Designer Jewelry Experts

Posts Tagged ‘traditions’

The practice of giving and wearing a wedding ring dates back thousands of years. A wedding ring symbolizes faithfulness and love between two people and are given on the day of a couple joining forces. Before the time that the skill of how to work metal became widely known, people used such things as plants, grass and even hair to ‘tie the knot’, which is what I think a wedding ring symbolizes.

These days a typical wedding ring might be made from valuable metals such as gold, titanium, platinum or even white gold. Women’s wedding rings often hold a diamond, although sapphires are rapidly becoming more prevalent. Men’s wedding rings are often just a plain band of gold. There are many distinctive styles of wedding rings, but the most popular for men is definitely the plain gold band.

For those who want something a bit more flamboyant, there are plenty of examples on the market. A man might want a more grandiose wedding ring, because it is often the only piece of jewellery that a man wears. Some alternatives to the plain band of gold are the Celtic Knot and the Claddagh gold rings.

It is essential for men’s wedding rings to be made from a robust alloy of gold. Most men do manual labour of one sort or another, even if it is only gardening, so it is a lot to ask of a pure gold wedding ring to last thirty or forty years.

A 14 or 18 carat gold ring will probably manage it, but a 22 carat ring would not. It would just wear away because it is too pure and consequently too soft. Platinum or titanium are much harder, although most people have a preference for gold.

In most countries tradition dictates that people wear their wedding ring on their left hand, although in a few countries such as Germany, Russia and Norway, people wear their wedding ring on the right hand.

Some couples would rather have a unique wedding ring and that is not so difficult to achieve as it might first appear to be. The easiest way to personalize your ring is to have an inscription like names and a date engraved on it.

Another way, would be to buy a precious stone separately and have the jeweller set it into the ring for you. The best option though is to find a jeweller you can trust and have him or her make up a pair of identical rings to your own design. I have done that and it is not a lot more expensive than a good ring.

Wearing matching wedding rings is a remarkable experience. People see that your ring is ’something different’ and many people ask, where you got them from. It all goes to help make that special day memorable for ever.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with theCeltic Knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Everyone loves to take advantage of the reduced prices during the holiday sales. In fact, the best day to go looking for special offers is the day after the actual holiday is over.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and it is the busiest shopping day of the year. You will get huge savings, but you will need to get up early, be prepared to queue and jostle.

Another example is jewellery and St Valentine?s Day. Many men buy their wives or girlfriends jewellery during this period as a St Valentine?s Day gift. However, in the weeks after St Valentine?s Day, you can save a minimum of 30% on the very same pieces of jewellery that were on sale a week before. This is a clear sign that we are being ripped off on these holiday occasions and that we should wait until the actual holiday is over.

OK, it may not be so romantic to wait, but it must be better to be able to get 30% more gold for your money or to give the same present, but be able to go for a meal too. If I were a woman, I know which alternative I would take!

Or, instead of a nice silver or gold ring, you would be able to afford gold instead of silver or white gold instead of yellow. You could get a gorgeous Celtic knot or a Claddagh ring instead of a simple band.

Striking Easter clothing is also expensive before Easter. However, why not buy the items you want after Easter and either make use of them next year or use them for parties, special occasions or church? You can save a bundle of money in this way, just by using a little forward planning.

In order to help cut down on how much money you spend on Christmas gifts, why not try buying them all year long as and when you find something appropriate in the sales? How many times have you seen something in a sale and said to yourself: ‘that would be the perfect gift for so-and-so’? It is better to take advantage of these opportunities and keep the items aside for when the right event comes up.

Then there are those post Christmas sales as well. The Boxing Day sales are a great opportunity to pick up items that you can give as gifts later in the year. And why not buy something for yourself too while you are at it? You can save a lot on your favourite perfumes. Buy enough to last you the rest of the year!

You can make your funds go a lot further if you take advantage of the post holiday sales. Rely on providence. Buy opportunistically and you will not only save yourself a lot of money, but you will never be stuck for a present at the last minute either.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with theCeltic Knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

The growing trend of popularity of wine has led to a boom in things to go with wine like corkscrews, stoppers, coolers, napkins, pouring baskets, decanters, candles, thermometers, bottle jackets, hydrometers and dozens of variations of each accessory from electric versions to manual ones. Needless to say, a lot of these accessories will be used until the novelty wears off and then left at the back of the cupboard.

However, there is one category of wine drinking accessory that no wine drinker should be without and that is wine glasses. They are indispensable, I am sure that everyone would agree. But the good thing about wine glasses is that they are decorative when they are not in use too. A set of six lead crystal wine glasses is a fine-looking sight. And a fine set of glasses correctly shaped for the wine you are drinking will greatly enhance your enjoyment of that wine.

This is because the shape of the glass is very influential on the drinker’s ability to savour the taste and the aroma of wine. Therefore, it is essential to use the correct glasses for the type of wine being served.

Red wines gain a lot from contact with air, so, aside from opening the bottle an hour before drinking it, you could decant it. The older and heavier the wine, the more air it must have. The next step is to serve the red wine in large glasses. This is not so as to be able to get as much wine in there as possible! A full, normal size bottle contains six servings no matter what glass you use, but a large glass allows you to swirl the wine around the glass, thereby increasing its contact with air.

A large tulip shaped glass is a good illustration of this kind of wine glass and any dark red wine would benefit from being drunk out of such a vessel. Try a Rioja or Bordeaux, for instance.

