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10 Ways to Upgrade Your Engagement Ring

10 Ways to Upgrade Your Engagement Ring

Do you remember the day you got engaged? Maybe you remember the day perfectly, or maybe it’s just a happy blur. Whether that day was a year ago, five years ago or 25 years ago, so many things have changed. You’ve lived different places, held different jobs, made new friends and maybe even started a family together. Through it all, your love for each other has only grown.

One thing that has stayed the same throughout all of these changes is your engagement ring. It’s been there with you through it all, and it’s still as beautiful as the day you got it.

But did you know that not all couples keep the same engagement rings throughout their whole marriage? After years of marriage, some couples decide they’re ready to upgrade their engagement rings, maybe by adding more stones, adding a larger stone, or just adding a little more sparkle around the band.

Upgrading your engagement ring might seem like a strange proposition. After all, aren’t engagement rings supposed to be forever? But just look back and think how much your love has grown as a couple over the past years of marriage. Isn’t it only right that your ring should grow and change just as your relationship has?

Upgrading your engagement ring and planning and deciding on what upgrades to get with your spouse could be a fun, exciting and romantic adventure for the two of you to enjoy together. Just as your original engagement ring reflects the first stage of your marriage, so too can this new and improved ring reflect your marriage as you move forward.

 

Why Upgrade Your Engagement Ring?

 

There are plenty of great reasons to upgrade your engagement ring. Rings go in and out of fashion, styles change and your life changes as well. Your ring might have been perfect for the two of you when you first got engaged, but now it might not seem quite as ideal. And when it comes to something as important as your engagement ring, why be complacent? Why not have the ring you’ve been dreaming of?

Here are just a few of the many reasons many couples are upgrading their engagement rings.

  1. Your Budget May Have Changed

Many people get engaged to their future spouse when they’re in their 20s. Indeed, not everyone follows this pattern, but many do. This means that a large portion of couples are getting engaged at a time when their finances are not extremely stable, and their incomes are proportionally lower.

Perhaps this means that when you first started out, you didn’t have the budget for the gorgeous ring you’d always wanted. But now maybe you’ve been married a few years. Your incomes are a bit higher. You don’t have all the expenses that you just had when you were first beginning your lives together. Altogether, you’re in a more financially stable place than you used to be.

Why not take the opportunity that you have now to reinvest in your ring and transform it? It’ll always be a memento of your love together, but with a few upgrades, it can also become the ring of your dreams.

  1. Your Ring May Have Gone out of Style

It’s no secret that fashions come and go like the seasons. What may have been the height of fashion when you got married may no longer be in style. Even though the ring is still as important to you as ever, there’s nothing wrong with deciding it needs to be updated with the times.

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Sometimes the band may have gone out of style, while other times it’s the cut of the stone itself. Maybe your ring is plain and looks out of place next to some of the more sparkly rings that are popular today.

Whatever your reason, there are so many ways to upgrade your ring and make it the fashionable according to today’s trends and styles.

  1. Your Own Personal Styles May Have Changed

Everyone’s tastes change. Our tastes change all the time. All of us wore clothes five years ago that we’d never wear today. All of us have had hairstyles we’d rather forget. It’s completely natural. In the same way, maybe the ring you chose years ago is just not your style anymore.

It could be that a new style has recently become popular and you like it so much better than your old style. Or maybe you hopped on board with a trendy ring at the time, and have since decided that you don’t love it as much as you used to.

There is nothing wrong with realizing this, and it happens to all of us all the time. There’s no reason you should be stuck with a ring that no longer suits you, your personality and your tastes. Instead, upgrade to a ring that reflects you and your spouse and the way you are now.

 

When to Think About Upgrading?

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There’s no right or wrong time to upgrade your engagement ring. This is a highly personal decision that you and your spouse should make together.

However, there are certain times when it’s more popular to upgrade your ring. These days are usually commemorative, mile-stone days when it seems fitting to mark the passage of time and the commitment to each other no matter how much time has gone by.

Some great days to make this kind of upgrade with your spouse include:

  • Any anniversary
  • A milestone anniversary, such as 10, 20 or 25 years
  • You or your spouse’s milestone birthday
  • Special occasions like the birth of a child
  • Vow renewal ceremonies

At the end of the day, choosing the upgrade your ring or not is a very personal decision and something the two of you should decide to do together. Whether you decide to do it at a grand vow renewal ceremony or on an ordinary day in the middle of the year is ultimately up to you. Your relationship is special. Your ring and any upgrades you make should reflect that.

 

Different Ways to Upgrade

 

Once you’ve decided why and when you want to upgrade, it’s time to talk about the upgrades themselves. We’ve put together a list of some of the most popular and common upgrades, but it’s important to remember that the decision is up to you.

  1. Upgrade Your Solitaire to a 3-Stone Engagement Ring

If your engagement ring started its life as a single diamond ring, this is a natural extra step to take. Adding a few extra diamonds will give it just that little extra bit of sparkle.

You might choose to make your two additional diamonds slightly smaller, and set on either side of the first diamond. This keeps the focus on the first and largest diamond while helping to balance it out on either side and add a little elegance.

