Choosing the Wedding Bands

Mr. Newport just ordered our wedding bands! We went to pick them out last weekend, but had to wait for a quote on the rings. My choice was easy. I knew I wanted a band that matched my engagement ring. There were two options in the store, one was too thick, the other two thin. The associate looked up my ring, since we bought it in the same location and found out that the exact match is no longer in stock, and it just happend to be right in between the size of the other two. So I ordered the one that is hopefully just right.

Mr. Newport's choice was also pretty easy. He walked up to the counter, found a style he liked and tried a few on, then picked the two he liked best. We got a quote for the two and then made his decision. Super easy.

The one thing we were both surprised about during the process was cost. Prior to our band shopping experience I had no clue how much a metal choice can impact the cost of a ring. Sure I know platinum is pricier than silver, but I didn't really know about the metals in between. Common ones include silver, yellow gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, tungsten, tungsten carbide, and titanium.

I didn't really have a choice in my band's metal, as I knew I wanted a matching set and that includes metal. I've heard different metals wear differently, so I wanted my wedding band metal to be the same as the engagement ring. When we first put together our wedding budget, I did some online research on my matching wedding band and budgeted a little over that amount in case anything changed over the next year (remember we had a long engagement).

Mr. Newport was dead set on not spending a lot of money on his ring. BILS found a ring, I believe it is tungsten carbide, at T.J. Maxx for about $26.00 and purchased it for his wedding band. Mr. Newport thought this was great and decided he wanted to do the same. Problem- he has a larger finger, which wasn't as easy to find. I figured it would be tough to find a deal like this, so I budgeted a bit more for Mr. Newport. Also, in case he changed his mind about his metal choice. We came up with dollar amounts and put it in the budget.

Like many of our wedding plans, other than the big things, we put this off until the checklist told us we should really be doing it. We went to the closest Descenza's and looked at wedding bands. I tried on mine and asked for a quote. Mr. Newport tried on his and asked for a qoute for two rings, but asked to get quotes for different metals.

A few days later I got a call. My ring ended up being about 2/3 of the price I had budgeted! My ring is palladium and the rings I saw online must have been platinum. I had no idea a metal could vary the price this greatly. I'm super happy Mr. Newport opted for a more practical metal. This savings is definitely helping at a much needed time.

This also worked out great, because Mr. Newport opted to go with white gold as opposed to his original idea of going with tungsten carbide. He was surprised at the cost of the white gold ring, because in the store the price tag was much greater- again I'm assuming this must have been based on a platinum ring or other costlier metal. We hadn't budgeted enough for the white gold, but after the savings from my ring, we were able to get both of our top choice rings with a bit of money to spare.

Our rings should be in within 6 weeks, I'll post photos once we get them.

Did metal type have an impact on your decision? Were you surprised by the difference in metals prices?

Save The Dates: DIY Cost Breakdown

We originally wanted to keep our save the dates low budget, but they ended up costing more than expected. We realized DIY, doesn't always mean cheaper. But, we are still happy we did go the diy route. I love that the save the dates reflect both of us. They are sort of simple and classic like me, with a bit of humor thrown in, which is so Mr. Newport.

The most expensive part of the save the dates were the magnets. Because of our indecisiveness, we ended up paying more. We ordered them through Vistaprint during a promotional sale. Free Magnets- the first 10. We ended up having to pay for 5 design fees. If we only had one design we could have cut down on costs. So how much did they cost? Here's a breakdown by the sites/stores we used:

VistaPrint
Magnets (100): $88.00 with discounts and shipping included

Paper-Source (All prices listed are with a 20% discount from a sale)
Night A6 Envelopes (80 envelopes): $22.40
Pure White A6 Notecards (150 notecards): $18.00 - we had technical difficulties and needed to buy extra
White Oval Labels Sheets (100 labels): $8.32
*Envelope Liner Template (multi pack): ($8.76) -already had from prior craft project
Sketch Starfish Rubber Stamp: $4.80
Save the Date Rubber Stamp: $7.96

A.C. Moore
*Heat Embossing Tool- (19.95- 11.97 with 40% off coupon)- already had from prior craft project
Navy Ink- $2.37 with 40% off coupon
Clear Embossing Powder: $2.37 with 40% coupon

USPS
Gulf Coast Lighthouses Stamps (80)- $36.20, $1.00 service charge included
Additional 17 cent Stamps (80)-$13.60

*Other Items Needed, not included in budget breakdown:
Computer
Printer
Color Ink
Printer Paper- for envelope liners
Scissors
Pencil
Double Sided Tape

Our Total Cost: $204.02*

* not including items listed in "other", heat embosser or envelope liner template as we already had these.

At 80 Save the Dates, it came out to about $2.55 each. More than we originally wanted to spend, but we are happy with the results. These will be our guest's first glimpse into our wedding. We wanted them to be special.

We could have cut the magnets to save on costs. It would have brought the total to $116.02, or about $1.45 each, over a dollar less per save the date. They would have received this:

But we are happy with our addition, it makes our set complete.

Did you splurge on your save the dates?