The Wedding Ring Workshop

Today Chris and I made our wedding rings.

 

White gold & platinum after we melted it down

 

The Wedding Ring Workshop in Hatton Garden is the first and original jewellery workshop.  For just £150 per person you have a dedicated expert giving you their undivided attention all day, from sitting down to discuss what you want right through to the finishing touch.

 

 

 

 

We melted, milled, sawed, bent and filed the day away until our wedding rings took shape.  Chris opted for a white gold band with a hammered finish, while me being the awkward one went for a shaped platinum band that will frame my emerald cut engagement ring. For this our expert stepped in to help Chris with the tricky wave shape on the band, which isn't the easiest even for the professionals.

 

Our work here is done

 

Now that they're finished we left them in the capable hands of the experts to complete the hallmarks, set the diamonds into mine and engrave the date of our wedding into both of the bands. Apparently the team get all sorts of random engraving requests, ranging from the distasteful to the downright bizarre!

 

We had an absolutely amazing day at the workshop, it was exhausting but worth it. We learnt so much about the process of making wedding rings and how the metals behave being heated, pushed, pulled and cooled throughout the different stages.

 

At the end of the day the rings are weighed and you only pay for the weight of the material you have used, which all-in came out cheaper than buying generic rings from a high street retailer. It was an absolutely fantastic experience and I highly recommend. I can't speak highly enough about the guys working there. Our dedicated expert (called Adam, I think?) was a great guy who was so patient and encouraging all day. The other guys who were busy getting on with their work were still friendly and welcoming despite having their own things to do, and one was kind enough to let me watch him engraving someone's rings to see how it works.

Above all it's so rewarding to make your own rings because you end up with a piece that you didn't just specify its appearance.  Because you physically brought it into existence you feel very proud and bonded to it. Which is a great feeling to have about a piece of jewellery representing your commitment to another person.