A private, beginner-friendly wedding ring making experience where you carve each other’s bands by hand in the RA HA studio in Providence.

Each of you begins with a piece of jeweler’s wax. Over one focused afternoon, you shape it into a ring for the person beside you. The wax forms are then cast in solid gold and finished one at a time by jeweler Julia Sullivan.

No jewelry experience is needed. The process is fully guided, quiet, and hands-on.

Wedding bands are among the few objects you may touch every day for decades. The Wedding Band Experience gives you a direct part in how those objects begin.

This is not a class built around perfect technique or a menu of preset designs. It is a private studio session centered on proportion, comfort, and attention. You make a ring for your partner; they make one for you. Small irregularities remain visible in the finished bands as evidence of the hands that shaped them.

1. Choose the direction. We begin by looking at ring width, weight, profile, fit, and how each band should feel on the hand.
2. Carve the wax. Each person shapes a wax ring with step-by-step guidance. The material is approachable and responsive, so the form develops gradually rather than all at once.
3. Approve the forms. We review the finished waxes together and confirm the metal, finish, and any optional details before casting.
4. Wax becomes gold. After the session, Julia handles casting, cleanup, polishing, and final finishing in the studio. The completed rings preserve the curves, surfaces, and gestures made in wax.

You can read more about the lost wax casting process.

RA HA wedding bands are simple, sculptural, and made for daily wear. They can be narrow and quiet or wider and more substantial. The surface may be softly polished, brushed, or left with more visible evidence of the carving process.

Most Wedding Band Experience rings are made in solid 14k gold. Yellow, white, and rose gold options can be discussed, along with hidden engraving, small stones, or other personal details when appropriate. The two rings can relate to each other without matching exactly.

Hand-carved forms translated into solid gold.

The private Wedding Band Experience studio fee is $600 per couple. This covers the three-to-four-hour private session, tools and wax materials, design and proportion guidance, preparation for casting, and final studio finishing.

The finished rings are priced separately. Most 14k gold bands begin around $1,250 each. The exact price depends on ring size, width, weight, gold color, and any additional details. A clear estimate is provided before the rings are cast. Engraving and stones are quoted separately.

The private studio session lasts approximately three to four hours. After the waxes are approved, casting and finishing generally take about four weeks. Engraving, stones, or more complex details may add approximately two weeks.

For a comfortable timeline, plan to begin at least eight to ten weeks before your wedding. If your date is closer, reach out before booking and Julia will confirm what is possible.

Sessions take place in the working RA HA Jewelry studio in Providence, Rhode Island. The city’s deep jewelry history and culture of making are part of the experience: focused, practical, and rooted in learning by doing.

Providence also works well as a New England destination for couples traveling from elsewhere in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, or farther along the East Coast. Full studio directions are shared after your appointment is scheduled.

RA HA is an artist-run jewelry studio founded by RISD alum Julia Sullivan. The studio creates sculptural, slow-made jewelry through hand-carved wax and traditional metal processes. Each piece is made with an emphasis on proportion, daily wear, and the small evidence left by the hand.

Contact me with your wedding date, approximate ring sizes, where you are traveling from, and anything you already know about the rings you want to make. If you are still deciding, that is completely fine; the first conversation is simply a place to begin.