Yeah fair enough. You can get SLA parts electroplated, although it will still be more matte than glossy unless they are polished, which would increase the price, and it would probably be cheaper to just do the brass casting option at that point.

Also- one of my coworkers recently got a custom wedding band and he went through a similar process to the one you went through of looking at vendors, trying to find the right material, etc. He wanted a pretty customized ring, and one of the things he added was the embossed outline of a lake that had special significance to him. Not sure how many people would have similar requests, but it would be cool to allow something similar. Maybe just have the option to upload a black and white picture and use that to create an embossed feature.