picking a ring - platinum or white gold?

Well, I have to chime in and say I can't stand platium! Sorry! I think it's too shiny and too hard!! Most artisan jewelers prefer to work with gold because it ages and shows that lovely patina. The success of platinum - and the corresponding price people pay for it - is the result of a very successful marketing campaign. 10 years ago, no one cared for it at all. My rings are white gold and hand engraved by the same man who engraved the World Cup trophies and Princess Diana's coffin plate. He told me he never willing works with platinum.

But that's just my opinion and I know I'm in the minority!

Of course it's a matter of opinion as far as the look - people like different things!  That's fine!  I not only like the look of platinum but to me I really like the weight and the strength of it.  My first set of wedding/engagement rings were 14k gold and although I liked the look I did get them polished every year or two to get the scratches out.  Our jeweler told us that eventually the gold would get very thin and showed us her wedding ring which she wore for ages - it was like 1/4" thin! 

I don't disagree that marketing is what's driven the price up but it's a fact that it wears longer than gold - both yellow and white. 

I've no preference -- my wedding band & engagement ring have a bit of yellow gold & a bit of white gold in them.  But I recommend to anyone...have your rings custom-designed if you can.

Of course it's a matter of opinion as far as the look - people like different things!  That's fine!  I not only like the look of platinum but to me I really like the weight and the strength of it.  My first set of wedding/engagement rings were 14k gold and although I liked the look I did get them polished every year or two to get the scratches out.  Our jeweler told us that eventually the gold would get very thin and showed us her wedding ring which she wore for ages - it was like 1/4" thin! 

I don't disagree that marketing is what's driven the price up but it's a fact that it wears longer than gold - both yellow and white. 

Sorry, I'm not trying to dismiss anyone's taste. Really! But I actually like that about gold - that it wears. When I see an antique ring that shows it's age, I can't help but wonder about all the stories behind it - all the things it could tell. And now, when I notice the little scratches on my husband's ring I know he got those out in his field sites and I got mine in the garden. To me that's what makes jewelry interesting - not that it looks pristine forever.

That said, because we did have ours custom made (as Carolyn suggests), we did go for thicker bands so that it will take a long, long time to wear really thin!

Yeah I prefer thinner bands so my gold one would have worn thin very quickly.  My platinum band is pretty thin - like 2mm - so I'm glad it's platinum and won't wear as quickly.  I've worn my rings for about a year and a half and they do have scratches but much fewer than my gold ones had.  I love my rings and I'm so glad I chose them (note: I chose them!). 

I thought about having mine custom made but to be honest, I just got the absolutely plainest design there is so didn't really see the point in getting them made.  I have pretty simple tastes I think!

Yeah I prefer thinner bands so my gold one would have worn thin very quickly.  My platinum band is pretty thin - like 2mm - so I'm glad it's platinum and won't wear as quickly. 

Part of the reason we went with platinum, other than the alloy issue, is that both my engagement ring and my (eventual) wedding band are thin (2mm) and the one white gold ring that I do have (a sterling/white gold alloy, my class ring from uni) also has a 2mm band - which is noticeably lopsided after six years of wearing it every day.  I don't mind that my ASC ring is deformed - it's now obvious which side is up, but hey, that just gives it character! - but I don't want my wedding band to suffer the same fate.

Yeah I prefer thinner bands so my gold one would have worn thin very quickly. 

Not that I'm getting engaged anytime soon but, ladies, this is all good info for me to store away for future reference.    Like you, Geeta, I prefer really thin bands. I like estate jewellery -- particularly stuff from the 1920s, and they went for very thin bands then, so that's probably what we'll go with. Of course, my bf knows none of this! I have an aunt who works in an antique shop that sells a lot of estate jewellery -- every time I go in, she has new (old) rings for me to try on!

Did anyone else go the estate jewellery route? Any advice?

My ring is white gold. Df picked it out, and I love it. He got a life time protection plan on it where they clean and repair it and if i ever loose a rock they'll replace it for free.

Not that I'm getting engaged anytime soon but, ladies, this is all good info for me to store away for future reference. 

Ditto, hehe.  However, my boyfriend and I actually do have a reason to buy fairly high-quality rings (those rings will probably double as engagement rings when the time comes) so I've been following this discussion with interest.  I think what's going to be the deciding factor for us is simply cost, since we're both students on very limited budgets.  So it's probably going to be 14K white gold.

But...has anyone ever had experience with rose gold (I like the color- so pretty!) or palladium jewelry?  I'm especially interested in the palladium as it has the look of platinum but is so much cheaper (but still more expensive than gold.)

That said, because we did have ours custom made (as Carolyn suggests), we did go for thicker bands so that it will take a long, long time to wear really thin! 

My two rings together are much thicker than anything I ever thought I'd wear!  Lol!  'Cause I tended to prefer thinner bands myself.  But there's such a personal 'story' behind the building of my rings...  We got the diamond on holiday for my 40th birthday in Antwerp, so there are those memories.  Then we sat down with a jewelry designer in Leeds & designed the engagement ring ourselves (with the designer's help of course!).  So I know there's probably not another ring out there exactly like mine!   Originally, I had a plain gold band to go with it, as the wedding ring.  After we were married, Steve lost his wedding band on holiday in Florida (slipped off his finger whilst swimming in the Gulf) - so he took mine (re-sized) instead.  Then we later found a lovely wedding band (it doesn't match his) that I liked much better & really looked fab with the engagement ring...that was from a little shop down the street from us.  I like it that it ended up being a project that evolved over time...just like a marriage.

Sometimes I think the design we worked out for the engagement ring doesn't highlight the diamond as much as it could.  Maybe we will change it someday.  Or better yet, get another diamond and...

Personally, I like platinum.  It ages better whereas white gold tends to get a yellow hue after awhile. 

Another postive for white gold (but you know if I had more money I would have gotten platinum)  When your white gold wears down you can always go ring shopping again!!

Another postive for white gold (but you know if I had more money I would have gotten platinum)  When your white gold wears down you can always go ring shopping again!!

Maybe for some that's a good thing but not for me.  The way I see it is, he proposed to me with a ring, if I get a different one down the road, it just wouldn't be the same, it wouldn't carry the same sentimental value.  Same for wedding bands.

I always thought I wanted vey plain rings but I saw some "antique" ones and I just fell in love with the style.  Mine are hand engraved and my wedding band has small diamonds as well but it is not wide, it is actually a little narrower than my engagement ring.  They are 5mm and 5.9mm respectively at the widest.  A good thing about engraved rings like this is that the scratches don't show.  It sounds like a lot of bling but it's really not.  They look very elegant and they are definitely something I'd want (and be able to) to pass down to my children.  Here's a pic (from the website, not specifically my rings)



June

Personally, I like platinum.  It ages better whereas white gold tends to get a yellow hue after awhile. 

You can get them dipped in Rhodium and they go back to their bright white sheen.

Wow, June, those are stunning.

Thanks!  I do love them.  When we were talking about getting married, we sorta browsed websites together and I pointed it out to him.  I didn't know he was gonna get it though.  After we got engaged, we went to lots of jewelry stores looking for wedding bands and I tried on a lot of regular, plain bands but they just didn't look right with the way the engagement ring gets thinner under the stone so we ended up going with the matching band anyway.  I don't regret it, they really do look beautiful together.  Matt's ring is just what he wanted too so I guess we lucked out!

June