The best places to buy wedding rings online

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The best places to buy wedding rings online
  • It may sound strange to shop for a wedding band online, but these days, there are a lot of great options. After much research, my husband and I bought our wedding bands online.
  • Blue Nile is our top pick because it offers tons of traditional and modern styles in a range of budgets, and we found shopping online to be less stressful than dealing with salespeople and feeling pressured to buy a ring in the store.
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A wedding band is arguably more important than an engagement ring, but in my experience, so much less stressful when it comes to shopping. It still doesn't mean it's any less sentimental or that the shopping process is completely stress-free.

My husband and I shopped for our bands online, and at a different place from where we bought my engagement ring too. The two rings don't need to match so there's no point in going back to the same store, unless there happens to be a ring that you really like.

There are a lot of places you can get wedding bands online and a ton of styles to choose from, so it's important to find a place that has exactly what you're looking for to avoid overwhelming yourself. You'll presumably be wearing your wedding band for a long time, so it's crucial to pick a style you'll love indefinitely and not just for a few years.

Here are the best places to buy wedding rings online:

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The best overall

The best overall
Blue Nile, our pick for the best place to buy your engagement ring, is unsurprisingly also the best place to buy your wedding band. There are tons of traditional and modern styles in a range of budgets, making the shopping process less stressful.

Blue Nile has so many styles that it's great for people who are curious about different styles and for those who are ready to buy. Styles range from the classic plain band to curved pavé bands to designer collections from Monique Lhuillier, Zac Posen, and more. It can be overwhelming but luckily, the various search functions can help narrow things down.

You can set filters for the general style you want, check out the 10 most popular styles for men and women, or if you bought your engagement ring on Blue Nile, just look at the suggested bands that complement your ring. (Or not, there's no rule that says both rings need to match.)

Images of the rings are zoomed in so you can see all the details, and shoppers who've bought the same ring will often attach their own photos so you can get a better sense of how the ring really looks. I found this so helpful because I was able to see just how thin or thick a certain band was on someone's hand, or how brilliant a pavé band is in natural light.

Prices are comparable to other sites in this guide, but can often be cheaper as there always seems to be a promotion running. If you have a few rings in mind, I'd suggest favoriting them so you can get email alerts when the price drops — and it will. And if you find that the ring you bought is cheaper within seven days of your purchase, you can contact customer service via the 24/7 chat box or phone for a price adjustment — which my husband and I did.

Blue Nile also offers free shipping and returns, and has a great 30-day return policy in case the style isn't what you or your partner expected. Engraved rings can be returned, though you'll forfeit the $25 engraving fee. Rings come nicely packaged and include both a felt pouch and ring box so they're ready to be presented as soon as you open the box.

Pros: Has a ton of styles to choose from, suggests wedding bands that complement engagement ring, shopper reviews with photos are helpful, free shipping and returns, 24/7 chat box, offers price adjustments, free resizing

Cons: Many choices can feel overwhelming, no physical store to try on

The best selection for men

The best selection for men
There are always more ring options for women than men, but Ritani has more than 650 styles of rings for men so they won't feel boxed into just a handful of standard designs.

Women kind of have all the fun when it comes to ring shopping — there's just so much to choose from! But Ritani has a huge selection of rings for men that even we were surprised by the amount. There are more than 650 wedding bands for men and more than 500 for women. For context, Blue Nile has more than 250 styles for men and more than 440 for women.

All the bands are gender neutral though, so you should shop for the ring that looks good to you as opposed to conforming to a stereotype.

Luckily, there are a ton of great designs to choose from that look great on everyone. There are classic plain comfort-fit bands, brushed and beveled bands, and even a two-tone style with a different metal inside and outside the band.

Couples who want to see the bands in person before checking out online would also benefit from Ritani's extensive network of jewelry store partners around the US that let you preview your ring before you buy. It's a great combo that's both time-efficient and stress-free since you're only viewing the one or two rings you've picked out online.

Ritani also offers free shipping and returns, and a 30-day return policy (thought not for engraved items).

