Engagement Ring Shopping

[FijiPhil]

So Im planning on popping the question within the next few months, and have begun looking at different jewelry stores.. But wow its a little bit overwhelming!

 

As of now, im between a ring I saw at Weisfield Jewlers and one at Kay Jewlers. They are both really nice. The one from Weisfield is cheaper, but they are both still in my budget.

 

I also have some old rings that my mom gave me to trade in on a ring. I have no clue how to tell if Im getting a good trade in value or not. I had one store that wanted to give me 230 bucks for all 6 rings I have, and another that wants to give me 320 for just one of them!! lol.

 

I know a lot of you guys have been here before.. any advice? Or is anyone in the jewelry industry? Id love the chance to speak with somebody that knows jewelry, and isnt trying to twist my arm into spending twice as much as I can afford.. haha. I want to get my lady the perfect ring, and I dont want to over pay for it. Any advice is appreciated!

[BOHO]

I'll post some pics of my wifes ring when I get back in town. For the money I don't think you can do much better. The bands are from Kay.

[boostdquest89]

I know it is hard to hear, but the (traditional) amount your supposed to spend is "3 MONTHS SALARY"

[tsi_tom]

I bought my wife's ring at bluenile.com. I liked the search capabilities looking for a diamond. Their customer service was very nice to me. The box the ring came in was very nice too.

[Dad]

I've been Married too long to give you any advice. Congrats.

 

Dad

[alp247]

First off congrats on making the big step. I just got engaged myself so I know what you are going through and i know that shopping for a ring can be overwhelming. Here is my advice.

 

1. If you have old rings your mom gave you and you want to trade them in. You should ask your mom roughly what she paid for them so you get ripped off when you trade them in. If you want i would get them appraised if then you know exactly what they are worthed.

 

2. Bigger is never better for Diamonds! Always buy what's in your budget and never let them sucker you into buying something more than you can afford. Use the link i provided when shopping. http://www.hwgem.com/diascale.htm It will help give you some guidance.

 

3. 1st thing i think you should consider is cut since you this will give your diamond the maximum light that comes out of it. When you see a diamond that is cut well or perfectly cut it will shine even in the dark.

 

Also when you buy ask what type of insurance do they offer on the diamond. Mine came with everything with no additonal cost out of my pocket unless she loses it. it's 100% covered on all the comes as long as she brings it in every 6 months for inspection. i've had a diamond fall out of her other ring before and brought it back in and they replaced it free.

Edited January 22, 2012 by alp247

[D-VO]

I know it is hard to hear, but the (traditional) amount your supposed to spend is "3 MONTHS SALARY"

I think that's a crock made up by the diamond manufacturers to justify an artificial price anchoring. The fact that I'm willing to spend my life with someone should mean a lot more than how much I paid for the ring.

 

Stay within your budget (whatever that may be), and wholesalers are better to deal with.

[nomad]

Congratulations man! The BEST advice is to get her opinion on what she likes.

 

The way I did this is I just said "Hey, lets go look at rings" I caught her off guard and we went one Saturday and went to about 10 different shops.

 

About a month later I bought the ring and popped the question a few weeks later. She asked about a million times "when are we going to get engaged". All I responded with was "Soon". It was fun.

 

Other bits of advice:

You'll probably get better quality for the price at a independent shop.

You can haggle at a independent shop.

You dont need a warranty or service plan.

You can get a great deal on a designer ring if its last years model (The designers that have full page glossy ads in wedding mags).

 

Dont be afraid to shop online as long as you protect yourself in the transaction.

If searching online, scoure the interwebs and the BBB for dirt on the Company.

 

I got my wifes ring from I.D. Jewelry in NYC

I got this Henri Daussi 1.43 E, VVS1 in Platinum for less than a local store wanted for the same ring, slightly smaller in a K VS2.

 

BLAM!

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll231/nomad1856/IMG_2198.jpghttp://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll231/nomad1856/rings_007.jpg http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll231/nomad1856/0039.jpg

Edited January 22, 2012 by nomad

[Convette]

Congrats first off.. I just did it in last year. Yes you can get a better deal at a wholesale place, but if something happends, and it always could your prolly going to have to pay for it later. I know a lot of ppl that got rings from blue nile and were very happy. I personally went to kay cause of the lifetime warranty, and I wanted to touch it and examine the ish out of it.. At first you think big diamonds are cool, but once you get into it quality gets way more important. I payed a little more than I wanted to, but she's very happy.

