Celebrating Pride: Same Sex Engagement & Wedding Rings

Should you buy your boyfriend a sparkly engagement ring? Would your partner prefer to wear just a wedding band? Should you buy yourself an engagement ring? We say, relish in the fact there are no rules - if a simple plain band will suffice, great. If you want each of your hands to drip in diamonds in celebration of your love, go for it. And if you haven’t quite made up your mind, here are a few ideas to help you along the way.

In same sex relationships, gone are the traditional confines of a man proposing to a woman (which is a pretty outdated rule to abide by anyway), meaning many gay couples reach a mutual decision to get married without a surprise proposal. And where there is no surprise proposal, there is no surprise engagement ring - so why not combine your engagement ring and wedding ring in one. Add a little sparkle and detail to the ring you’ll don at your nuptials with a small diamond: not-quite-a-wedding-ring, not-quite-an-engagement-ring, but a fantastic (and beautiful) symbol of your partnership nonetheless. Equally, an eternity ring is a beautiful symbol of your eternal love for your partner. Whether you plan on getting married or not, the super romantic gift of an eternity ring is sure to bag you major brownie points.

Who should wear the engagement ring in a gay partnership? Even if you’re the one proposing, there’s nothing to stop you both wearing an engagement ring. Alternatively, you may come to the mutual decision to get married, so why not challenge your partner to designing each other’s rings? Creating a pair of rings with a shared characteristic but different overall look is a great idea. That could be choosing the same cut of diamond, opting for the same milgrain detailing, or using a certain coloured gemstone for detailing; think about what’s important to you, and what would be a great symbol of your relationship.

Your engagement ring can be as gender neutral as you want it to be, whether that’s jazzing up a thick, plain band with the odd diamond, using black diamonds to create an eternity ring, or simply opting for a plain band. Whether you’re searching for gay men’s wedding rings or lesbian engagement rings, you may feel what’s on offer doesn’t quite reflect you enough. Blurring the lines between what is traditionally feminine or masculine is exciting, and only you and your partner will know exactly what is right for you, so get creative! The beauty of bespoke jewellery means you can inject as much of your unique personality into your ring as you like. We’re predicting big things for gender neutral engagement rings.

Many Hatton Garden jewellers have been family owned for decades, which is not to say they don’t move with the times. It can, however, be tricky to find something that differs from the norms of what can be an incredibly traditional industry. That’s where bespoke rings come in, because the nature of bespoke is all about finding what’s right for you and your partner, not what lores and traditions have told us to do for hundreds of years. At Queensmith, our team of design experts will help you piece together the ring that's totally right for you.

However you identify, who’s to say you can’t don a super traditional, super sparkly diamond engagement ring? We’re all guilty of ogling the solitaire, halo and diamond band engagement rings we see splurged across our Instagram feeds. Alternatively, opt for a diamond eternity ring. Get your sparkle on!