A Guide to Gorgeous Stacked Wedding Rings

On your special day, you aren’t just saying “I do” to the person you’ll spend your happily ever after with, you’re also committing to a beautiful ring you’ll wear every day thereafter. While subtle changes have marked wedding and engagement rings worn in decades past, today’s wedding jewelry designs can be bold and unique. While some contemporary wedding bands take stylish risks, others may pay homage to more traditional designs of jewelry – albeit with a modern twist like simulated lab created diamonds.

One of the hottest ring-styling trends: stacked wedding bands, a multi-layered approach that’s part commitment jewelry and part chic everyday accessory. Whether the wearer sports the multi-banded look for aesthetic appeal or to celebrate personal milestones in her unique love story, stacked wedding rings create the perfect look to sparkle alongside every style.

What Are Stacked Wedding Rings?

Stacked wedding rings, like stacked bracelets or bangles on the wrist, combine multiple slender rings worn on the same finger. These rings may or may not be part of a cohesive interlocking design, but they always have an eye-catching effect while still being comfortable to wear. Depending on the style of the bands, they may be purchased all at once with the intention of wearing them at the ceremony and beyond, or they may be purchased individually for special occasions, such as anniversaries or the birth of children.

A common misconception is that the idea of “stacked wedding rings” simply refers to the traditional bridal set – engagement ring and wedding ring – worn together. These bridal sets are almost always designed to be interlocking, and typically only consist of two pieces. If individuals wearing these sets wish to change the look, the stone or stones in the ring(s) are typically just re-set into another band, as opposed to other bands being added to the group for a clustered look. While the two do share some visual similarities at a casual glance, stacked designs are usually wider and more uniform in an overall cylindrical shape.

The beauty of stacked rings, particularly those set with Nexus Diamond™ alternatives, is that they reflect the modern era of marriage. These styles give the bride the ability to customize the jewelry piece or pieces she’ll wear every day, ensuring it’s a look she’ll genuinely love. Stacked rings offer a lot of versatility in terms of appearance, mixing and matching, meanings, and accessorizing with day to day outfits. As her personal style changes, she’ll still be able to wear an accessory that signals her love and partnership to the world – and that’s a charming notion no matter how you stack it.

Styles of Stacked Wedding Bands: How To Stack Wedding Rings

Much like traditional wedding and engagement ring sets, stacked wedding rings come in an endless variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and matches and can be the best wedding jewelry accessories. Here are a few popular attributes of stacked wedding rings that amp their appeal for modern brides and brides-to-be:

• The Enclosure Stack: These stackable bands are made to fit together, and are usually found in a trio or set of five rings. The ring with the largest stone – whether it’s an engagement ring or a wedding band – sits in the center, flanked by slender rings that may arch or bow away from it for dramatic effect. This stacked wedding ring style draws the eye to the center ring while framing it beautifully in complementary secondary or tertiary rings.
• The Nested Stack: This unique asymmetrical stack layers matching wedding rings with concentric half-circle or other shape designs that move outwards like ripples on a pond. The effect offers a nod to the Art Deco movement as reflected in 1920s engagement rings, which often made artistic use of interspersed shapes and tiers.
• The Champagne Stack: Similar to the tiny, delicate bubbles winding their way up a flute of champagne, this design leans on bands with rounded edges and adjoining circles along the edge, usually punctuated with sparkling stones. The overall effect, while not interlocking, maximizes the eye-catching play of light across the settings.
• The Eclectic Stack: While traditional bridal ring sets use the same precious metals, stone cuts, and overall look, a woman wearing an eclectic stack has more stylish freedom. The beauty of this wedding ring stack design is in its differences: white gold mixes with yellow or rose gold, stones of various cuts sparkle and shine, and each ring may be a new chapter in an ever-unfolding love story.
• The Glam Wall Stack: This stacking wedding ring design marries bands with pave-style or channel-set stones that sit flush with one another, offering a dazzling overall effect with each movement of the hand. This style usually relies on a trio of rings so as not to be overwhelming or uncomfortable to wear.

Stacked Wedding Rings: Wedded Bliss

While your wedding day should be one of your most cherished memories, the other milestones in your relationship together are worth celebrating too. Whether you’re commemorating your tenth anniversary or your 50th, distinctive jewelry that builds on her wedding band is both thoughtful and elegantly symbolic. Consider these ideas for building on an existing wedding ring stack, both now and in the future:

• Milestone Memories: For special anniversaries (10th, 25th, 30th, and so on), offer her a slender stacking band set with the requisite number of stones, or engraved with a special date inside the band.
• Dreams Achieved: When you achieve a mutual dream – traveling overseas together, opening a business, buying your first house – a ring for her wedding ring stack is a perfect way to remind her every day that you’re in it together, for life.
• A Growing Family: Given at the first time she breaks the news, or as a special memento after the birth, a ring for each child lets her visually and symbolically build on the life and family you’ve created together. A band for each child can be added to the stack, or switch it up by adding a multi-stone band with one stone for each child.
• A Holiday Gift: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, a special birthday – significant holidays also present a wonderful opportunity to gift a gorgeous new ring for the stack. Make it a tradition by presenting each new ring in the same box you used to propose, or another ring box with special meaning to you both.
• Personal Pride: Your marriage is about the journey you take together, so show your support for her achievements with a ring that’s as breathtaking as it is sentimental. What better way to celebrate big milestones than with a glittering stack band.

