A customized wedding and engagement ring set from mondera.com

"Customized" means different things to different people, and different things to different jewelers. For example, you can "customize" an engagement ring online by choosing among various settings and diamonds.

Or you can customize a wedding ring by meeting with a jeweler and designing something from scratch. As with all things related to rings and diamonds, your budget may be a determining factor in how much customization is involved.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, customization can actually help you stay within or use a smaller budget. If you know your budget from the outset, you can work with a jeweler in creating a customized ring that fits the price plan and still have a unique ring. Kind of like ordering a pizza - you pick and choose the ingredients, and if you're limited on funds, you can stick with fewer, quality toppings (like a handsome rock) and go without the extras.

Another great reason to customize your bridal and wedding set? You can make it even more sentimental by incorporating existing family jewelry, such as your grandmother's wedding band or a piece from your fiancé's family history. Any heirloom pieces, from necklace parts to earrings can be combined to create a truly unique and heartfelt piece. The sentimental value may be worth more than the jewelry itself, and you'll love looking at it day after day.

And while many fine online jewelers offer matching wedding sets, including the engagement and both wedding rings, with the customized option you can not only have matching pieces, but include a personal touch as well. If your family has a strong Irish background, for example, consider a Celtic theme, or if you're into the contemporary look, you can create stunning intertwining rings. Any type of theme can be incorporated to express your unique union.

Not to mention that your guy might really enjoy having more involvement in the process. Seeing how the tradition of surprising a bride-to-be with an engagement ring is not always how things are done these days (although there's nothing wrong with tradition!), customized rings give your fiancé a chance to be involved.

Want to know a secret? A lot of guys really get into the whole design thing, and care a lot more about the rings you'll both be wearing than they care to admit. In the relative privacy of the jewelry store, or if you're doing your ring shopping online, you can offer them the safety and security to let their creative side out.

Work together on creating a custom wedding and engagement ring set and you'll not only have fun in the process, but you'll end up with rings that have a lot of emotional value since you created them together. And you'll also get a better sense of his style so you can determine ahead of time how much involvement he should have in decorating the living room.

Diamond Engagement Rings	Diamond Wedding Rings
Designer Engagement Rings	Celtic Engagement Rings