The Best Engraving Ideas For Wedding Rings

With the opportunity to design a ring from scratch or customise one of our signature wedding rings, there’s no shortage of ways to make your wedding rings as personal as possible. But what should you engrave? If you’re a little short of ideas on how to customise your wedding rings, be inspired by the engravings we’ve created in the past: from the sweet and sentimental to the weird and wonderful.

What should we engrave on our wedding rings?

• romantic or symbolic emojis
• each other's initials
• a Latin phrase, or something in a romantic language
• a date special to you like your wedding date
• secret engravings to show your partner at the altar
• inside jokes or nicknames
• lyrics to your first dance or a meaningful song
• a simple symbol like a love heart or a rose
• a motto - like your uni motto, or a saying you live by
• split a phrase across the two rings

A cute and contemporary way to mark your relationship and symbolise your love. It was in 2015 that the Oxford Dictionary named an emoji the word of the year, and with good reason. Perhaps the lexicographers knew what was coming - an influx of requests to customise wedding rings with emoji engravings. We’ve created a number of emoji-adorned wedding ring commissions - mostly sweet love hearts and romantic gestures (think: 😘, 💕, 💋), but some a little more cheeky.. We’ll let you use your imagination. Keep it cute and playful - it’s the perfect way to put a smile on your face every time you think about your wedding rings.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best: it may seem obvious, but why not have your initials engraved on your wedding rings? This will give the rings a real sense of belonging to you in a deeply personal way. This is the most popular wedding ring engraving choice amongst Queensmith clients - and it's easy to see why.

You may have the perfect love note to include on your partner’s wedding ring, that you want to keep a little private should anyone check out the ring. Love notes can make us all blush a little, so using a language that’s unfamiliar to most may put your mind at ease. Alternatively, choose a more commonly known but still romantic language (French, Italian, Spanish), or script in yours or your partner’s native tongue.

If you’re short of inspiration, we have a few suggestions - ‘amor vincit omnia’ meaning ‘love conquers all’ in Latin or ‘amore mio’ ‘my love’ in Italian. Want to keep it simple? ‘Je t’aime’, translates as ‘I love you’ in French. Aw.

A more obvious choice, engraving a date on your wedding rings is meaningful, romantic - and you'll never forget that all important date. Whether it’s to mark the anniversary of when you met, the proposal or the wedding date, you’ll always be reminded of the fond memories that special date evokes.

Not a wholly popular choice, but sweet nonetheless. We’ve seen some very trusting couples let each other decide their wedding ring engravings - kept secret until the wedding day. Whilst your partner may be the more trustworthy kind, this is the perfect opportunity to pull a fast one and make your partner giggle at the altar with a witty phrase or unexpected emoji. Whether it gets a giggle or sheds a tear of happiness, it’ll be a moment you won’t forget.

We’ve crafted wedding rings with engravings that, to this day, we still don’t understand - whether it’s one random word or an odd sentence - each couple has their quirks. Pet names are a popular choice for wedding ring engravings, and we’ve seen it all. Perhaps the most unusual being two vegetables the couple lovingly called each other.. What’s your inside joke to make your partner giggle every time they think of it? Whatever it is, you don’t need to explain it - the more intimate the joke, the funnier it gets with time.

Is there something that will evoke memories of a first date or something unique to your relationship? Maybe you gave your love a rose on one of your first dates - so why not inscribe a rose? Did you buy your now-partner a drink when you first bumped into them at a bar? Try a martini glass. Simple, outlined shapes work well to keep the symbol clear and unambiguous. The most popular symbol to engrave on wedding rings is by far a simple heart outline - no explanation needed.

From the Cure’s Just Like Heaven to Etta James’ At Last, there’s a romantic song for each and every relationship - and you’ll know which song perfectly describes yours. You may have already chosen your first dance, so why not engrave the song title or your favourite lyrics on your wedding rings? Remember there is usually a limit of around 50 characters - so think short, sweet, simple.

It’s reported that over 15% of couples meet at uni - so if your campus has a place in your heart, consider your university motto. They might not always be fitting for a romantic gesture, but sometimes, just sometimes, they hit the mark.

Unis that get it right? Birmingham’s motto is ‘Age Quod Agis’ - translating to ‘do what you’re doing’ - a sweet gesture that your partner is just right, as they are. Or Buckingham: ‘Alis Volans Propriis’ - ‘flying on our own wings’, to symbolise the unity and individuality of your relationship. Otherwise, maybe you have a motto you both like to live by or something you lovingly say to each other.

That way, they’re incomplete without each other - a sweet sentiment. If you’ve thought of the perfect phrase but it’s a little too lengthy, then try splitting the words over your two wedding rings. Practical, and sentimental: this is a beautiful way to represent the unity between the rings, and the unity between you as a couple. One ring will always complete the other.

And for our grand finale, perhaps the most unusual wedding ring engraving request we’ve had: a map. Specifically, a map of the little island where the couple met. The surface of a wedding ring being a little too small for the intricate detailing of coastlines, the couple decided instead to create gold pendants to wear around their neck. If a location is super meaningful for you, how about engraving the GPS coordinates?

• The engravable surface area of your ring is small, so keep any messages short and symbols refined

• There’s typically a 50 character limit for engravings

• Your ring will be designed to last a lifetime - so create a message that does the same

• We don’t need to remind you that flippant messages aren’t usually romantic - so put a fair amount of thought into it and make sure you and your partner are on the same page

• If you aren’t sure what to get, we can engrave your Queensmith wedding rings after your wedding or at a later date. No need to rush this decision

• Rings sometimes need resizing, so the engraving may need re-doing. It’s best to make sure your wedding rings fit before going ahead with the engraving