- Seventeen tons of gold are made into wedding rings each year in the USA.
- A pearl engagement ring is said to be bad luck, because its shape looks like that of a tear.
- In the symbolic language of jewels, a sapphire in a wedding ring means marital happiness.
- Puritans banned wedding rings because they thought they were "frivolous" jewelry or relics of Popery.
- One of history's earliest engagement rings was given to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII at the age of two.
- Prince William presented a ring to Kate, but the couple have agreed that Prince William will not wear a wedding ring.
- Priscilla Presley's engagement ring was a 3 and a half carat rock surrounded by a detachable row of smaller diamonds.
- Diamonds set in gold and silver became popluar as betrothal rings among wealthy Venetians towards the end of the fifteenth century.
- In many countries a yellow wedding dress has traditionally been seen as a sign of a wife's intention to cheat on her husband or of jealousy.
- Snake rings, dotted with ruby eyes were popular wedding bands in Victorian Engeland, because the coils winding into circles symbolized eternity.
- The Greeks thought diamonds (adamas) were tears of the gods, and the Romans thought diamonds (diamas) were splinters from heavenly stars.
- The engagement ring is worn on the 'ring finger' - fourth on the left hand - because at one time people believed that a vein in the ring finger led directly to the heart.
- Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) declared that a waiting period should be observed between betrothal and marriage, which led to separate engagement and wedding rings.
- The engagement ring itself as we commonly know it - made of precious metal and adorned with diamonds - first became a custom among Venetians of the upper classes in the 15th century.
- The most expensive celebrity engagement ring was Liza Minnelli's 3.5 carat teardrop-shaped diamond from David Gest, however, it may have been topped by Kim Kardashian's 20.5 carat ring, rumoured to have cost $2 million.
- While giving a ring to your betrothed is a practice that dates back to Roman times, the first recorded occurrence of a diamond engagement ring was in 1477, when the Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave one to his fiancée, Mary of Burgundy.
- For her wedding Queen Victoria did not wear a diamond encrusted tiara like many previous monarchs, opting instead for a wreath of fragrant orange blossoms, the symbol of fertility (which apparently worked like a charm, as the Queen had nine children).
- A Swedish bride will wear three wedding bands on her ring finger: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the third ring representing motherhood. The groom typically places both the wedding ring and motherhood ring on her finger during the ceremony.
- Most modern marriage proposals are from men, but women actually do a small share of the asking, too. And they have Scotland to thank for starting the trend centuries ago: In 1228, it was the first European country where women earned the right to propose marriage, a law which then spread throughout Europe.
- Punjabi brides wear Kaleeres. These are silver- or gold-plated ornaments tied to the Chudas. It is said that the bride has as many friends as there are leaves in the Kaleere. One interesting ritual related with the Kaleere is the custom in which a bride shakes her Kaleere over the unmarried girls in her family. It is said that if the Kaleere falls on the head of any of them, she is the next one to be married.
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