13 months, 13 rings

Jeremy and I are officially in our 13th month of marriage. Oddly enough, we are sporting our 13th round of wedding rings. (I believe that is good luck.)

Let’s take a stroll down ring lane, shall we?

Since we skipped the engagement part of our relationship – no such ring exists. (and I think it’s silly anyway. It’s like guys can put us on layaway or something … )

Our first official wedding rings were made of Koa wood and hand-carved by a friend of a friend on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was quite nervous during our ceremony, expecting it to fall into the ocean – but it survived and held strong for a few good months.

The demise of the rings started during a Frisbee game in Boston when Jeremy’s ring cracked under an awesome catch. (it was almost worth it ...) A few weeks later, on a shuttle bus in Milwaukee, Jeremy opened his palm to display the crumpled ring, much to my chagrin. My ring was okay, besides the outside layer slightly peeling, but for solidarity we decided we both should get new ones.

Continuing our travels to St. Louis, we picked up some mood rings that constantly reminded us that we were happy, but lasted only a few days before turning our fingers green. The shell rings were cheap and not expected to last – and they didn’t. Next came the green string (which I believe held the longest thus far, although not esthetically pleasing) and the tiny childhood ring my mother found that said “Molly” and fit on the top half of Jeremy’s pinkie finger. (He wore it proudly.)

Once back in Hawaii we found a shop that sold Koa rings (less quality and less expensive than our original) and we ordered two each, different thickness and styles, but eventually they too started chipping. We also picked up coral rings and turquoise rings. Pretty, but wavering. Ho Hum.

A month later, in California, we bought two sets of steel rings from an artist along Venice Beach. These rings looked cool but were heavy, and again, turned our fingers green.

Fast -forward to Florida where we found another set of shell rings, green this time. (You sorta have to buy shell rings when you’re in Florida.)

Plenty in numbers at this point, through all of our open ringlationships, variety remained the spice of life.

The shining star came a few months ago during a visit to the Christmas Market in Bayreuth, Germany. The ChristKindl Markets house a variety of artists and goodies – including ring makers!

I picked up two simple black steel rings that feel as if you are wearing no ring at all. (But doesn’t make you any less married ...probably.)

Although these rings are still our favorite and the ones we wear the most, we decided on another pair during our recent Cinque Terre trip. Jeremy picked out silver rings doused in bronze and metal. Fancy. All for the bargain price of 20 Euros. Fancy, indeed.

So, each day, we take our newfound fanciness, choose a new look and decided together which ring to wear – because marriage should always match your outfit.