Wedding Engagement Trends with a Millennial Jeweler

by Natasha Wolff | February 13, 2017 11:00 am

In an age where tradition plays a smaller role in the events surrounding a marriage, one has to wonder where the moment’s primary souvenir – the engagement ring – fits into this modern narrative. The millennial generation is making its mark once again as couples come of-age and consider taking the next step, and Lucrezia Buccellati, Buccellati’s[1] Co-Creative Designer, is no stranger to these trends.

In fact, 27-year-old Buccellati is a millennial herself and upon reflecting on her own marriage and family traditions, we asked the jeweler to share her two cents on the “selfie generation” and their proposal trends.

Vintage Rings: “old” is the new, “new”

My engagement ring’s stone actually came to me through four generations of my husband’s family. There’s a lot of sentiment there, and it’s very meaningful for him and for the family that I have it. Especially the younger generation, they want more story behind their rings. I find that the industry became a little cold; rings started to look the same except for how big the stone is, and there’s no romance around that. It’s why we created a story behind each of Buccellati’s engagement rings. 

Choosing the Ring: It takes two to tango.

More and more, I see couples come in together to pick the ring. It’s becoming something where the decision becomes the couple’s decision, not just the man’s. In a sense, it’s good for the guy too because he doesn’t have so much responsibility to choose the right ring – often times the woman will love her ring but there have been cases where she’ll say, “Well it’s nice, but it’s not exactly what I wanted.” If a couple comes to me together they don’t necessarily tell me whether they’ve gotten engaged yet, but I suppose that they haven’t yet. I was in San Francisco a month ago to share our engagement selection and we had two young clients picking the ring out together! It was really nice. 

Exotic Stones: Diamonds aren’t always the go-to stone.

I think millennials are more diversified in the way they purchase; they aren’t very loyal to just one brand and they have their own opinions. And I do notice that many millennials go towards colored stones more than diamonds. My own stone is a sapphire. This also depends on where you are – in Europe people tend to buy colored stones where if you’re in Asia, people tend to buy diamonds. The market today allows you to be as unique as you want. 

The Proposal Announcement: Do it for the ‘gram.

The proposals I see now are like they’re doing it for Instagram; it’s becoming more like an event. Everybody wants to really show they’re engaged. I get it because it’s the fastest way to share your engagement with your friends, and you can share the exact moment, too. But I personally wouldn’t want everyone that follows me to know what type of ring I have, especially if it’s an expensive type of ring. I’m more private as a person. Especially in Europe, you can’t show off. 

Main Image: Courtesy of Buccellati

Endnotes:
  1. Buccellati’s: http://www.buccellati.com/en

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