Here’s what you know: You’ve found the girl of your dreams and, somehow, you tricked her into committing to spend the rest of her life with you. You lucky dog. And here’s what you don’t know: Literally everything else. Tying the knot is a deeply, deeply fulfilling and beautiful experience. And it’s one that will scare you shitless.
But that’s okay. You’re nervous, and it happens to all of us. All that matters is her, but it doesn’t mean that there are some things that carry a lot of weight. One of those things will be your wedding band. There are a million options out there, but if you’re going to go a less traditional, cough-boring-cough route, here are 8 beautiful and unique wedding bands for the modern man:
Qalo Ring
When we first stumbled upon QALO’s site, we were skeptical. A rubber wedding band? Sounds… Cheap. But, QALO’s brand of men’s wedding bands holds up to scrutiny, and we can appreciate a company whose products can withstand the day-to-day beating of an active lifestyle.
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Wedgewood Rings SR-71 Blackbird Ti and USS North Carolina Teak Wooden Ring
This ring is so incredibly badass that it almost makes us want to go out and find a wife just so we can buy it. Crafted using titanium from the ejector nozzle of an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane, along with real-deal reclaimed teak wood from the deck of The USS North Carolina, this ring is authentic, masculine, and all-around tough as nails. If you’re going to do the whole “forever” thing, you might as well do it in style.
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Satomi Kawakita MR0105
New York-based jewelry designer Satomi Kawakita makes beautiful wedding bands for men and women in solid gold, sterling silver, and platinum. What we love about them is that—like every solid marriage—no two rings are the same, and each is peppered with slight imperfections. For people looking for something different and beautifully authentic, these are great, simple options.
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Fabuluster Fingerprint Ring
Handmade rings from Topsham, Maine, the Fabuluster Fingerprint Rings are perhaps some of the most intensely intimate wedding bands we’ve seen. These rings incorporate your partner’s fingerprint, carefully and concisely engraved into the inner or outer surface of your band—a piece of them, with you always and forever.
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Bario Neal Weatherized Bronze and Gold Band
If you couldn’t tell, our taste in bands is geared more toward functional and well-worn over sleek and modern. A man’s wedding band will stay on his finger for [hopefully] the rest of his days. To treat it like it’s some kind of piece of fine art is fool-hearted. This particular ring is dented, and dinged, and oxidized and… Beautiful. But the inlay is exquisite, polished, and elegant 18-karat Fairmined Yellow Gold, which will stay beautiful until the end of time.
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Digby & Iona Ties That Bind Band
This handmade band made in Brooklyn, N.Y., features a highly detailed and beautifully classic rope pattern engraved through the outside and inside of the band. It’s handsome, unassuming, and gives a whole new meaning to “tying the knot.”
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Simply Wood “Incorruptible” Teakwood Ring
All of Simply Wood rings are handmade in Chicago, and each is molded from a single piece of salvaged wood, and then reinforced with an industrial strength adhesive (that is verified nontoxic and has no Volatile Organic Compounds). They stand by their products and offer free refinishing for the lifetime of every band they make. They have plenty of rings to choose from, but their simple and sleek “incorruptible” Teakwood Ring is a perfect alternative to more classic bands.
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Sakurako Shimizu Custom Waveform Ring
The day you and your wife-to-be say “I do” is a day that should stay with you forever. With her Custom Waveform Rings, Japanese artist and designer Sakurako Shimizu has figured out how to keep that moment suspended in space and time. You and your bride record yourselves saying “I do,” mail the .wav files to Shimizu, who then makes a 3D-printed casting of your oaths, and then casts them into your wedding bands. The innovative rings are hand-cast in Brooklyn by Shimizu herself, and each is made to order.
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