Why Choose Stacked Wedding Rings?

Ultimately, any wedding ring – stacked or not – has two important jobs to do: looking fabulous and representing the affection and love you have for one another. Why choose a stacked design over a more traditional two-ring bridal set? There are actually several benefits to going the multi-ring route when it’s time to ring your wedding bells.

Primarily, stacked wedding bands offer a changeable look that gives the bride the ability to customize her style day-to-day. She can elect to wear the entire stack, or slim down to a single stone-set band on days where she wants to pare down her accessories. These bands can also have special emotional significance – a beautiful piece of jewelry that will bring specific events and happy memories to mind at a glance.

Secondly, a wedding ring stack is a great option because it offers incredible sparkle and shine from every angle. By using multiple smaller stones set among each ring in the stack, the look captures the light from many facets for a truly eye-catching finish.

Finally, a stacked wedding ring set delivers a modern, updated look to wedding jewelry that has largely remained unchanged for more than a century. The versatility and uniqueness of stacked wedding rings present the perfect option for a bride to differentiate her style with her rings.

Caring for Stacked Wedding Rings

Stacked wedding rings are designed to move comfortably and rest against one another, which means that skin oils and dullness can be a potential issue in stone settings. Since many stacked rings offer stones around the outside of the band (rather than just the top edges), they will need to be cleaned more frequently to look their best. This can be achieved with certain immersion jewelry cleaning solutions, or with periodic visits to a jeweler for ultrasonic cleaning treatments.

In addition to skin oils, household cleaners, lotions, and perfumes can also have a detrimental effect on both precious metals and stones, dulling their shine and making them difficult to polish. When wearing stacked wedding bands, it’s important to remove them before applying hand lotion or perfumes in order to help keep rings sparkling. Additionally, avoid taking showers or baths while wearing the rings. This will also help prevent mishaps that end with a ring or two slipping down the drain.

If you frequent the kitchen, keep a secure ring tray handy and set away from the sink. This will offer a safe, easy-to-access spot to slip off a ring stack before cooking, baking, or cleaning up. If the rings are forgotten on the hand and end up caked with flour or sauces, they should be cleaned with a jewelry-safe solution or warm water as soon as possible.

For the sake of safety and security, all jewelry should also be photographed as soon as it’s purchased, and added to a homeowner or renter insurance policy as well. A customized inscription on the inside of the band can also serve as an identifying factor. In the event a ring stack or single ring is lost or misplaced, these identifying details will make them much easier to track down.

Are Stacked Wedding Rings For You?

While an engagement ring should definitely take the bride-to-be’s personal sense of style and aesthetics into consideration, the wedding ring can be a more collaborative effort. In most cases, the bride won’t be surprised by the design or style of the wedding ring because she’s already selected it along with her future spouse.

Wearing a stacked design isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – and that’s okay! For those who fancy the look, it’s a good idea to make sure a stacked design will be comfortable and feasible before the big day: try wearing a non-wedding ring stack for several days to see how it feels.

If your fingers are particularly wide or short, or if you have a hand injury or mobility concerns (for example, needing to grasp the wheels of a wheelchair, crutches, or a cane), a wedding ring stack may feel restrictive or uncomfortable. In these cases, a ring stack can still work well, but you should opt for slender bands that don’t have a large overall group width.

If you are in a field where your rings may potentially pose a hazard, a ring stack might not be the right fit. Jobs that involve heavy machinery and handling equipment, emergency healthcare, or other tactile-intensive jobs may make several rings more of a hassle than a benefit – in these cases, traditional bridal sets may prove a better option.

Stacked Rings: A Chic Commitment

Your wedding will be an exquisite event that’s tailored to you and your fiancé and all you share – so make sure your matrimonial jewelry embraces that ideal, too. When it comes to how to accessorize your wedding dress, stacked rings present a beautiful option. With endless combinations of rings, colors, stone cuts, metals, and styles, creating a bridal ring stack is as exciting as choosing the dress. This sparkling set of bands will be your memory of your special day together, and all the wonderful years to follow.

If you want to celebrate your love story with the richness and splendor it deserves, there are few better ways to achieve it – after all, wearing a wedding ring stack is like announcing to the world that your love for each other is so grand that a single ring can’t possibly contain it all!

Here at Diamond Nexus, we strive to provide valuable information while being clear and honest about our products. The Nexus Diamond™ alternative is a patented lab created diamond simulate that, among all simulants, most closely imitates the look, weight and wear of a diamond, with two exceptions – it is absolutely perfect in every way, and it costs significantly less. Price points and environmental facts expressed in this blog were taken from popular online retailers and may vary. Learn more about the environmental impact of mining by visiting our blog.