By Lorraine Jacobs

 History has it that Pope Innocent III was responsible for the customization of two ring types that are very popular today: wedding and engagement rings. 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. Prior to the 13th century, it was only the engagement ring that was given as a token in Europe, though the history of wedding ring was far older.




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 periods, they generally did not give emphasis on gem cut types like the princess cut as much as we give importance to such feature today. In the biblical era, great dowry gifts were handed during the betrothal of couples. It has been assumed that rings, most especially those that are created from precious metals, were substituted as less expensive forms of dowries.



In the Roman period, rings were used for two primary purposes""to seal deals and to insinuate ownership. High ranking senators used gold rings that signified their positions in the community, while iron rings were used by 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. The placement of the wedding ring on the third left hand finger was rooted from the idea that such finger was supposed to be the place where the love vein or vena amoris is situated; therefore, as the ring is symbolic of love, it was officially worn in the third left hand finger as it is directly connected to the heart. Today, most countries wear wedding and engagement rings on the left hand, though there are also countries that traditionally wear their rings on the right hand such as Poland and Ukraine.



For Puritans, rings were symbols of heathen so they did not used it for their wedding ceremonies; instead they make use of marriage thimbles to seal their wedding 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. It was the soldiers going off to war who first decided to wear these rings in order to remember their wives or partners back home. Currently, marriage ceremonies are also regarded as double ring ceremonies. Meaning to say, both the bride and the groom wear wedding rings to show their commitment and love, though the engagement ring is still limited among 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.

Weddings