of customers over the years here in small town Blacksburg, VA. Learning about and adhering to other cultures’ customs during the engagement and marriage process is something that we have enjoyed being included in. While wedding and engagements rings are often a universal symbol of love and commitment, there are cultural variations of how they are presented, chosen, and designed. The rings shown in the picture below are ones that we designed for a couple from Sweden.
Whereas the tradition in many cultures is to propose with a diamond ring, the custom in Sweden has been for both men and women to wear simple gold bands as their engagement rings. Afterwards, a diamond ring or another band is typically purchased for the woman to receive at the wedding. Although the bands have traditionally been simple and plain, the look is evolving to include more ornate designs that incorporate individual style and flair.
For these particular rings, the custom process started when the customer brought in a drawing of their own design. We used their sketch to develop a wax model of the ring with hand carvings, which was then cast in 18k yellow gold. There was some difficulty in determining finger size due to differences in sizing and number conversions, but we thankfully figured it out. Next, some milgrain and other engraving details were added around the edges, and two small round diamonds were set in one of the rings. Then the bands were polished, and the couple was ready to start their matrimonial journey. They emailed us the picture from Sweden along with the following thoughtful message:
Dear Faith,
We would like to send our thanks to you for making our rings. We are
very happy with how they turned out and they both fit perfectly on our
fingers. Thank you for making our design come true. We are now happily
engaged and will be married in the summer.
Best wishes from Sweden,
And thank YOU for allowing us Americans to be a part of your Swedish engagement and design process! :)