A circle has no beginning or end, and is therefore a symbol of infinity. It is endless, eternal, just the way love should be. For many, the wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. This is because the vein in this finger was believed to lead directly to the wearer’s heart.

Today is leap day which is also known as Bachelor’s Day or Ladies’ Privilege. This is an Irish tradition by which women are allowed to propose to men on Leap Day, 29 February, based on a legend of Saint Bridget and Saint Patrick. I thought you might like this fun fact about leap day.

So today I am dedicating a whole blog post wedding rings. Once thing you will not know unless I have photographed your wedding is that I don’t really sit down during a wedding phoot for longer than it takes me to eat a meal (so not long). While you and your guests eat I usually use my time to photograph wedding bouquets, wedding decorations, the wedding venue and, you have guessed it, the wedding rings. Personally I love jewellery and I send a huge thank your too all my amazing couples for light heartedly parting with their precious new jewelry for me to photograph it while it’s still new, shiny and not scratched.

I placed this ring on a pretty embroidered pillow I found during the bridal preparations.

Taking good detail photographs is not difficult when you know how to. Looking for good natural light as well as interesting backdrops and textures is key. So is a good macro lens so you can get really close.

But I also like to have a little bit of fun with the rings. I especially like to use them in combination with any other important items, like the wedding bouquet, the cake toppers, the wedding stationary or any other special decorations.

According to tradition, the marriage is doomed if the groom drops the ring during the ceremony.

I have personally never witnessed anyone dropping a ring during the ceremony, but I have seen many rings that didn’t want to get onto the fingers (probably due to nervously sticky fingers) and one time the best man had actually forgotten the rings in his hotel. Needless to day those facial expressions were priceless. But that is for another blog post.

Occasionally incredible things happen. A few years back I photographed a summer weddings and, as usual, used the wedding reception to go outside and photograph the rings. I found a small garden area in the courtyard with a fairly old and rugged looking stone sculpture sitting in it’s middle. I though the texture would make a great backdrop for the macro shot and only when I placed the rings on top of the sculpture did I notice the stream of tiny spiders crawling all over the stone. Once I had placed the rings I waited patiently to see what would happen and it wasn’t long before the spiders started crawling all over the rings. I took quite a few pictures, but one stood out to me as the little spider reached it’s tiny leg up towards the sky and this was my shot of the day.

The spider on the stone.

Wedding rings have been said to have curative properties. For instance, in 19th century Ireland, rubbing a wedding ring on an injury or sore was thought to heal it. They also believed that pricking a wart with a gooseberry thorn through a wedding ring would make the wart disappear. In Somerset, they thought that rubbing your wedding ring on sore eyes would remove any infection. It’s a good job we know better today, as wedding rings may carry germs if they are not cleaned often!