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Some brides these days are snagging really big rings -- big enough, that is, to drape necks and encircle wrists.
The wedding band is being appended, if not replaced, by the wedding necklace or bracelet, pieces that symbolize togetherness in a more contemporary way. The expanding category of commitment jewelry is yet further evidence of continued departure from one-tradition-fits-all, experts say.
"Brides are more in touch with their sense of style," says Diane Meier Delaney, author of The New American Wedding: Ritual and Style in a Changing Culture. They want their jewelry "to really speak about them."
Her book tells of a bride who chose a bracelet of emerald-cut diamonds. Another opted for a strand of pearls; her husband adds pearls to it every anniversary. "She was married in a choker," Delaney says. "On their 20th anniversary, she'll just wrap it around and around."
In an era of second and third marriages and older brides and grooms, a not-unheard-of $40,000 ring "doesn't always make sense when you've got children to educate and mortgages to pay off," Delaney says.
Online wedding resource The Knot sells a Family Medallion stamped with three interlocking circles, a "big seller" for second marriages, says senior editor Kathleen Murray. Everyone wears one -- kids and stepkids, too -- "because it's more like the family is getting married."
Sometimes the rule-breaking is about practicality. Sure, Rebecca Romijn received a 6-carat yellow diamond engagement ring from Jerry O'Connell. But while shooting WB's Pepper Dennis, she'd swap the rock for a matching yellow diamond earrings, also from O'Connell, because her character is single.
Susan Grant Fox's diamond band gets worn a few days a week. The rest of the time she wears a pendant she designed, part of the Family Ties Collection.
One side features a Celtic knot, representing longevity and love; the other side, a Chinese symbol signifying "the interwoven nature of life," according to the website.
"The wedding band is a lovely symbol, but I think it ends up just looking like a piece of jewelry," Fox says. "I look at my medallion and it represents my entire family to me, not just my husband."
Gail Scott and her husband, Frank, were married last year in Palm Beach, Fla., in matching gold bands. The rings rarely grace their fingers. Instead, the couple, both on their second marriage, don their oxidized silver Family Ties medallions, suspended from black rubber cords.
Says Scott: "It made a statement, but it wasn't screaming."
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