Tattooed Wedding Rings

Adventurous couples are opting for the kind of jewelry that you know will never come off or get lost - the tattooed wedding ring. Although the practice has been around for centuries, it's newly trendy.

Celebrities including Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, and model Mia Tyler and her fiance, musician Dave Buckner, are the most public faces sporting these tats, but they're not just for famous people. It's a great option for doctors, mechanics and others who can't wear rings while they're working. Generally, it's also initially less expensive - less than $100 per person, although you'll need to get it touched up as the years go on.

You'll be making some powerful statements to each other and the world at large. Your tattooed wedding ring will say that you trust enough in the relationship to have a permanent symbol of it on your body. You'll also be showing that marriage doesn't mean that you're too conservative to be inked.

If you're having a traditional wedding ceremony, you'll need to consider if you'll still exchange ring ceremony vows. There are a number of ways to approach this: You could have an artist present to give you the tattooed wedding rings right then and there, but it won't be a sterile proper environment. You could exchange "dummy rings" or use the engagement ring instead during this ceremony. You could ask your officiant to simply state, "The couple has decided to get tattooed wedding rings. I will give them a blessing over their hands now in lieu of a traditional ring ceremony." Or, you could just leave out this part alltogether.

The disadvantage of course is that tattooed wedding rings will never come off. No matter how secure you feel in your relationship now, consider carefully how you'll feel if the relationship dissolves but the tattoo doesn't. You'll have to be willing to live with the ring, go through painful and expensive tattoo removal, or find a way to modify the design. When Pam Anderson split from Tommy Lee, she had her "Tommy" ring tattoo changed to "Mommy"! Others have opted to get a bigger tattoo that camouflages the existence of any ring at all.

Couples should be also be forewarned that the finger doesn't heal as reliably as other parts of the body - thus the tattoo may look blurry or spread out.

If you like the idea of a tattooed wedding ring, but are worried about the downsides, another alternative is to get a tattoo of your new spouse's name or your wedding date, on a less visible part of the body. Or, if your fiancee already has a tattoo that you like, you could ask an engraver or jewelry maker to custom-make a wedding ring for you that incorporates that design. It will have some of the same edginess of the tattooed wedding ring without the downsides. Read More About Buying Wedding Rings.