Article Directory

Based from historical records, the creation of wedding and engagement rings can be credited to Pope Innocent III. He insisted a sort of waiting period between the engagement and marriage proper. Since both of these events were treated as contracts, the rings were symbolically used in order to seal the deal legally. Before the 13th century, Europeans only make use of the engagement ring as tokens, although the history of wedding rings are more ancient.

About five thousand years ago, the Egyptians have already used reed or hemp rings as symbols of eternity, considering that rings were circle in shape that has no beginning and no end. During those periods, they generally did not give emphasis on gem cut types like the princess cut as much as we give importance to such feature today. In the biblical era, great dowry gifts were handed during the betrothal of couples. It has been speculated that rings, most especially those that are made from precious metals, were used as inexpensive substitutes for expensive dowries.

During the reign of Romans, rings were utilized as deal attestations and connotation of ownership. High ranking senators used gold rings that signified their positions in the community, while iron rings were used by ordinary citizens. The latter rings were relative to the large iron rings that serve as key holders inside the household. As such, it has been regarded that if a Roman citizen presented his bride with an iron marriage ring, he was therefore giving her the key to his household as well as all his worldly goods.

It was during 16th century England when the wedding ring was officially moved from the right ring hand to the left hand. It was assumed that such change was done in order to show a women her place in the society, since the right hand was acknowledged as the hand of power. The placement of the wedding ring on the third left hand finger was rooted from the idea that such finger was supposed to be the place where the love vein or vena amoris is situated; therefore, as the ring is symbolic of love, it was officially worn in the third left hand finger as it is directly connected to the heart. Today, many countries especially in the western region wear their wedding and engagement rings on the left hand, although there are also countries that traditionally wear their rings on the right hand like Poland and Ukraine.

For Puritans, rings were symbols of heathen so they did not used it for their wedding ceremonies; instead they make use of marriage thimbles to seal their wedding vows. It was the Victorians who practically embraced the use of wedding rings and embellished them with flowers and twin hearts. The Edwardians on the other hand, added leaf and other ornate patterns, which all started art deco rings. Since then, the use of gem stone rings were widely acknowledged along with the use of stone cut types like the princess cut, emerald cut, step cut and more.

It was not until World War II that men started to wear wedding and engagement rings. The first men to wear such rings were the soldiers going off to war; they used the rings as reminders of their waiting wives and partners. Today, most wedding ceremonies are also considered as double ring ceremonies. That is, both the bride and the groom wear wedding rings in order to show their commitment and love for each other, although the use of engagement ring is still reserved for women.