A Band for the Boy

Justin is a man's man.  He loves his cars, his guns and his politics.  You'll never find him at an art show or a band concert (other than something with some rock to it).  And he definitely is not a wearer of jewelry.  The only "accessories" I've seen him don would be his watch, and more recently the paracord bracelet he had me make him (but of course that's only because it's a survival aid should he ever need ten feet of paracord).  So I was a little concerned that we were never going to find a wedding band that fit him.  Figuratively, not literally.

Justin during his first duck hunting trip last year in Arkansas (personal photo)

The second trip Justin and I took ring shopping turned out to be just the ticket for me.  So while I was feeling lucky, I suggested he take a peek at wedding bands to see if there were any he felt suited him.  He grazed over the white golds, yellow golds and anything with diamonds and headed straight for the tungsten offerings.  After some discussion with Brandon, we felt that tungsten would be the best choice for my man.  Durable, scratch resistant and even though it'd take a little work, it wouldn't be entirely impossible to remove from his finger should anything ever happen (unlike titanium, which is damn near indestructable).

After finding a darker colored band he liked better than most, Brandon brought out a bag of bands not displayed for Justin.  As a fellow car guy, Brandon assured Justin he had just the one for him.  And boy did he ever.

(source)

A comfort fit Tungsten band with beveled edges and a strand of carbon fiber through the middle.  Masculine, unique and not blaringly "wedding ring", Justin tried on the band and was probably as happy as a non-jewelry wearer could be.  And my heart soared.  Crisis averted.

A little later, my Flo emailed me mentioning how she and Brian were looking at bands on Overstock.com.  As someone who'd never been on the site, I didn't think about them carrying jewelry.  Sure enough, there was tons.  Out of curiosity, we searched for tungsten rings to see if they carried the one Justin had picked out, and it turns out they did- for about 1/10th of the price!

Admittedly, I went back and forth for quite some time before ordering his band from the website.  As I told him many times, I didn't want him to think me cheap in buying an under $50 band for him when he'd be paying much, much more for my engagement ring (I'm actually buying both mine and his bands in order to help even out the cost).  He was finally able to convince me that he'd rather wear a $50 band and not have to worry about replacement cost if something should happen to it while working on a car, etc.  And that any money saved individually at this time would only mean we would be that much more ahead when married.  Such a smart man :)

So I ordered the band, received it within a few days and it looked identical to the one in the store.  He tried it on briefly a few times to make sure it fit, and then we tucked it safely away into a drawer.  I'll admit that I sometimes daydream back to seeing his hand with the ring on and it makes me smile.

Any of you end up finding an important piece for the wedding day somewhere unexpected?