Most wedding rings are plain bands with parallel sides and this can make resizing them much easier. In 2025 we re-sized over 300 rings through our popular, ring resizing while you wait service and around 32% of these were wedding rings, mostly gold.
How should my wedding ring fit?
Most people wear their wedding ring all day, everyday, for life. Only taking it off when necessary for work or for certain activities. Initially, it's very important that the ring goes on easily. You do not want to be up there in front of everyone struggling to get your rings on your big day. But after this, it's mostly lifestyle considerations and personal preference.
How a ring fits is fairly subjective within certain parameters. The non-negotiables are that you don't want it flying off when you shake your hands and you need to be able to get it off. Everything in between is up to you.
Some people don't feel like their ring is on securely unless it's really right and don't mind struggling to get it off. Other people feel that is restrictive and it makes them uncomfortable, so prefer the ring to be looser. If you are going to be taking your ring off daily, maybe for work or activities like the gym or climbing, then it's probably better for it to be slightly looser.
As a general rule, women wear more rings than men so will know better how rings fit, most of the time if they are getting a wedding ring they will already have an engagement ring that will fit well. For most men, wearing a ring regularly will be a new experience that takes a bit of getting used to.
How do you resize wedding rings?
To book your ring in for resizing please follow this link to our ring resizing booking page. Once your wedding ring is booked in for resizing, there are 5 ways that we might sizes it.
There are 5 ways that rings can be resized and which method is best depends on the style of wedding ring, what material it's made out of, whether it's going up or down and by how much.
Compression
If a wedding ring needs to go down in size then it might be able to be compressed. This is a less invasive procedure than cutting metal out and re soldering or laser welding. Also, you don't lose any metal in the process. It is a quicker procedure though it does leave compression lines on the outside of the ring that will need to be buffed out before the ring is repolished. The inside surface of the ring will also need refinishing, though this also applies when a ring has been soldered.
Before compressing a ring, the jeweller will anneal it to soften the metal, check for any existing joins, engraving or gemstones and then proceed.
When a ring is compressed it can distort any engraving the ring has. Any rings containing gemstones cannot be compressed and must be resized in other ways.
Stretching
Wedding rings that need to be made bigger can often be stretched, though the amount of sizes that you can stretch a ring up can be limited and you must be aware of any existing joins.
The width and material that the ring is made out of can also have bearing on how many sizes it can be stretched. Stretching a ring up can be preferable to adding metal as it costs less and is less invasive. Jewellers will charge for the metal they have to add when sizing a ring in addition to the cost of the resizing service. This cost will depend on the purity and type of metal, the width and shape of the ring and how many sizes the ring needs to go up.
If a ring needs to go up substantially, say 6 sizes, then a jeweller may be able to combine these techniques. They could stretch it up 3 sizes then add 3 sizes worth of metal to keep costs down.
A jeweller must be cautious not to overstretch rings. If there is an existing solder join or laser weld in a ring then the ring can come apart at the join. This can be easily rejoined if the break at the join is clean. If there are no joins in the ring then the metal can tear apart an this cannot be easily rectified
Adding or taking away metal
If a ring has a gemstone in, doesn't have parallel ideas or needs to be sized too many sizes, then it will need to be cut and then re-soldered. This process is tried and tested and is standard for most rings. The join can be blended in seamlessly after re-soldering so the ring will look like nothing ever happened.
If a ring is going down in size, then some metal will need to be cut out and then the ring bent back into shape and resoldered. As long as the join is tight and the correct solder is used, the join will be invisible once complete. To reduce the amount of joins in a ring, before going ahead, the jeweller will try and identify any existing joining and cut there.
When adding metal, the jeweller will again cut through any existing joins, then open the ring up and insert new metal into the gap before joining. This means the ring will then have 2 solder joins, one either side of the new piece of metal.
Platinum laser welding
If the ring is made out of platinum then it can be soldered however the join will always be visible so laser welding or fusing is preferable.
Can you resize a diamond wedding ring ?
Yes. Contrary to popular belief, wedding rings (and most rings for that matter) that have diamonds in, can be resized. It does throw up some extra challenges, which is why these alterations are often refused by jewellers, but if you have the facilities and expertise then it's perfectly do able in most circumstances.
When a ring is manipulated, either to make it bigger or small it can change the shape of the settings which can cause stones to become loose or even come out. If a stone becomes loose it can be tightened and if it comes out it can be reset.
It is often the stones on the side of the shank, at 3 & 9 o’clock which are affected most so a jeweller will keep a close eye on these stones. The more a ring has to go down in size, the more likely these stones are to become loose. If the ring is going up its less likely to have stones come out.
If a ring is too thin then the ring can crack when sized castle set rings can be affected by this issue.