[alp247]

I agree with convette, you can always get a better price at wholesale...might as well go to costco then LOL. Something will happen and then you have to pay for it in the end. it's always nice to see it and touch it in person. If you but it online it all just numbers. It's great to have a place to go back and have it inspected, sized, warranty or even upgraded. if you buy it online then everything else is out of pocket.

 

I think it's a good idea if you know a place where you want to buy the diamond to trick her to go into the store with you and try on some rings. Get a feel of what ring style she wants. See what looks good on her. Let the diamond picking be your job since you will be paying for it. i recommend when you try on wedding rings try on wedding sets so you won't get stuck trying to fit another ring to the engagement one. Alot of people try this and then you can see the other ring doesn't match too well. For all you know she may only want one ring.

[alp247]

Congratulations man! The BEST advice is to get her opinion on what she likes.

 

The way I did this is I just said "Hey, lets go look at rings" I caught her off guard and we went one Saturday and went to about 10 different shops.

 

About a month later I bought the ring and popped the question a few weeks later. She asked about a million times "when are we going to get engaged". All I responded with was "Soon". It was fun.

 

Other bits of advice:

You'll probably get better quality for the price at a independent shop.

You can haggle at a independent shop.

You dont need a warranty or service plan.

You can get a great deal on a designer ring if its last years model (The designers that have full page glossy ads in wedding mags).

 

Dont be afraid to shop online as long as you protect yourself in the transaction.

If searching online, scoure the interwebs and the BBB for dirt on the Company.

 

I got my wifes ring from I.D. Jewelry in NYC

I got this Henri Daussi 1.43 E, VVS1 in Platinum for less than a local store wanted for the same ring, slightly smaller in a K VS2.

 

BLAM!

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll231/nomad1856/IMG_2198.jpg

 

 

is that a cushion cut diamond? Haven't seen one in awhile...nice but old school baby

Edited January 22, 2012 by alp247

[nomad]

Yep, cushion cut.

[badtoad]

Im glad my woman is a car person cause she wants a special ring..... they have pistions on them and dont cost a whole lot. she says its more money for the cars !!!!

[averse]

I think the rule is TWO months of salary, not three. Yes, it did come from a jewelry company back in the WWII era, when American culture held to pomp and circumstance more rigidly than we do today. Using that rule today, as I know you are in school, you could say she owes you money to buy her a ring if your student debt is up there

 

If she is more into being practical then she might appreciate the money on a ring being used on something that gives your relationship steadier financial ground to succeed. That said, good jewelry makes for a fine lubricant, if you get my drift...

[ucw458]

I say buy a cheap ring.

 

 

 

The person you're asking should be more concerned with the question asked than the cost of the ring. If she is gonna get upset because you only bought a $200 ring then maybe she isn't worth marrying. My wife's engagement ring was $300. She was there when I bought it and she loved it. (I asked before I had the ring) I understand not everyone thinks the same way. My wife and I just don't understand why an engagement ring has to cost thousands of $s just to have meaning. To us that spells gold digger.

 

 

 

BTW, my wife's engagement ring and wedding band may have only cost around $600 but to her it's priceless. She has not taken it off since the wedding over 3 years ago. She plans to never take it off.

[MainstreaM]

I would suggest a pawn shop. Lots of really nice stuff ends up there. I bought my (soon to be ex)wife's ring there. Both her engagement ring and her wedding band. I gave 800 for the engagement ring. It has a 1.5ct solitare flanked by two 1ct stones of the same cut. Appraised at 2k. Wedding band was a little cheaper but she picked it out, 500 for a band with six .5ct stones. appraised at 900. I'd get pics but, well, read above. You go in pretending to look at tools, musical instruments, guns, etc., she'll get bored looking at guy stuff and naturally gravitate towards the jewelry counter. Usually in the pawn business the smaller shops have nicer jewelry. They get in mostly older stuff, that in my opinion, looks classier than some of today's jewelry.

 

Kane

 

Forgot to add, price is negotiable at a pawn shop and most have some sort of layaway plan <-- 0% interest rate.

