At your wedding, your guests are likely to marvel at the beauty of so many different things: the bride’s gown, the floral arrangement in the hall, the stunningly designed wedding cake. One thing they might not initially notice — and certainly not because they’re not interested — is the bride’s wedding ring which, firmly planted on her finger, may be too small to see.
Despite the size of the ring, it holds huge importance for the wedding, and in fact has traditionally been viewed as the perfect symbol of the couple’s relationship. Let’s take a closer look at the role that rings have played at weddings, and why they’re still important today.
Why Do Brides Get Wedding Rings?
More than many other elements of a wedding, a wedding ring is unique and time-honored because they’re so personal. This is a tradition that dates back thousands of years and has proven to be enduringly popular with couples across the globe.
Quite simply, wedding rings are a symbol of the vows the couple makes. Today, marriage is a sacred vow, something that’s far more than simply a promise. It’s a vow of eternal love and commitment. This is an enormously serious, life-altering step in the couples’ lives, and the wedding rings they exchange symbolize that commitment. They’re not simply something to be worn on the wedding day, but forever after.
In the years after the wedding day, rings are a constant reassurance about your union, and the journey the two of you are on together. The concept of wearing the wedding ring hasn’t evolved much in recent times; only the designs and looks of individual rings have. The ring holds symbolic meanings that have stood the test of time.
Symbolic of Trust
The ritual of brides wearing a wedding ring dates back to ancient Egypt. Records indicate that the ancient Egyptians viewed the ring as the symbol of the love between the couple and as a symbol of trust, since the groom was confident that his new bride would take good care of the home he was starting.
Symbolic of Your Attachment
The ring is also symbolic of the bride’s love for the groom, and of their commitment to one another. In fact, the practice of the groom giving his bride an expensive wedding ring was believed to be demonstrating how committed he was to the marriage, and how he would never take back those sacred vows.
What Is the Importance of the Engagement Ring?
In addition to the wedding ring, many brides over the centuries have also worn an engagement ring on her left finger before the wedding, which demonstrated her commitment to the upcoming ceremony. Engagement rings are part of the long-standing practice of promise, which can be traced back to ancient Rome. In some cases, brides have decided to wear both rings on the same finger, while it’s also been popular to switch over your engagement ring to your right hand in the moments before walking down the aisle. Other brides have made the decision to have their wedding and engagement rings soldered together into one unique piece of jewelry.
While wedding rings are definitely part of a centuries-old tradition, each couple is unique in how they choose to go about this process: whether to get an engagement ring first or simply one wedding ring, what kind of design they want, and what the ring symbolizes to the couple. There are certainly no right or wrong answers here; it all depends on how the couple wants to use a wedding ring to symbolize their commitment.
Stunning Central Jersey Wedding Venue at Windows on the Water
At Windows on the Water, our professional wedding planners have years of experience helping brides plan every detail to bring their vision of a dream wedding to life. Our professional planners go above and beyond to create the wedding day that you’ve always envisioned.
Book an appointment online or call us today at 609-208-9474. See why Windows on the Water is the picture-perfect wedding venue for you.