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4 ways to reflect your partner's personality in their ring
Our favourite thing about a custom engagement ring is how well it suits the wearer.
You know your partner better than anyone, and one of the best ways of showing that is when you’re down on one knee giving them their perfect ring.
So to help with that, we’ve got 4 sources of inspiration that you can use to truly reflect their personality and uniqueness when picking out an engagement ring.
1. Birthday inspiration
Birthstones (and flowers!) have held a prominent place in society for centuries and regularly make their way into jewellery designs.
Using your partner's birthstone not only creates a unique aesthetic but also adds a part of them to the ring.
You can even take it a step further and get a multi-stone ring that includes both partners’ birthstones. This is what Machine Gun Kelly did for Megan Fox, and the results are stunning.
Also, don’t worry if your partner isn’t born in April! An engagement ring doesn’t need to have a diamond. Gemstones of all varieties are finding their way into engagement rings nowadays.
2. Look at their fashion sense
It’s often said that a person’s fashion sense is a direct window into their personality. That makes it the perfect place to look for inspiration on their engagement ring.
Start by looking at their wardrobe. Would you describe it as understated and elegant, or bold and exciting? Is there a particular colour palette being adhered to? These are things that can all be put into an engagement ring.
And try to focus on their everyday outfits as opposed to the ones for special occasions, an engagement ring can look great with a show-stopping evening dress, but if it looks out of place every day with jeans and a t-shirt then you’re probably not onto a winner.
The casual, understated look
If your partner leans more towards a casual or understated look then their ring should reflect this. A clean design with simple, elegant lines is the way to go. A bolder design will simply look out of place.
The right gemstone is very important for this type of design. A diamond too big will look out of place and ruin the aesthetic you’re trying to achieve, whilst one too small for the mount won’t be able to act as a good centre stone.
Round, oval and pear cuts will be the best option for gemstones as they are able to complement the lines of the finger without being too over-the-top.
You can see this shown in our Carina ring below set with a round cut diamond.
You can also liven things up with some pave diamonds set into the band like on our Lucy design, featuring an oval-cut gemstone.
The bold, statement-making look
For people who have a wardrobe full of big personality pieces, you’ll want a ring that is bold enough to cut through the noise.
We’d recommend looking towards halo and multi-stone rings. These designs cover a larger surface area than others meaning they won’t get lost in an overall busier outfit.
A halo mount sapphire featuring a ring of melee diamonds could be a good choice, given they look larger than the typical ring from a distance.
3. Inject their heritage into the design
For a lot of people, where they come from is more important than where they are going. Culture, country and county make up a huge part of a person’s identity.
You can reflect this in a person’s ring in multiple ways, but one of our favourites is with custom filigree work. On the example below we’ve added some beautiful Celtic detailing to emphasise the wearer’s Irish heritage.
Another popular option is using materials and gemstones with a special connection to the wearer. We’ve added Whitby jet, Blue John fluorite and gold sourced from Welsh and Irish mines to really add a personal connection to ring designs.
4. Their job and lifestyle
Now, this is probably a divisive one, but some people’s careers mean a lot to them and they derive a great part of their self from what they do for a living. After all, we spend a large portion of our lives working.
This sentiment also extends to a person’s general lifestyle and hobbies they do outside of work.
Even from a practical perspective, an engagement ring should be chosen to fit in with the wearer’s career and lifestyle instead of detracting from it.
Rob, one of the Nightingale team had the perfect example when we asked him.
“I remember being at a fundraising event for an international aid charity one night a few years ago. I was acquaintances with the director so when she came to my table I noticed she had recently got engaged.
Now usually I’m not that perceptive, but the size of the diamond on her ring finger made it fairly hard to miss. It was almost colossal in size. Naturally, I congratulated her and admired her ring, but the reaction I got was quite strange.
It was almost one of embarrassment when she explained that her fiancé was doing very well in his business, so made an extravagant purchase.
See, despite the ring being a stunning piece of jewellery, it didn’t suit the down to earth person who was running a small charity, trying to drum up donations from regular people. Later on in the evening, I noticed she had took it off, and I can’t be sure, but I think a big factor was how it made her feel in that situation.
This example perfectly highlights how a ring that acts as an extension of a person’s personality will always beat out a more extravagant, higher valued ring.
Rob went onto add, that there are some practical elements to consider here too.
“As well as thinking about the setting where a ring will be displayed, you also need to think about what it’s going to be subjected to.
Some people’s jobs and hobbies are pretty physical. and If your bride to be works on a farm all day and then spends a few hours hurling herself down a trail on a mountain bike for fun you’re going to want a ring that can keep up.
A ring with a high cathedral mount would probably be a recipe for disaster given how exposed the diamond would be, no matter how high quality the prongs are.”
