Wedding Traditions: The Rings

Wedding rings are an outward symbol of your love and commitment to your spouse. The ring is an eternal circle with no beginning and no end.

Origins

We can trace the origins of wedding rings back 3,000 years to ancient Egypt. The first ones were made from papyrus until the tradition spread from Egypt to Greece and Rome when the people started making rings from iron and then gold.

Egyptians used the fourth finger of the left hand, our ring finger. Annularus vein (or the vein of love) that runs to the heart.

We see diamonds in the ring for the first time in 1477 when Maximillian of Austria proposed to Mary of Burgundy. The word diamond comes from the Greek word Adamas meaning "unbreakable, inflexible. Using a diamond is an unbreakable symbol of marriage lasting for eternity.

The diamond engagement ring became popular in the United States in the 1940s with the DeBeer marketing campaign. Marilyn Monroe sang "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend" in 1954. Today we see all sorts of stones in engagement rings and wedding bands.

Ring photos

The rings are photographed throughout your wedding day. They are included in the detail shots at the beginning of the day, the ring exchange is photographed during the ceremony, and for the remainder of the day, I will be looking for left-hand angles.

The Ring Exchange