Introducing Ceremony, a New Line of Diamond Rings, Signets, and Pavé Bands to Celebrate “Love of All Kinds”
Ceremony gallery
There are a lot of diamond rings on Ceremony’s new website, but you won’t see the words “engagement ring” anywhere. No, really—they’re not engagement rings, unless you want them to be. Co-founders Jess Hannah and Chelsea Nicholson prefer to think of them as “modern symbols of love,” and their’s is an entirely new, incredibly thoughtful approach to a very old tradition.
“Relationships have evolved, but the way jewelry companies speak to them has not,” Hannah said. “Attitudes on love in general are more open to different kinds of relationships, but everything on the market is still [catered to] to a man proposing to a woman.” Ceremony, in contrast, makes room for interpretation. Maybe you’re getting formally engaged, or maybe it’s a “commitment ring” instead. Perhaps you’re a same-sex couple and you both want rings—or you just want to buy one for yourself.
Hannah and Nicholson have been gathering intel for a few years, before they even knew they wanted to launch Ceremony. Hannah designs custom engagement rings through her own line, J. Hannah, and many of her clients are in nontraditional relationships, or at least come to her for nontraditional rings. The duo was inspired by their own friends’ stories, too: “One of my friends recently got engaged to her girlfriend, and she asked me, ‘Do I get a ring too? Do I get her a wedding band? Do I get a wedding band?’” Hannah said. “There are a lot of questions, because there isn’t a prescribed way to do this. But our answer to that is: However you want.” She adds: “Our role isn’t to tell people how to do this, but to give them options to make their own decisions.” We see plenty of women in New York wearing plain gold bands, not gobstopper diamonds, and who ever said a guy doesn’t want a little sparkle? There’s no “rulebook” anymore, and most jewelry companies haven’t caught on.
Ceremony doesn’t intend to leave out couples who are getting engaged the “traditional” way, of course. In fact, Hannah recently got engaged herself—and after her fiancé proposed, she made an engagement ring for him. “He wanted a symbol to show that we’re committed, even though we aren’t yet married,” she said. Nicholson added: “A few guys have been interested in our diamond rings as well, so we have a few options that aren’t your typical prong-set solitaire diamond, like a diamond signet. Or they can absolutely have that traditional prong-set diamond. We just want to allow the conversation to start happening.”
All of Ceremony’s rings are unisex, though the fully-rounded bands and signets look the most obviously non-gendered. Each one can be subtly tweaked with different-sized diamonds or three types of 18 karat gold (rose, white, and yellow), which girls and guys alike will appreciate. Other styles include bezel-set diamonds in oval, marquise, or emerald cuts; elegant cigar bands; fully pavéd bands; and rings with three or seven diamonds across. They’re sculptural, minimal, and just a little vintage-y—and they’re certainly not “dainty.” Hannah prefers the word timeless. “I didn’t want these to look like 2018 rings,” she said. “You shouldn’t be able to guess what era they’re from.”
If you’re in Los Angeles, you can see the rings IRL via private appointments with Hannah and Nicholson, and they’re planning pop-ups in New York in the future. Still, Ceremony is mainly an online, direct-to-consumer business. If the concept of clicking “add to cart” on a four- or five-figure ring seems a little scary, they aren’t worried. “A few years ago, people said no one would buy jewelry online,” Hannah said. “My business is almost all online, and I’ve been doing custom rings for years. It’s almost always done through sketches, e-mails, and phone calls. People are willing to spend a lot of money online, but the key is to make them feel comfortable.” The experience of shopping on Ceremony’s site feels just as easy and luxurious as any high-end e-tailer—if not more so. And it definitely beats squinting through a glass case.