Edited January 22, 2012 by MainstreaM

[slowquest]

My rule is to never propose until you can afford the divorce...... just sayin'

[Komeuppance]

Congrats!!

 

Figure out what she'll like. (You should already know since you're getting locked down for the rest of your life LOL). My wife doesn't really wear jewelry so I didn't want to get her a mega flashy ring. I just bought us matching set of platinum bands, but hers has diamonds around the entire ring. The diamonds don't stick out and won't get caught on something, so she doesn't ever need to take it off. It was a surprise to her, so I had a ring sizing kit that I test fit on her while she was asleep haha, super stealth mode.

 

-Robert

[Shelby]

jewerly is one of the most over price'd stuff out there normly 3-to 4 times actual value , esp a diamond store

 

like the offers you got for your mom's rings,,one guy try'd to seal them all for less then the one was worth,, get an apraisser to look at what you have,, it's not uncommon to give your lady a ring your mother wore , if you have to buy her with a diamond she'l not be arround long

[IntercooledFlatty]

congrats brutha i went to Jared

[intense98rt]

I went to jarad also. I didn't have that much cash so I signed up for the jarad credit account. 12 months interest free. They went through the whole deal explaining diamonds. After looking at a bunch I decided carat wasn't as important as cut and clarity. I ended up buying a leo diamond. The leo diamond really does look much better than any other. After picking a setting I didn't really like the way the head held the diamond. They have a book of different heads that you can change to at no additional charge.

My fiance gets compliments all the time on her ring.

[Burton]

You may want to consider something custom.

 

My father in law had some left over rings, and my wife liked one that was an antique, but didn't like the diamonds in it. We started at looking for other rings with nice diamonds, or loose diamonds we could put in the setting. We found one on Ebay with nice diamonds that had higher end stone ratings like we wanted. We bought the ring for around $1000, then took that ring, and the antique band set my wife liked to a good jeweler, and had the good diamonds put in the antique bands. Then, my wife bought my wedding ring (about $200), and we had a couple more nice diamonds left over so we put them into my wedding ring. In the end we spent about $1500 for my ring, the Ebay ring, and paying the jeweler to build the custom rings. After everything that was done, my wife's ring appraises for $4300+, and mine is right around $1000.

 

It was a little more work to hunt down what we wanted and get them morphed together, but we ended up with better value for money, and we both have custom rings that are unlike anything else in the world.

[Guest]

Congrats yo! My wife and actually shopped together for both engagement and wedding rings. We discussed marriage, talked budget wise and went looking for rings.

 

We went with an independant jewelry store. We got the best prices there, were able to haggle a bit and both rings came with certificates of authenticity certifying the diamond grades.

 

We later had the ring appraised at another store and they valued it for more than I paid. Was a good buy. My wife is invaluable to me, it felt good to have bought her the best I could afford at the time.

[Bag-O-Chips]

I went to Micheal Hill for the Engagement ring. Great service and Selection! Unfortunately I got cold feet.

[FijiPhil]

Thanks for all the replys fellas

 

Yes, we have gone looking a few times.. I know she wants white gold, she likes a princess cut center stone, and she likes a halo around it. Also, some intricate design work on the band is important to her. She dosent care too much for the more "modern look" rings that are more plain.

 

I know that whatever I buy her will be the "perfect ring," but I just really want to be sure that I get it right. Haha. I have a budget of 2,000. Im pretty firm on sticking to it. While its true, I do have more money saved up, I want to use some of it towards the proposal, and Im also trying to upgrade my DD to something thats not a civic.. haha. So I cant just go willy nilly and drain my savings account.

 

Nomad, I love that ring! Though, Id be willing to bet that isnt in my price range. I like the cushion cut style a lot. I dont know that Ive seen any/many as Ive been looking.

 

I looked on blue nile, and I have a good friend that used them for his ring. He was very happy with it, and he said his ring appraises for more than he paid for it. However, I dont know that I saw any ring settings in my price range that I think she would absolutely love. I have been a little hesitant about looking at a pawn shop, just because I would be afraid that I could get duped into buying a fake diamond. I looked around on craigslist and saw some really nice rings for a whole lot less than the stores are selling them for.

 

And thanks for all the congrats Loius, I think you said it right. Nicole means everything to me, so I do want to buy the nicest ring I think I can afford to be a testament to that.