White wines, on the other hand, do not need to breathe for as long as red wines and are best drunk slightly chilled. Therefore, the wine glasses are likely to have a smaller bowl and a longer stem. The bowl is smaller, because swirling is not essential and the stem is longer, so that the heat from your hand does not warm the wine up prematurely. Try a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon or a German wine in these glasses.

Champagne glasses are called champagne flutes because the bowl is long and narrow, which allows the bubbles to float through more of the wine than if the bowl were short. This is beneficial for the wine, the taste and its appearance. The stem is also long as with other white wines to reduce heat transference.

The last main kind of glass is the sherry schooner, which is also used for port. Sherry and port are both heavy reds and so need to breathe, which is one of the reasons why they ought to be decanted. However, a schooner has hardly any stem, because the warmth from your hand is required to keep the wine at the right temperature.

Besides the shape of the bowl and the length of the stem, the next most significant factor is the quality of the glass and its design. Some people like hand-blown glass and it can be very beautiful, but it also tends to be light and fragile. I prefer to use lead crystal glasses, which are a lot heavier and can take a deeper pattern.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

There is a very large number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to choose from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good selection, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is very important that you take your time when choosing one. Maybe the enormous range of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to be enough, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even choosing not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so plain bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its characteristic two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, standing for eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

So, selecting a wedding ring is not just a question of picking a beautiful wedding ring, you should be choosing one that says what you want it to say. You could look up on the Internet what the different metals and various stones indicate traditionally. If you cannot find a ring that says what you want, consider having one made. It is not as expensive as you might think.

Tradition is a good thing when it comes to wedding rings. After all, you want your ring to express your everlasting love and devotion for the person you are giving it to and your marriage could last fifty or sixty years, especially with people living longer these days. With a bit of luck, you will wear this ring for the rest of your life, so pick a style that seems timeless to you.

Selecting a wedding ring is not as easy as it looks, because you are going to be wearing your ring every day for the rest of your life, so it should be something that you will not get tired of in a couple years. You should look at and try on many rings in order to get one that feels good. You will want a ring that does not look out of date in ten years time. The simplest way of doing that is to go for a traditional style, because those styles have already stood the test of time.

One last piece of advice is to ask the jeweller to attest to the total carat weight of the stones in the ring and the weight of each individual stone and the quality and weight of the metal (although it should be hallmarked) on paper, then if it gets lost or stolen you have something to show the insurance company.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the Celtic knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Celtic wedding are an perfect way of showing your being a Celt. It is also a way of incorporating traditional values, symbols, themes and customs into major events in your life. However, Celtic wedding are hugely popular not only among people with a Celtic tradition, but among other couples who are taken by the ancient Celtic culture.

Celtic wedding have traditional symbolic decorations, often based on the Celtic knot. Welsh, Irish and Scottish families will occasionally marry in ancient buildings like castles or old manors, but that is not the standard. A traditional Celtic wedding is not greatly different from a normal British wedding in many ways.

However, the number of similarities between Celtic wedding traditions and normal British-style weddings goes a lot further than that. If you want a traditional British style wedding, you will be going unwittingly for a Celtic wedding. But you can beef up the Celtic part of the wedding ceremony even further without sinking into silly theatrics.

This is a traditional Celtic poem about when to marry:

Marry when the year is new, Always loving, kind and true.

When February birds do mate, You may wed, nor dread your fate.

If you wed when March winds blow, Joy and sorrow both you’ll know.

Marry in April when you can, Joy for maiden and for man.

Marry in the month of May, You will surely rue the day.

Marry when June roses blow, Over land and sea you’ll go.

They who in July do wed, Must labour always for their bread.

Whoever wed in August be, Many a change are sure to see.

Marry in September’s shine, Your living will be rich and fine.

If in October you do marry, Love will come but riches tarry.

If you wed in bleak November, Only joy will come, remember.

When December’s showers fall fast, Marry and true love will last.

Here are a few other traditions:

Loving Cup: The traditional cup is a two-handled bowl with Celtic designs etched onto it. The idea of the Loving Cup ceremony is for the bride and groom to share their first drink together as husband and wife and to demonstrate the coming together of their two families.

The Bell of Truce: A bell is blessed and then given to the bride and groom. The couple is required to ring the bell, while thinking loving thoughts of each other. The bell is then kept at home as a token of the wedding day. If an argument begins, the bell can be rung by either the husband or wife to call a truce. The tinkling sound is intended to remind the couple of their wedding vows and to help them relive happy memories from their wedding day.

Handfasting: Early Celts used to ?tie the knot?. It originates from a pre-Christian custom of literally tying a couple’s wrists together in a form of trial marriage lasting a year and a day, at the end of which a new agreement was made or the couple parted ways.

Bride’s Bouquet: In Celtic wedding traditions brides carried herbs beneath their veils to symbolize fidelity, and spices to ward off evil spirits.

Ring finger: Ancient Celts believed that there was a vein in the third finger of the left hand that ran directly to the heart, so ring placed on that finger denoted a strong love and vow to the other.

Wedding cake: A thin loaf was cracked over the bride’s head at the end of the service to indicate fertility. The wheat from which it was made symbolized fertility and the guests readily picked up the pieces as good luck charms.

It was also common for the Celtic groom to toss a handful of coins into the crowd after the wedding, in the belief that this would bring them luck in the years ahead.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with theCeltic Knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring