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No one likes to admit it, but lots of people lose their wedding and engagement rings. It’s a fact of life! Whether you’ve forgotten to take it off when you’re doing the washing up only to hear that fateful ‘clink’ down the sink or if you’ve just got engaged and it slipped off when you were showing it off to your friends, everyone has had the panic of thinking they’ve lost something important for good.
But don’t panic, we’ve created an in-depth guide to what to do when you’ve lost your wedding or engagement ring, how to find and when to buy another one.
What should I do immediately?
Ok, so you’ve lost your engagement or wedding ring. It’s time to make sure that you take a deep breath, relax and handle the situation with methodical precision. Here are the first steps you should take when you’ve lost your ring:
1. Take a deep breath and stay calm
Don’t panic. It’s pretty common to lose a wedding ring. They can slip off when you’re doing the washing up or wind up at the bottom of a drawer you were searching through, and it’s not an indictment on your relationship or a symbol of a deeper issue. It’s just a lost ring and it will turn up again! So keep the anxiety to a minimum and centre yourself as you prepare your search.
2. Determine when the ring was lost
If you had your ring at eight in the morning and it disappeared by nine, then that’s just an hour of time in which it’s gone astray. Figuring out exactly when you last had your ring will help you with finding it.
Don’t worry if you can’t remember either, our rings become such a part of our lives we only notice when they’re not there if we are looking at our hands. It’s helpful to know when it went missing, but not pivotal.
3. Retrace your steps
Remember the last time you had your ring on or the last place you saw it before it disappeared and try to remember everything that you did from this moment onwards. Retrace each step and have a look around the areas you’re retracing. It might be helpful to ask some friends for help here.
4. Call in the experts
If your ring has fallen down the kitchen sink, call a plumber. Plumbers will be used to these sorts of situations and will be able to help right away. If you’ve lost it on the beach somewhere, ask the hotel staff or anyone with a metal detector to help!
5. File an insurance claim
Insurance can be useful. Filing an insurance claim on your ring when you’re still looking for it can help save time later down the line. It is best to file a claim within the first day of losing your ring, and you can always cancel your claim further down the line when you find it.
6. Call your jeweller
Calling the place where you bought your ring as soon as possible is also a great idea. They might be able to make you another one or offer you something in a similar style if you can’t find it. It can help to calm your anxiety, too, because you will be searching in the knowledge that there will be a backup.
7. Buy a temporary ring
Buying an interim ring or borrowing one from a family member is a good way to replace a lost engagement ring. Losing an engagement ring can be a time-sensitive issue if your wedding is planned for close in the future, so if you can’t find your ring, it’s best to replace it as quickly as possible.
Lost ring at home: how to look for it
Losing your wedding or engagement ring at home is actually a good thing (as far as losing a ring goes), because it is highly likely to be around the house somewhere. There are some tips and tricks to finding your ring if you’ve lost it at home:
1. Use a fluorescent light
Diamonds illuminate under ultraviolet light, so using a fluorescent light to find your ring could be the most simple solution – that’s if you have a fluorescent light in your home.
2. Finger brush the carpets
If you think it might be lost in the carpet or a rug, using your hands to run over the flat surface gently might make the ring pop up or you might feel it somewhere in the soft pile of your living room centerpiece.
3. Use a torch
Turning down the lights and using a torch to look for your ring might look silly, but seeing a sparkle in the dark will more than make up for your feelings about looking a bit silly. Using the torch close to the floor or surface will help to see it better.
4. Sweep your floors
Gently sweeping will help to reach some spots that you can’t get into with your hands. Finding a lost ring underneath a fridge or some drawers happens more often than you’d think!
5. Diamonds stick to grease
If you’re looking in the sink or drains for your ring then it might not have gone too far because diamonds stick to grease. That’s why you should send your ring in for cleaning (but remember to have insurance).
6. Diamonds bounce
Diamonds are unusually shaped, so they bounce. Due to a ring being a small, somewhat light object you might think that it would land in one place and stay there, but it’s likely to have bounced somewhere. Remember to check those small crevices.
What to do when you officially can’t find your ring
First things first, you will probably have to tell your partner. Losing a wedding or engagement ring doesn’t mean that you don’t care about them or that your relationship has lost value. In fact, you could view it as an opportunity to grow together.
If you’re going to get a new ring or recreate your old one, you and your partner can have the chance to reminisce about the days of your marriage or engagement and perhaps rediscover some things you’d forgotten about each other!
Here’s some steps you can take when your ring seems lost for good:
1. Hire a metal detector professional
Hiring out a metal detector is a good way of searching for your ring, but if that’s a little technical for you or if you don’t have the time to look for yourself, you can hire a metal detector professional to help.
The professional will ask a series of questions about the size and width of your ring, what kind of metal it’s made from and where you saw it last. They will then adjust and refine the settings on the metal detector to best suit your ring.
If you’ve lost your ring in shallow waters like a lake or on the shore, a metal detector might be the best way to search. Water can distort the light reflected from your diamond, so a metal detector can pick up your ring better.
2. Be prepared to accept the situation
Admitting that you’ve lost your ring might be the hardest thing to do. But if you’ve searched as far and wide as you can and can’t find it, it might be time to give up the ghost.
If you’ve lost your ring at home, it might be best to keep looking for some time as having two rings is not ideal – for you or your wallet. Many people do eventually find their rings, even years later, so exploring every crevice of your furniture, garden and appliances is key. Buying a new ring right away might solve your anxiety, but being too hasty can have you at a loss when you find the original.
You can always buy a cheaper placeholder ring whilst you look for your real one – or if you’ve lost a wedding ring, you can wear your engagement ring in the meantime.
3. Replicate your ring
Replicating your ring requires pictures of the missing ring itself, so if you’ve just got engaged and lost the ring right away then it might not be possible! To replicate your lost ring, contact the place it was purchased from and speak to them about what your ring was like, the colour, cut, carat and clarity (if you can remember) and remember to let them know about the band size and metal too.
4. Buy a new ring
Getting a new, replicated ring might take some time, so if you feel naked without anything on your finger, you can wear a temporary replacement ring in the meantime.
Or if you are interested in changing things up completely with a new style of ring, now is your chance to look at options that you may not have considered before. If your personal style has changed over time and you are interested in trying something different, check out Diamonds Factory’s range of gorgeous engagement rings and diamond rings for inspiration.
If you’ve lost your wedding or engagement ring, remember that it happens to a lot of people and it’s not yours or anyone else’s fault. These things happen and people can be forgiven for a ring slipping off their finger. Wedding rings are a representation of our commitment to one another, not the commitment itself.
No one likes to admit it, but lots of people lose their wedding and engagement rings. It’s a fact of life! Whether you’ve forgotten to take it off when you’re doing the washing up only to hear that fateful ‘clink’ down the sink or if you’ve just got engaged and it slipped off when you were showing it off to your friends, everyone has had the panic of thinking they’ve lost something important for good.
But don’t panic, we’ve created an in-depth guide to what to do when you’ve lost your wedding or engagement ring, how to find and when to buy another one.
What should I do immediately?
Ok, so you’ve lost your engagement or wedding ring. It’s time to make sure that you take a deep breath, relax and handle the situation with methodical precision. Here are the first steps you should take when you’ve lost your ring:
1. Take a deep breath and stay calm
Don’t panic. It’s pretty common to lose a wedding ring. They can slip off when you’re doing the washing up or wind up at the bottom of a drawer you were searching through, and it’s not an indictment on your relationship or a symbol of a deeper issue. It’s just a lost ring and it will turn up again! So keep the anxiety to a minimum and centre yourself as you prepare your search.
2. Determine when the ring was lost
If you had your ring at eight in the morning and it disappeared by nine, then that’s just an hour of time in which it’s gone astray. Figuring out exactly when you last had your ring will help you with finding it.
Don’t worry if you can’t remember either, our rings become such a part of our lives we only notice when they’re not there if we are looking at our hands. It’s helpful to know when it went missing, but not pivotal.
3. Retrace your steps
Remember the last time you had your ring on or the last place you saw it before it disappeared and try to remember everything that you did from this moment onwards. Retrace each step and have a look around the areas you’re retracing. It might be helpful to ask some friends for help here.
4. Call in the experts
If your ring has fallen down the kitchen sink, call a plumber. Plumbers will be used to these sorts of situations and will be able to help right away. If you’ve lost it on the beach somewhere, ask the hotel staff or anyone with a metal detector to help!
5. File an insurance claim
Insurance can be useful. Filing an insurance claim on your ring when you’re still looking for it can help save time later down the line. It is best to file a claim within the first day of losing your ring, and you can always cancel your claim further down the line when you find it.