Pros: Huge selection of styles for men and women, in-person previews at local jewelry store, free shipping and returns, 30-day return policy, financing opportunities

Cons: Too many options can be overwhelming, might be inefficient to go to a store several times if you're indecisive

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The best for travel

The best for travel
The inexpensive silicone rings from Roq can come in handy for travelers and active lifestyles. The bands come in a bunch of different colors and styles, including ones that are metallic and even glittery.

Ideally, you get your wedding bands insured so they're protected against wear and tear, theft, damage, and more. But if you travel a lot, are really active, or use your hands a lot in your profession like dentists or doctors, it's understandable that you might not want to wear it all the time. That's where an inexpensive silicone ring from Roq can come in handy.

There are flexible silicone bands for both men and women (though they all seem gender neutral to me) in a bunch of different colors and styles, including ones that are metallic, colorful, and yes, even glittery. They're cheap enough that you won't panic if you forget it at a hotel or bang your ring against a free weight at the gym.

The silicone is medical grade and hypoallergenic, so it won't irritate skin, though should you need to return it for any reason, Amazon shoppers say that customer service is pretty great.

This is a number-one seller on Amazon with a 4.6-star rating out of 5 and more than 2,500 reviews. Shoppers say they bought the ring because they use their hands a lot and wanted something in place of a metal wedding band that could get dinged up, and that the rings are great quality.

Pros: Inexpensive, great for travelers or active people, flexible for comfortable fit, comes in lots of different colors and styles

Cons: Can seem juvenile

The best for customization

The best for customization
Customized wedding bands usually cost a lot because of the labor and time that goes into crafting a ring from scratch, but not at Holden — prices start at just $179.

If you think all wedding bands look the same and would prefer a custom one, check out Holden. It's part of a growing group of online direct-to-consumer shops that are changing how we shop for wedding bands and engagement rings, and one of the best advantages is the ability to customize your ring.

Instead of choosing from a pre-designed ring, you start with one of eight ring profiles, and then choose the metal, width, finish, and engraving. The rings start at $179 for a classic 10k yellow gold band and max out at $1,199 for a platinum multi-faceted style, and can take up to two weeks to produce — which is pretty quick for a full custom job.

The reason Holden can keep its costs down is because there's no middleman or storefront. Instead, rings are made in-house with 3D technology and wax molds, and go directly to the consumer for a fraction of the price of traditional jewelry retail markups, which are often 8x to 10x the cost of production.

There's also a free ring-sizing kit, free engraving, free ring resizing (once per calendar year), free shipping, a lifetime warranty, and payment plans for an easier time on your wallet. But the return window is pretty short at just 14 days and doesn't apply to any ring that has been previously exchanged, altered, or resized, even if done in-house at Holden.

Holden is definitely one of the newer startups in this guide and we get that shoppers might hesitate at drop a few hundred dollars, but since its launch in April 2018, revenue has doubled month over month and direct-to-consumer fine jewelry startups are becoming more mainstream, so it's definitely a growing company.

Pros: Fully customized rings, easy online interface, can see rings at NYC studio by appointment, free engraving, free ring resizing (once per calendar year), free shipping, a lifetime warranty, and payment plans

Cons: Short 14-day return window, shoppers who don't live in NYC can't view rings in person, limited styles currently

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The best nontraditional styles

The best nontraditional styles
Brooklyn-based Catbird stocks wedding bands that are truly nontraditional yet timeless.

It should come as no surprise that Brooklyn-based Catbird specializes in nontraditional, unique wedding bands. You won't find any plain bands here, even the most "traditional" look has a literal twist on it.

Unlike the other stores we've highlighted in this guide, Catbird also stocks rings from other fine jewelry brands like 1909 Erica Weiner, Erstwhile, WWAKE, and more. This means the designs are super unique; you're not scrolling through dozens of rings that look similar to each other.

While the selection of styles is large, the quantity of each is much smaller than expected. Catbird even has a note on its site that some ring sizes would be made custom once an order is put in — which make it final sale and ineligible to return. It's a bet you'll have to take if you really love an item online, but one that I don't think you can go wrong with given how unique and special each design is. If you're in Brooklyn, you can make an appointment to view rings.

Pros: Unique and nontraditional designs, designs are from actual jewelry designers and brands

Cons: Can't view rings in person unless you're based in the greater New York City area

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