Did you know that 3-stone engagement rings symbolize your past, present, and future as a couple? This makes them the perfect anniversary gift!

  1. Add a Pop of Color

Diamonds are unquestionably the most popular stone for any engagement ring, and for a good reason. Their clear, white sparkle is almost synonymous with weddings and engagements. But maybe you want to have a little extra color added to your ring.

There are lots of great ways to do this. You can add extra stones to your ring, or you can get an entirely new stone. Sapphires, rubies and emeralds all come in beautiful, vivid hues that are sure to give you the color you’ve been wanting. Another option might be to change the metal of the band itself. Maybe you can trade in your plain white gold band for a rose gold one.

Whichever option you choose, you’ll be sure to turn heads with your unique and brightly colored engagement ring.

  1. Enhance a Diamond Solitaire 

Lots of people enjoy the simplicity that single diamonds offer. Others want a little more sparkle. If you currently have a single diamond and are looking to upgrade, you might be interested in a diamond ring enhancer.

These are specially made rings that are designed to fit around the original ring and transform it into something almost entirely new. They help add an extra level of sophistication, all without changing a thing about the shape or style of the original ring.

When it comes to choosing one of these, however, you’ll want to be extra careful to choose one that matches your current ring and blends well with it. The two rings should complement each other so well that it looks like they were intended to go together.

  1. Add Some Sparkle to Your Band

If you’re looking for a slightly more subtle way to upgrade your ring, changing the band might be the perfect way to do that. Adding some extra diamonds to an otherwise plain white gold band gives your ring a magical, dazzling effect.

Another way to reinvent your ring band is to swap your plain band for a graceful V French-set band. This directs extra light towards your center stone and helps it to sparkle brighter and stand out even more than before.

  1. Change the Material of Your Band

Not all changes are about adding more sparkle. You might want to upgrade the material of your band for longevity purposes as well. One common choice is the decision to refresh the ring band from gold to platinum. Because gold naturally appears yellow, white gold is created by adding white metals to gold; over time, this plating wears down and white gold rings need to be replated to maintain their white hue. Platinum, however, is a white metal and does not need replating. Another benefit to platinum is its hypoallergenic properties. People with sensitive skin sometimes have allergic reactions to the other metals found in gold and find platinum much more pleasant to wear.

  1. Add a Surprise Diamond

If you’re looking for a more subtle way to add a little extra something to your ring, try vaulting your center diamond by hiding an extra stone underneath. You won’t be able to see this stone from a top view, but it will become visible from an angle.

This kind of surprise stone is a nice understated way to add more depth to your ring without making it too over-the-top.

  1. Double Your Halo

The halo style ring is extremely popular in modern engagement rings. It looks stylish and sophisticated while still maintaining a classic and timeless feel. So even if your engagement ring already has one halo, adding a second one will only add to your ring’s ‘wow’ factor.

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If you’re looking to make your ring even more unique, you might try making the smaller, interior halo out of colored diamonds or a different stone altogether. This adds a dash of color while also making the center diamond appear even larger and more brilliant.

  1. Change out an Old Setting

It’s common for rings to be passed down among family members from one generation to the next. This means that the ring has decades and maybe even centuries of history and sentimental value. But not all styles age well, and even though you love the sentimental value, you may not love the old-fashioned style.

One way to give a traditional ring new life is to change the setting. By keeping the original stone, you’re still carrying on the family tradition, but you’re also giving the stone a second life in a modern ring. Changing the setting is an excellent way to keep family traditions alive.

  1. Upgrade to a New Stone

One of the easiest and simplest ways to upgrade your ring is to replace the stone altogether. Your reason for doing this might be that you want a larger stone, or you want a different type of stone, or you might want a stone that’s cut differently.

Whatever your reason and whatever type of stone you’re switching to, this can be a great option. It allows you the freedom of having the ring almost entirely re-invented while still keeping the band and much of the setting. It’s an ideal compromise for when you want a new look but you still have sentimental ties to your ring.

  1. Upgrade to an Entirely New Ring

Sometimes, no matter how many extra stones you add or how much you change the shape and size of a stone, it still isn’t enough. If no amount of change can turn your current engagement ring into your perfect ring, then the solution might be to trade it in for an entirely new one.

This might be a difficult choice to make due to emotional ties to the original ring. But it’s also a great way to mark a new chapter in your lives together and celebrate new beginnings. And at the end of the day, deciding to upgrade to a new ring might be easier than trying to add an addition to an already existing ring, especially if the changes you want to make are significant.

 

Your Perfect Ring Awaits

 

Choosing to upgrade your engagement ring may be a big step for you and your spouse, and it certainly isn’t a decision you should make lightly.

However, it may be time for a change, and this may be the perfect way to symbolize how far you two have come together and to express your hope for new beginnings with one another. And with so many creative ways to reinvent your engagement ring, there’s never been a better time to take that step.

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As you and your spouse look at unique ways to upgrade your engagement ring, we hope you’ll consider us at Mike Seltzer Jewelers. With our industry-leading design center, we’ll be glad to help you come up with the perfect way to upgrade your ring into the dream ring that will last you for years to come.