The bridal jewelry industry is bracing itself for a busy 2022 and 2023, with the number of weddings taking place this year standing at approximately 2.5 million and many venues, churches, and resorts fully booked well into 2023. The two-year hiatus between the start of the pandemic and the return to the new normal have enabled many couples to save more for details like their wedding jewelry. What trends are dominating this sector and how are businesses making the most of the return of the season of love?
E-Commerce Goes from Strength to Strength
The growing relevance of e-commerce has led to a growing interest in online shopping for wedding jewelry. In addition to highlighting traditional wedding ring styles on their sites, savvy companies are also allowing buyers to customize their rings down to the tiniest detail. Brides and grooms can make their choices from a wide variety of gems, diamond hues, textures, and engraving fonts. In addition to classic styles such as princess and Asscher cut diamonds, companies are also offering customized Georgian and vintage-inspired rings such as rose-cut diamonds, pearls (instead of diamonds) engagement rings, and cluster settings. Brides and grooms are also opting for stacked designs, mixed metals, and band- or eternity-style designs for their engagement jewelry, instead of traditional solitaire styles.
Innovative Technology Gives Rise to New Designs
Advances in jewelry manufacturing technology have enabled brands to offer birdies and grooms new, more personalized, lightweight designs that increase the comfort factor of top designs. Tech is also taking over the process of design itself, with some brands making high-tech wearable wedding bands that pair up with the couple’s favorite apps to track everything from their heart rate to their sleeping patterns. Some rings even come with dedicated projectors that allow users to browse their wedding albums by shining their rings over a chosen surface.
Colored Diamonds
Transparent diamonds, yellow gold, and white gold or platinum will always reign supreme on the wedding scene, but in higher-end markets. Teach jewelry, rarity is what makes an engagement ring special. A perfect example of a unique, rare stone can be found in Jennifer Lopez’s engagement ring, chosen meticulously by her fiancée, Ben Affleck. Jenny from the block is now sporting a magnificent, light green diamond, estimated to weigh around 15 carats. The price of the sparkler is estimated at a whopping $5 to $7 million.
Unique Wedding Bands for Men
Men are also keen to embrace designs other than stock yellow gold wedding bands. Top designers are currently offering wedding rings made in unique materials like gray or black tungsten carbide, white gold with diamond and colored gemstone designs, and meteorite. The latter are commonly made with Gibeon meteorite, formed by metals in an ultra-heated state and cooled over billions of years.
The wedding jewelry industry is going strong after a tough couple of years. Top trends to watch out for include vintage designs, customization, colored diamonds, and unique materials in wedding bands. E-commerce and new technology, meanwhile, are making customized designs more of a reality for couples with all types of budgets.
