Your Complete Guide to Wedding Ring Engraving (Plus 56 Sweet Ideas)

Wedding and engagement ring engraving is a great way to personalise your bands and make them even more special. Read on to find out when the practice began and how much you can expect to pay, plus some of our favourite engraving ideas.

Emily Deane

26 November, 2020

We think ring engraving is a seriously adorable touch, whether you’re incorporating a message into your engagement ring design or adding a romantic quote to your wedding bands after years of marriage.

From wedding dates to nicknames or in-jokes, choosing your engraving will be a deeply personal decision. The message should be meaningful to you both and not just a passing fad, after all you’ll be holding onto these rings for life. If something doesn’t immediately spring to mind, don’t panic: we’ve got plenty of engraving ideas below.

We’ve also detailed where the practice of engraving originated, approximately how much it should cost and the best time to get your rings engraved.

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When Did People Start Engraving Their Wedding Rings?

Wedding ring engraving dates back almost 5,000 years and was seen in Ancient Rome and Egypt. During the medieval period brides-to-be were given poesy rings – a precursor to modern engagement rings – and these rings were inscribed with words or poems. Poesy rings were thought to be magical but while we can’t guarantee your engraved ring will have any supernatural powers, we definitely think an engraving will bring something very special to your bands!

Engravings were done by hand back in the day and religious symbols and words were popular choices. These days modern technology has made the engraving process much easier and more accurate. Couples can have anything from their initials to their fingerprints etched onto their engagement or wedding rings.

How Much Does Ring Engraving Cost?

It depends! We’ve seen engraving priced as low as £10 for letters and words of less than 10 characters and as much as £300 for more intricate designs. Check if the retailer you’re buying your rings from offers the service, a jewellery maker may be willing to cut you a deal on engraving when you’re settling on a price for the rings.

How Are Wedding and Engagement Rings Engraved?

There are three methods of ring engraving: hand engraving, machine engraving and laser engraving. Hand engraving is the oldest and most traditional technique and produces an imperfect result. What hand engraving lacks in precision, it more than makes up for in unique charm and character. Machine engraving uses templates that are traced during the inscribing process. You will be limited to the fonts available within the templates of the engraver with this technique, however the result will be more uniformed than hand engraving.

Laser engraving offers the most flexibility as it enables the engraver to input personalised designs into a computer ready to be inscribed. The point of a laser is also extremely fine, meaning that more letters, words and details can be squeezed onto the surface of the band.

When Should We Engrave Our Rings?

Ring engraving happens right at the end of the manufacturing process and the engraving can be sorted before it’s delivered to you if you’ve decided you’d like to go ahead with it.

If you already have your ring but would like an engraving, that’s no problem at all. Just make sure you ask the engraver for a timeline if you’re getting your engagement ring engraved ahead of the big day – you don’t want to be without it then!

Wedding Ring Engraving Ideas

Below are some of our favourite wedding ring engraving ideas to give you some inspiration. Remember to write down your inscription and triple check it before handing it in to the jeweller to avoid any spelling errors.