Ethical Sourcing: Wedding Bands
In continuing our Ethical Sourcing Series, I wanted to tell you a little more about how we create our wedding bands along with some insight into how we are continuing our wedding band consultations during the current stay-at-home orders. If you are in the market for a wedding band or know someone who is, this is an extremely useful post to read or forward along!It's interesting. Wedding bands are perhaps the only element from your wedding (other than your partner, of course) that will stay with you a lifetime, and yet they are often overlooked in the wedding planning process. While brides and grooms may know from day one that they want lemon curd filling in their wedding cake, they often have a hard time knowing where to start with their wedding bands. Picking out a wedding band can feel a little daunting for many men, especially if they have never worn jewelry before. For my female clients, I would say it's a 50/50 distribution between brides who know exactly what they want for their band and those who are mentally starting from square one. With women's bands, there is often (though not always) an engagement ring to give some guidance which can help answer upfront questions about preferred metal type and overall style, but even from there the minutia of exactly how "matchy" the band should be can make people feel overwhelmed.
We make the process as straightforward as possible by walking our clients through metal options and weighing the pros and cons of various types and shapes. We offer wedding bands in all fine materials: 14k - 22k gold, platinum, palladium, and silver. One thing to know about our shop is we do not carry "contemporary" metal bands such as those manufactured in tungsten, titanium, or cobalt. The biggest reason for this decision is that these are not malleable metals which can be worked on or repaired, meaning that if you change sizes (which you will) or your ring cracks (which it can, even these), you have to throw these away and get a new one. We don't like selling disposable goods that we can't stand behind.
Our wedding bands can be customized with hand-engraved details or with gemstones of your choice - no design is too intricate.
From a sustainability standpoint, "fine" materials such as sterling silver, gold, and platinum are winners by a long shot. They will never tarnish or "go bad", they're fixable, and all of our bands are created from 100 percent recycled material. Our preferred vendor manufactures all of their bands in the U.S. and their process is certified by SCS Global Services, an international leader in third-party certification and standards development in environmental and sustainability claims according to global standards. This means that even if you're ordering a "new" band with us, the material used in that band has been pulled from a sustainable resource instead of newly mined.The same applies to all of our custom-designed gold, platinum, and silver pieces - all are crafted in 100 percent recycled materials. When we design your wedding band, we take into consideration whether you want it to coordinate with your engagement ring and can create the perfect curve to sit flush against it. Each bride has her own opinion on whether the bands should sit flush or separately and if you aren't sure, we'll walk you through the pros and cons. 
Our pre-fabricated wedding bands are created using a continuous cast process that ensures each ring is incredibly durable. We order them in your size and can stretch them up or down as needed, meaning there is no "seam" on the band which could be popped in the future.
An even better option from a sustainability perspective is to utilize your own recycled material to create your band. We offer this service and charge only for the labor involved to melt and shape your band. Doing this eliminates the carbon footprint left by production and shipping costs for a prefabricated band from one of our vendors. Plus, it allows our clients to have their wedding bands created out of material that has its own sentimental value, which is especially rewarding. So, if you have access to grandma and grandpa's wedding bands and want to make something with them, we are more than happy to do that. Our workshop is currently operating on restricted hours, so our turnaround time is a little longer, but we are accepting projects like this as we move forward. If you would like a hand-fabricated ring using your own materials, we can set up a time for you to drop off your materials for us to sanitize and re-fabricate.With the current shutdown measures in place, we are able to walk clients through the selection and design process virtually and can set up a private (distanced) in-person consultation if needed. It's still a good idea to try on different sizes and shapes, but a lot of the preliminary details can be sorted out safely over virtual conferencing. So, if you're in the market for wedding bands, don't let this pandemic slow you down. This is actually a great time to mark off the more controllable elements of your wedding planning process and we're happy to walk you through our sustainably sourced options from the comfort and safety of your own home.To set up an appointment, just email us at inquiries@alxandcompany.com and we'll get you started.