Based from historical records, the creation of wedding and engagement rings can be credited to Pope Innocent III. He asserted that there must be a waiting period between engagement and marriage. Because both of the aforementioned events were considered as contracts, these rings were insignias that legally seal these deals. Before the 13th century, Europeans only make use of the engagement ring as tokens, although the history of wedding rings are more ancient.
Almost five thousand years ago, the Egyptians used reed or hemp rings as representations of eternity, a circle that has no beginning and no end. During those times, the stone cut types that we are familiar with such as the princess cut and emerald cut were not yet in use. In the biblical era, great dowry gifts were handed during the betrothal of couples. It has been speculated that rings, most especially those that are made from precious metals, were used as inexpensive substitutes for expensive dowries.
In the Roman period, rings were used for two primary purposes""to seal deals and to insinuate ownership. Gold rings were reserved for the use of high ranking officials, while iron rings were made available for the used of ordinary citizens. The rings worn by ordinary citizens at that time were similar to the large rings that held the keys to the household. As such, it has been regarded that if a Roman citizen presented his bride with an iron marriage ring, he was therefore giving her the key to his household as well as all his worldly goods.
It was during 16th century England when the wedding ring was officially moved from the right ring hand to the left hand. Some historians speculated that this change was done in order to show the position of women in the society, since the right hand was contemplated as the hand of power. Accordingly, as we are all aware of, the wedding ring is placed on the third hand of the left finger because it was concluded that such finger on the left hand is where the vein of love known as vena amoris is located; hence, as the ring signifies love, it was only appropriate to place it on the finger that is directly connected to the heart. Today, wedding and engagement rings are both widely worn on the left hand; however, there are some countries that traditionally wear their engagement rings on the right hand such as Poland and Ukraine.
For Puritans, rings were considered as agnostic, which they believe is inappropriate to use during wedding ceremonies; hence, instead of using rings they used wedding thimbles for their marital vows. The Victorians were the ones who welcomingly embraced the custom of wedding rings and accentuated them with flowers and hearts. On the other end of the spectrum, the Edwardians embellished their rings with leaves and other ornamental arts, which in turn paved way for the rise of art deco rings. Since then, the use of gem stone rings were widely acknowledged along with the use of stone cut types like the princess cut, emerald cut, step cut and more.
It was not until World War II that men started to wear wedding and engagement rings. The first men to wear such rings were the soldiers going off to war; they used the rings as reminders of their waiting wives and partners. Today, wedding rites are also treated as double ring ceremonies. This means that both the bride and the groom are given wedding rings to symbolize their commitment and love for each other, though wearing of engagement rings are still appropriated for women.
Wedding and engagement rings are both significant jewelries that have a long and fruitful history. Aside from sealing contract deals, these rings were also used as representations of power and position within the society. A marriage ring however, remained as the symbol of commitment between two people. Today, rings used for wedding and engagement comes in various styles and cut just like the popularly known princess cut.
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