From Legos to the four-legged: ring pillow alternatives from offbeat brides
Wedding trends
By
on October 14, 2010
21
Offbeat Brides have come up with insanely creative alternative methods to hold their rings — way beyond just a little satin pillow. Of course, there is absolutely NO NEED for a ring pillow of any kind, but if you want to use one, here are some great alternatives. -Megan
The bride explains about this creative alternative, "Our ring cushion was a donkey souvenir I bought in Santorini where Nico proposed. He had our rings tied onto his saddle bags and was carried by our ring bearer."
To go along with their DIY LEGO card box, OBT member intlulu's fabulous FH made this (actual) LEGO ring box. The lego design on the top of the box is actually a little bow and the heart detail inside, plus the way the rings are secured just KILLS me.
So, who says your pillow alternative can't be, well... a pillow! I love this knitted version from geetargeek. Awww.
The bride made this ring pillow alternative to look like a big flower.
Check out the living ring pillow! Becca turned her pug into both the ring bearer AND the ring pillow via his nifty turquoise tux.
Photo by The Blight.
These puzzle ring holders come from Danielle & Dave's geeky, puzzle-laden, Brooklyn wedding and were made by a Scott Lefton. Inside each ring holder is a labyrinth. Each hook must traverse the labyrinth independently, and when the puzzle is solved, the hooks move inward and the ring can be removed!
If you're doing a ring warming, I like this idea from Michelle and Jacob's wedding — tie your wedding rings to a tree instead of passing them around on a pillow.
From trees to nests, like this one from Brooke and Matt's wedding.
Eric and Natashia tied their rings to this mini accordion (ornament?). I like this idea, the possibilities are endless!
Photo from Etsy seller braggingbags.
Of course there's always OBT member Zephyr's "ring book." See the tutorial here.
OBT member Sandy's husband bought this Kamen Rider Odin figurine to be their ring pillow alternative! Also, bonus points for the adorable ring bearer-man. 
Wendy and James opted for this ceramic ring plate purchased on Etsy.
Ring bears are becoming a thing now apparently, and I absolutely LOVE that. This one from Jess & James' whimsical, vintage-inspired, DIY feathery lovesplosion acted as the ring pillow alternative (with the rings tied to the strings) AND stood in as a groomsman replacement.
Cat and Jim put their wedding rings inside this little metal box, carried by their ring girl.
Photo by Rearview Photography.
Aaron and I had a ring turtle! My mom bought me this cute little magnetic turtle jewelry holder thing-a-majig, so I used it to hold our rings until our wedding day and then realized, hey, this could be our ring pillow alternative!
Photo courtesy of Think Geek.
I know there are even more clever and awesome ring pillow alternatives out there, so leave your ideas in the comments and upload your photos to the Offbeat Bride Flickr pool.
Read more posts about: burning man, ceremony, dog, lego, ring, ring bear, ring pillow, roundup« Previous post
About Megan Finley
Megan Finley is the Managing Editor for Offbeat Bride and the Associate Publisher for the Offbeat Empire. When she's not slaving away for the Empire, she's sharing her dork side on her own blog and on Twitter @meganfinley.
Kate said
Love it! Especially the lego box and the donkey!
We used an Abalone shell for our recent beach wedding ring warming. We used a narrow ribbon laced through the natural holes in the abalone shell to secure the rings in place, with enough slack that people could remove the rings and hold them in their hand. It worked out great!
laura said
At risk of knit-picking (Pardon the pun), that pinkish "crocheted" pillow is knitted. It might have been sewed up using crocheting techniques but the main body is knitted
Offbeat Megan said
Fair enough… I'll take your word for it.
The wording has been changed.
laura said
glad you caught it this quickly. i can almost bet my next paycheck that i SO wouldn't have been the only one to point that out.
That all aside, it's a gorgeous pillow…might just make one for our wedding next weekend
Clare K. R. Miller said
I was just coming to the comments to make sure someone had mentioned that it's knitted
(My RSS reader still showed the old version!) It's pretty obvious to us knitters, and probably to crocheters too!
SweetPea said
I like the ring tree! I want to have a ring warming but also want a very brief ceremony, so I like the idea of guests being able to do their bit as they come in rather than worrying about it getting passed around fast enough.
Oh, and huzzahs for the ring pug!
Lindsey said
So awesome! For our ceremony, we had a ring warming. I painted a little square plate at a ceramics studio in our colors, and painted our names and wedding date on it. We tied the rings to the plate, so they were secure as they made their way around the guests. Now the plate sits on our mantle
Lintastic! said
I LOVE THE 1upMUSHROOM!!!!!!!!!!! its awesome. i like that they put nerds in it. irony. teehee. I never heard of a ring warming before, but this gives me GREAT ideas.
Brooke/LindyHopper said
Thanks for featuring my ring bowl! I had a lot of fun creating that! We had a ring warming as well and used the bowl as a less germy way to do it. People could hold the bowl and pray/bless/whatever our rings and 200 people did not have to touch them during the beginning of flu season.
Emmie said
The sea-themed Burning Man wedding really needs its own post on Offbeat Bride!!!
Keegan said
We just wore each others rings down the aisle and then switched after the vows! It was actually pretty funny because he almost sent my ring flying (off the side of a mountain!) because of the wind (from the tropical storm raging around us!)when he was trying to pry it off of his finger.
Halle said
Can I borrow that pug for my wedding? So Freakin' Cute! There are some clever couples out there. These are fantastic.
Lori Del Genis said
The puzzle ring holders were created by Scott Lefton. He designed the puzzles and cut and shaped the metal completely by hand.
His website is http://www.scottlefton.com/index.htm and you can see the ring holders at http://www.scottlefton.com/wood-metal-glass.htm .
Offbeat Megan said
Thanks Lori, I added his name and link to the description.
Lynn said
I TOTALLY love the mini coffin ring box. I got really lucky yesterday and found them on sale at michaels!!! It is so awesome. If I had time before the wedding I would have ordered from the ETSY seller, but I'm getting hitched next saturday and just dont have enough time!!
Peta Minerof said
SSSHhhhh! Do NOT let my pugs get wind of this!! They will demand bridal fripperies. OK – admitted: I was thinking about this idea, but they cannot be trusted to get down the aisle without peeing.
Great ideas!
Sara said
Turtles FTW!! I have that exact same turtle box! It's sitting on my desk next to me right now. (In my nature/turtle decorated cubicle.) I've been collecting turtle things since childhood. In fact, this post has inspired me to figure out a way to have my pet tortoise Mortimor be my living ring pillow! I'll have to have a "tortoise bearer" bring him in though. Waiting for a tortoise to walk the rings down the aisle would make for the longest ceremony ever! ; )
JE$S said
hehe i just saw that we were featured! yay for bear puppets in the wedding party!
intlulu said
Adore the bear! That rocks! Everybody loved our LEGO ring box at the wedding…was a huge hit! It'll stay together in a place of honor at our place.
Cass said
Cute ideas. We're going with the best man holding the rings in a ring box in his pocket for the morning. When the officiant asks for the rings, he hands them over. Gives him something to do other than walk, pose and smile. And it doesn't cost anything – time or money.
Ariel (but not that one) said
Aww, no mention of my all-time favorite ring bearers: robots! I've seen these twice, both times technically on remote control rather than programmed; one R2D2, and one Packbot (iRobot's smaller military scouting-and-utility bot). Both were incredibly geeky and incredibly awesome. And R2D2 with a bow tie is the cutest thing ever; I wish I'd gotten a picture.