By Morgan
Have you considered getting your wedding rings engraved? It can be a very special, sweet touch for just the two of you—nice, given that so much of what happens on your wedding day tends be so public.
You have so many options when it comes to engraving. Speaking with your jeweler, you’ll learn what font sizes and engraving styles will work best for your rings, but the words are all up to you.
Classically, couples choose words of endearment and permanence (Forever, Beloved, Always, My Love), or names, dates, nicknames or initials, or a combination of those. According to InStyle Weddings, 18th century Irish brides intertwined their first names with their grooms’ names. Brigid and Joseph would then be: JdOiSgEiPrHb
Some couples choose phrases from the language of their ancestry. Some look to Latin for enduring words of wisdom.
Pari Passu—Latin, With Equal Step
Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li—Hebrew, Song of Solomon 2:16, I Am My Beloved’s and My Beloved is Mine
Por Tous Jours—15th-century French, For All Days
Myn Genyst—Old German, My Heart
Martin Luther, who wed Catherine von Bora in 1525, had their wedding date engraved on his new wife’s ring, and on his own very elaborate wedding ring, had both of their initials and the motto, “What God doth join, no man shall part” engraved.
But my favorite engravings are personal. Lucky are you, the bride and groom with an inside joke or lovey nickname! Your words to each other do not have to be poetic or romantic to anyone but you. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, famously gave up the crown and gave the love of his life, divorcee Wallis Simpson, an engagement ring engraved with “WE are ours now 27×36,” WE representing their initials, 27×36 representing the date (Oct. 27, 1936) her divorce was finalized. Romantic in its own way, don’t you think?
– image from T. S. Brown Jewelers
