Yellow gold is the classic wedding ring - in fact, your dad probably wears one. Here's all you need to know about whether to go with yellow gold or white gold.

Yellow Gold Wedding Rings

Classic yellow gold remains popular for its vintage shine and timeless appeal. Elemental gold is indeed yellow in color (think Fort Knox gold bricks). However, elemental gold, also known as 24 karat gold, is too soft to be worn on a daily basis and will get nicked and scratched too easily. Accordingly, when used for wedding rings, gold is “mixed” with something else, called an alloy. Alloys help a yellow gold wedding ring retain the same rich hue with wear and strengthen the ring.

Yellow Gold and Karats

Here’s where the concept of karats comes in – an alloy reduces the purity of the wedding engagement ring. No problem. Popular 18 karat yellow gold alloys include copper, silver and zinc in different proportions, each of which cuts the price without appreciably changing the appearance. You may be offered 14k yellow gold, and while this will be stronger than 18k gold, this really means that your “gold” wedding ring has only about 58% elemental gold in it. Shocking, we know.

Prices for Yellow Gold Wedding Rings

A recent survey of prices indicates that yellow gold is less expensive than white gold wedding rings or platinum wedding rings. This is a reflection of both what goes into the creation of the ring (less expensive alloys) but also that yellow gold wedding rings are less popular than white gold or platinum wedding rings. That may change. But for now, expect to pay $300 for a 4 mm wide yellow gold wedding band at a leading online retailer and only slightly more – around $500 for a 6 mm 18k yellow gold wedding band.

Learn more about men's wedding rings from GroomGroove.com:

• Platinum Wedding Rings - the king of rings
• White Gold Wedding Rings - the most popular choice for the groom
• Gold Wedding Rings - the classic ring choice for the groom
• Tungsten Wedding Rings - won't scratch and very inexpensive
• Titanium Wedding Rings - slick, but has some drawbacks

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