6. Call your jeweller
Calling the place where you bought your ring as soon as possible is also a great idea. They might be able to make you another one or offer you something in a similar style if you can’t find it. It can help to calm your anxiety, too, because you will be searching in the knowledge that there will be a backup.
7. Buy a temporary ring
Buying an interim ring or borrowing one from a family member is a good way to replace a lost engagement ring. Losing an engagement ring can be a time-sensitive issue if your wedding is planned for close in the future, so if you can’t find your ring, it’s best to replace it as quickly as possible.
Lost ring at home: how to look for it
Losing your wedding or engagement ring at home is actually a good thing (as far as losing a ring goes), because it is highly likely to be around the house somewhere. There are some tips and tricks to finding your ring if you’ve lost it at home:
1. Use a fluorescent light
Diamonds illuminate under ultraviolet light, so using a fluorescent light to find your ring could be the most simple solution – that’s if you have a fluorescent light in your home.
2. Finger brush the carpets
If you think it might be lost in the carpet or a rug, using your hands to run over the flat surface gently might make the ring pop up or you might feel it somewhere in the soft pile of your living room centerpiece.
3. Use a torch
Turning down the lights and using a torch to look for your ring might look silly, but seeing a sparkle in the dark will more than make up for your feelings about looking a bit silly. Using the torch close to the floor or surface will help to see it better.
4. Sweep your floors
Gently sweeping will help to reach some spots that you can’t get into with your hands. Finding a lost ring underneath a fridge or some drawers happens more often than you’d think!
5. Diamonds stick to grease
If you’re looking in the sink or drains for your ring then it might not have gone too far because diamonds stick to grease. That’s why you should send your ring in for cleaning (but remember to have insurance).
6. Diamonds bounce
Diamonds are unusually shaped, so they bounce. Due to a ring being a small, somewhat light object you might think that it would land in one place and stay there, but it’s likely to have bounced somewhere. Remember to check those small crevices.
What to do when you officially can’t find your ring
First things first, you will probably have to tell your partner. Losing a wedding or engagement ring doesn’t mean that you don’t care about them or that your relationship has lost value. In fact, you could view it as an opportunity to grow together.
If you’re going to get a new ring or recreate your old one, you and your partner can have the chance to reminisce about the days of your marriage or engagement and perhaps rediscover some things you’d forgotten about each other!
Here’s some steps you can take when your ring seems lost for good:
1. Hire a metal detector professional
Hiring out a metal detector is a good way of searching for your ring, but if that’s a little technical for you or if you don’t have the time to look for yourself, you can hire a metal detector professional to help.
The professional will ask a series of questions about the size and width of your ring, what kind of metal it’s made from and where you saw it last. They will then adjust and refine the settings on the metal detector to best suit your ring.
If you’ve lost your ring in shallow waters like a lake or on the shore, a metal detector might be the best way to search. Water can distort the light reflected from your diamond, so a metal detector can pick up your ring better.
2. Be prepared to accept the situation
Admitting that you’ve lost your ring might be the hardest thing to do. But if you’ve searched as far and wide as you can and can’t find it, it might be time to give up the ghost.
If you’ve lost your ring at home, it might be best to keep looking for some time as having two rings is not ideal – for you or your wallet. Many people do eventually find their rings, even years later, so exploring every crevice of your furniture, garden and appliances is key. Buying a new ring right away might solve your anxiety, but being too hasty can have you at a loss when you find the original.
You can always buy a cheaper placeholder ring whilst you look for your real one – or if you’ve lost a wedding ring, you can wear your engagement ring in the meantime.
3. Replicate your ring
Replicating your ring requires pictures of the missing ring itself, so if you’ve just got engaged and lost the ring right away then it might not be possible! To replicate your lost ring, contact the place it was purchased from and speak to them about what your ring was like, the colour, cut, carat and clarity (if you can remember) and remember to let them know about the band size and metal too.
4. Buy a new ring
Getting a new, replicated ring might take some time, so if you feel naked without anything on your finger, you can wear a temporary replacement ring in the meantime.
Or if you are interested in changing things up completely with a new style of ring, now is your chance to look at options that you may not have considered before. If your personal style has changed over time and you are interested in trying something different, check out Diamonds Factory’s range of gorgeous engagement rings and diamond rings for inspiration.
If you’ve lost your wedding or engagement ring, remember that it happens to a lot of people and it’s not yours or anyone else’s fault. These things happen and people can be forgiven for a ring slipping off their finger. Wedding rings are a representation of our commitment to one another, not the commitment itself.