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Few men are experts on buying wedding rings. For most men, it’s a process of becoming educated quickly and then searching desperately for the right ring. The amount of money they’re expected to pay for the ring seems fluid, changing each year to accommodate retailers. At the same time, there’s a lot of conflicting advice. In an effort to help smooth the process, making it easier and less stressful, we’ll provide you with 7 quick tips for buying the perfect wedding ring.

Tip #1: Know Your Metals

In the past, most wedding rings were gold and had a golden tone to them. Yellow gold rings are still popular today, but there are other options available. White gold is becoming more prevalent because it allows the stone to stand out. On the other hand, platinum has become increasingly fashionable. It’s more expensive than yellow or white gold, but it’s also more durable.

Tip #2: Know Your Purity

If you plan to buy a wedding ring made from yellow or white gold, you’ll need to understand the purity of the metal. In most cases, gold rings come in 14k, 18k, and 24k. The greater the number of karats, the higher the purity of the gold. 24k gold is more expensive than 14k or 18k. It’s also softer and more prone to becoming scratched.

Tip #3: Know Your 4 C’s

Most wedding rings will have at least one diamond. The quality of the diamond is determined by what are known as the 4 C’s: cut, color, clarity, and caret of the stone. The stone’s cut is what allows the diamond to reflect light. The less color a diamond has, the more valuable it is. Clarity is a reflection of the diamond’s inclusions (or, flaws). And the number of carats is a measurement of the stone’s size.

Tip #4: Take Her With You

The wedding ring that you purchase
for your partner will ideally last a lifetime. Many women have specific preferences for the style and design of the ring. Consider taking your partner with you. It may seem less romantic to do so, but it can help you avoid investing in a ring she doesn’t like.

Tip #5: Negotiate

Retailers’ prices for wedding rings usually include substantial markups. That means there is room to negotiate the price. The key is to be upfront and honest with the retailer. If you see the “perfect” wedding ring and can’t afford to buy it at the listed price, let the dealer know. Tell him how much you can afford to spend. Often, they’re willing to lower the price or offer attractive payment options to move the inventory.

Tip #6: Stone First

It’s likely that the wedding ring will become an heirloom, kept in your family for generations. If you’re struggling to afford an attractive ring, invest more in the diamond and less in the ring itself. The diamond often carries greater emotional significance over time.

Tip #7: Size It Properly

Even though having a ring resized is relatively simple, try to have it sized properly by the time you offer it to your partner when you propose. If possible, borrow one of her other rings and present it to the jeweler for sizing. A poorly-sized wedding ring won’t ruin your proposal, but a perfectly-sized ring will help make it flawless.

Investing In The Ring

A common rule of thumb for pricing wedding rings is to allocate two months’ salary. However, that’s an arbitrary figure. Instead, focus primarily on finding a ring that will match your partner’s style and preferences. While your budget will play a major role in the ring you purchase, other factors are more important. Use the 7 tips described above when shopping. If you do, you’ll be better prepared to identify the right ring, confident that your partner will be delighted with it.

Weekend weddings are becoming more popular, particularly as families are spread further apart. They usually begin on Friday night, continue with the wedding Saturday and conclude with a post-wedding breakfast on Sunday before everyone returns home.

Planning activities for these weekend-long celebrations doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact, it can be quite a bit of fun if you keep everyone’s needs in mind. First, consider the wedding. Will this be a formal wedding with a sit-down dinner at its center? If so, you might want to ban a formal rehearsal dinner and replace it instead with an informal barbecue dinner or picnic.

But how will you keep people occupied during the long weekend? There are many activities to consider. Will the wedding be near a lake? How about planning a day at the lake on Saturday, filled with pre-wedding activities like swimming races and beach volleyball.

One popular pre-wedding activity is a scavenger hunt. Prior to the wedding weekend, a list of meaningful items should be drawn up, and guests placed in two teams. The list should include things like “get a brochure from the jewelry store where (groom) bought (bride)’s ring” or “take a picture of the group at the location where the couple got engaged”. You will have to tailor the scavenger hunt list to the location of the wedding and the energy of the guests who will be participating.

You can even offer lavish prizes for the team that wins the scavenger hunt, such as gift certificates or gourmet food and wine baskets. It might seem an obvious choice to divide the teams into groups who know or are related to the bride and teams who know or are related to the groom, but it might be a little more fun to mix it up a bit. You can create teams of friends versus family, or men versus women (always a popular choice).

Another activity that’s popular during wedding weekends is a competitive sport activity, such as baseball or flag football. Again, add a special twist. Offer prizes for performance (first home run gets a kiss from the bride) or make silly rules, like members of the bridal party have to wear tiaras while running bases or members of the groom’s family should always have their shirts on backwards.

It’s important that during the wedding weekend, planners keep in mind that the weekend itself might be expensive for some guests, particularly those who had to fly in for the occasion and many of the activities should be free, or inexpensive. If they are more expensive, and planned for the entire group, they should be paid for by either the bride and groom or their families.

But there are plenty of activities that don’t have to be expensive, but can provide big bang for the little buck, such as the scavenger hunt suggested above. If the wedding weekend guests will mostly be family, you can schedule a home movie-viewing event, including home movies from both the bride and groom’s families. For even more fun, consider an activity where the movies are mixed up and the guests have to guess which family’s videos they are watching. This might sound easy, but depending on the contents, it could be hard, particularly if the bride and groom are babies in the photos.