To get a 9 carat wedding ring?

[Spanneroo]

OH and I are having a very small wedding in a couple of months' time. Only two guests, plus our two DDs. We don't plan to spend much at all, but have come to a bit of a stumbling block when it comes to rings.

I don't have an engagement ring, and we were planning to get a couple of wedding rings second hand for around £50 each. But, now that we've looked into it, I've realised maybe this is unrealistic for a ring I'll be wearing every single day? Not wanting to spend too much, 9 carat is appealing to me, but I can't seem to find a straight answer online as to whether 9 carat is genuinely suitable as a metal for a wedding ring. Lots of sites say 14/18 carat is better, but not really WHY. As we're not interested in how "precious" the metal is, more the durability, I'm hoping some on here might be able to help us make a decision.

Has anyone on here got a 9 carat wedding ring? Is it lasting well? Do you regret not getting a higher carat? Why/why not?

My wedding ring is 9 carats and has been worn 24/7 for 32 years, except towards the end of two pregnancies!

IIRC, it cost about £80 from Beaverbrooks.

A 9ct ring will be harder wearing than 18ct. My rings are all 9ct.

Ours are 9 carat and still fine 14 years on. I also wear my Great grandmother's all the time on my other hand and it must be pretty old, I think she was born in the late 1890s.

Mine’s sterling silver, as it was the cheapest HSamuel had. My folks have had their 9 carat bands for 30 years now.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/titanium-wedding-ring/

Titanium can be cut off with normal ring cutters that the emergency services use, it just takes a little longer. Most rings are grade 2 pure titanium which is simple to cut off. Take a look here:
www.titanjewellery.co.uk/Mens/Emergency-Removal-of-Titanium-Rings.html

Another 9ct ring here, plain band, wear it all the time and it's fine. Nobody has noticed/commented or otherwise. To me it's a symbol of togetherness not a symbol of wealth. I have no engagement ring either....

Dh and I have 9ct white gold rings. They're a bit yellow now but otherwise absolutely fine. They have a pattern in the middle that's still there with no sign of wear.

I know the pics are men's rings but just to show you get them brand new for less than fifty quid if you got titanium. My DH has a titanium one and still looks great 15 years on. I have nine carat and it also still looks fine.

Mine is 9 carat yellow gold and was very cheap. I have never taken it off for any prolonged period in the almost 34 years I have had it. It still looks great.

My mum's has her 9ct ring for nearly 51 years. She's never taken it off and it looks fine.

This is my titanium ring, cost less then £25:

I’ve been wearing my mum’s 9ct wedding ring for over three years, she wore it for 65 years. It’s showing no sign of wear.

I’ve had a 9ct engagement & wedding ring on for 20 years and it’s fine. 9ct has a higher silver content (I think) do it’s harder than 18ct which has a lower silver content.

I think you’ve got that the wrong way round, AppleKatie 9ct is harder wearing than 18 or 22ct.

My engagement is silver. 12 years old now and fine (wedding ring is white gold, no issues either). i don’t think durability is such an issue

Titanium can be cut off but you sometimes need something a bit bigger than the regular ring cutter. I work in hospital engineering and we have been asked to bring a pair of bolt cutters to A&E to assist in ring removal! I always remove my ring when working with heavy equipment (and would do regardless of what it is made of) and stopped wearing it quite early in pregnancy.

I think I have the same wedding ring as ExtraordinaryOddity .

Actually, I’m thinking yellow gold, white gold I think 9ct is less hard. Not enough to be a problem though.

White gold is coated with rhodium and the coating will wear in time. That’s why I chose a yellow gold wedding ring, despite white gold being almost ubiquitous at the time.

I thought you meant a 9 carat diamond ring

The higher the karat, the purer the gold, 24kt being completely pure with no other metals added. But gold is a soft metal, it scratches easily and is actually pliable enough to deform over time; which is why for jewellery it is mixed with other, harder, metals to make it more durable. 9kt is eminently sensible for a ring that will be worn daily and that you want to last.

Do you have a nickel allergy? If so 9 carat ‘gold’ can often set it off (many countries follow the US tradition of not allowing anything less than 10 carats to be referred to as gold). I even have reactions to 18 carat gold sometimes but find it much better in terms of my allergies.

Honestly I personally wouldn’t waste money on 9 carats and just buy a sterling silver ring.

I’ve been married 22 years and my £20 9 carat gold band from h Samuel looks exactly the same. If you want white gold it can be recoated as it goes yellow, I’ve paid £25 for this.

One thing to think about is what jewellery you may want to match with in future. I’m cooled tone and don’t really have any other warm jewellery so my wedding ring is a bit of an anomaly.

Mine is 9 carat and in perfect condition despite being almost 80 years old (at least) It was my grandmother's ring and she got married in 1942.
It may be even older because I don't know if it was new when she got it or if it was passed down family from someone else.

Sorry haven't read all the way through the thread....
Palladium is currently more expensive than platinum due to international demand.

I would try to get 14kt or 18kt. They are more durable than 9kt. Basically, gold is mixed with an allow of other metals. So 9kt is 9 parts gold out of 24 parts. 14 is 14 parts, 18 is 18 parts and 24kt is all good. If you react to other metals, 9kt might not be suitable for everyday use as your skin could be sensitive to the other metals mixed with the gold.

You can get 9kt if that's your budget, but I would advise 18kt or 14kt because there is a greater percentage of gold so will be harder wearing and you are less likely to get a skin reaction.

Quick google and this is a decent explanation if mine doesn't make sense! www.frillybylily.co.uk/gold-9ct-vs-18ct-what-is-the-difference/

(Family in the jewelry business)