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?

9ct white gold wedding ring and engagement ring with diamond . Had them made at a working jewellers in Shudehill Manchester. Already had the diamond from an old ring, still look good after wearing for over 13 years.

Yes, Welsh gold is really warm hued, mirime.

It depends on how much you feel is too much...

My engagement ring (platinum and diamond) was from an antique shop for £450, my platinum wedding band off Ebay for £150, and my eternity platinum and diamond was £250 from Ebay.

Ebay is great, or an antique fair for something unique and cheaper

Palladium is currently more expensive than platinum due to international demand

When/where did you hear this? DH and I bought our wedding rings in December, and it definitely wasn’t the case then. DH went for a 5mm palladium court ring which was about half the price of the equivalent platinum ring, wherever we looked.

My wedding ring was my nans and is 22 carat. My engagement ring is 18. I’ve worn them together for 18 years now and never take them off. They still both look amazing.

My beautiful wedding ring is 9ct and has been on my finger every single day for the past 19 years - it's still in perfect condition despite me doing a manual job and the engraving inside it is still clear - hope this helps :) x

@Spanneroo there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 9ct gold wedding band but unless you want something very thin/lightweight then you are going to struggle to find rings under £50 each. I checked Argos and their cheapest band ring at at £49.99 weighs, shockingly, only 0.3g!

To put it into context, according to Cooksongold site which was mentioned above, current 9ct gold price for wire/sheet is around £18.50 per gram (inc VAT). Thats before making, finishing and hallmarking costs. Their ring blanks are better value than Argos in terms of weight of gold, and hence durability, but I doubt you would find a jeweller willing to polish them for you without wanting to charge a fee which would take the overall cost over your budget as it's not necessarily a quick 15 min job. I finished a gold blank I bought for my daughter and with some filing to take off inside edges to make it a more comfortable fit, polishing and cleaning afterwards it took me well over an hour.

"I wonder if the metal mix was different in the past, making the warmer hue?"
I think the Victorians preferred their gold to be pinkish, it's referred to as 'rose gold'? I believe it's achieved by copper being one of the metals mixed with the gold.

Palladium is not a budget option it is really expensive at the moment, per gram it is possibly more than platinum, but platinum is a denser metal so a similar dimension ring would weigh more and therefore be more expensive. The price of palladium also affects the price of white gold as its an alloy so 18ct white gold is also expensive.

Haven't read the whole thread but second hand gold wedding rings are dirt cheap. I got a 22ct 1920s band for only just over £100 16 years ago. Ask in a local independent what they've got in the back, they'll have dozens and dozens in all carats, lots of choice.

I've got a 9ct gold band. Still shiny after nearly 20 years...

current prices for grain on cookson gold
ex vat
silver £0.43
9ct £13.51
18ct £27.90
palladium £33.80

per gram

I have a palladium wedding ring and platinum engagement. There is no difference in colour. The high street jeweller said the platinum will wear palladium, the independent jeweller says its not likely as palladium is almost as hard. (Go figure platinum costs more lol). I have my grans wedding ring that she wore every day since 1949 it is 9 carat, still in decent condition and the original 1949 engraving of the wedding date and my grandparents initials are still visible:

Ah, so the weight difference would account for platinum rings being more expensive than similar palladium rings? That make sense.

You could probably get a lovely Palladian ring for not all that much from etsy if you wanted :)

I would just go ahead with whatever you can afford. The wedding is the important thing, not the ring. In a few years you will hopefully have more money and can replace it if you want to.

2nd hand 9ct wedding bands are cheap, you can get 2mm ones for £50 and 4mm for about £100.

We went with white gold for wedding rings which we designed and had made for us with a small birthstone for each of us embedded in the rings

I initially read this as a 9 carat diamond ring. I don't have an answer for you. Cary on

9ct is fine I’ve got jewellery that’s still going strong after 20/30 years and I agree it’s more about the symbol of what it means to you than the type/ price. I hope you have a lovely wedding day

DH and I had 9ct gold wedding rings. He wore his every day for 18 years until I took it off after he died. I lost mine. His is still as perfect as the day we bought it.

I’m a jeweller. 9ct is harder wearing than 18ct and will last perfectly. If you wear it next to another ring, make sure that it’s 9ct too.
If you are talking about white gold, it’ll most likely be rhodium plated, and the rhodium wears away and needs to be re-done every few years. 9ct yellow gold has a high copper content and has a more brassy look than the buttery colour of 18 yellow. Helps if you clean it regularly.

Btw OP that really does sound like a perfect wedding, intimate and about the people who really matter, not the madness that weddings have turned into nowadays.

Boring alert
Platinum jewellery will be more expensive than palladium as its nearly twice as dense
(21.45 gram per cm3 compared with 11.9 for palladium)
It has a higher melting point so harder to work with (1768 deg v 1555)

Pure gold is about 19.5 gr cm3 but as its never pure a gold a 10gram 9ct gold ring will have 3.75 grams of gold in it.