How to Choose a Wedding Band to Match Your Engagement Ring

A wedding band is the ring you will wear every day for years, usually right beside your engagement ring. Matching the two well comes down to four things: the band's style, how it sits against the engagement ring, the metal color and the size. Here is how to get each one right.

Band styles

• Full eternity: stones all the way around the band, for unbroken sparkle from every angle.
• Half eternity: stones across the top only, with plain metal on the palm side.
• Pavé: rows of small stones held by tiny beads of metal, for a fine, glittering surface.
• Channel set: stones held between two walls of metal, smooth to the touch.
• Bezel set: each stone wrapped in its own thin rim of metal, low and snag-free.
• Contour or open: a band that curves or opens at the top to make room for the center stone.

Flush or contoured?

Hold the band against the engagement ring before you decide. If the center stone sits low and the shoulders are plain, a straight band can sit flush against it with no gap. If the setting is low-slung, has a halo that reaches the band or has a stone that overhangs the shoulders, a straight band may leave a small gap or tilt. A contour or open band curves around the center stone to close that gap.

Some people like a small gap between the rings, which lets each one show on its own. Others want the two to read as one piece. Neither is wrong.

Matching the style

• Solitaire: almost any band works. A pavé or eternity band adds sparkle, and a slim channel or bezel set band keeps the look minimal.
• Halo: a thin pavé or eternity band echoes the halo without competing with it.
• Three stone: a slim band keeps the focus on the three stones.
• Pointed shapes such as pear and marquise: a contour band that follows the outline of the stone often looks most finished.

For an engagement ring and band designed to fit together, see our bridal sets. Some include a band on each side of the engagement ring.

Metal color

Matching the metal color is the classic choice. Mixing white, yellow and rose gold plating is just as valid and gives a relaxed, collected look, especially in a stack of three or more rings. Our bands come in all three colors, so you can match or mix freely.

Size

A wedding band and engagement ring are worn on the same finger, so they are usually the same size. If you are between sizes, choose the larger one. Our ring size guide shows three ways to measure at home, and size exchanges are free on all rings.

Which order to wear them

By tradition, the wedding band goes on first, closest to the hand, with the engagement ring above it. Many people move the engagement ring to the right hand on the wedding day and put it back on top afterward. Wear them whichever way feels right to you.

Caring for a stack

Rings worn together rub against each other, which wears the gold plating faster where they touch. Take them off before swimming, showering and workouts, and store them separately in their Carissie boxes. Our guide to gold plated sterling silver covers the rest.

Browse our wedding and stacking bands, or compare settings in our guide to engagement ring settings.