Guide to Choosing Irish Wedding Bands

Choosing wedding jewelry is one of the most important decisions a couple will make. The pieces will be hoped to last a lifetime, so the design must be something you both like now and for years to come. One of the most pervasive, and long-lived jewelry design styles is Irish, or Celtic. Irish wedding bands are popular in Britain, but also across the world.

The Celtic design can mean so much more than a piece of precious metal on the finger. That’s one reason why the style is so popular. It has a rich and colorful history, and the many meanings attributed to the different designs can almost be tailored to each personality.

Wedding rings are public declarations of your love for the recipient, which is why choosing the right one is so important. There are several considerations to be borne in mind, they are the style, metal, color, design and stone.

The style of an Irish wedding band is generally a plain band, Claddagh, Celtic knot and love knot. The plain band can be either plain, or have a Gaelic inscription to add some personalization to it. The Claddagh is the tradition: hand either side of a heart, the Celtic knot is a never-ending knot within the ring design and the love knot is a Scottish version of the Celtic knot.

The metal is important, mainly for aesthetic reasons and works in tandem with the color consideration. The choice of metal will often just reflect the desired color. Silver is the most popular, as this is what the Celtic style originally used for Irish wedding bands. It’s also hard wearing and can take punishment. You could also use white gold, platinum or the traditional yellow gold. Yellow gold is quite soft, so you would need to look after the ring if you wanted to use that.

The design is down to aesthetics unless the particular knot designs mean something special to you. The Celtic knot can be sinuous or a bold statement on the top. The Claddagh is pretty standard, as is the love knot. Plain bands can be left as they are or have inscriptions put on the inside or outside of the body of the ring.

The last consideration when choosing an Irish wedding band is whether to use a stone or not. This is completely down to personal choice. Traditional Celtic designs don’t use them, but some modern interpretations have integrated a stone within the ring. If looks are more important than tradition then they are more than acceptable. Just choose a stone of the color or meaning you like and have it integrated into the design.

Choosing an Irish wedding band is no more difficult than any other type of wedding ring. It’s only the added elements of tradition, history and spirituality that make them different than any other design. In the end it comes down to the type of people you are and what you like. A Celtic design can be made to fit any lifestyle, and you can take or leave the extra meanings of everything as you see fit.