She wants to get married.

Expensive ones. Prepare to live like a pauper for a few months.

I do not, but my married friends tell me the most important thing is to NEVER buy retail, but instead find a reliable wholesaler to buy the diamond / ring. I would ask any savvy friends you might have where they got theirs.

+1.

As for what she likes, you have a couple of options. If you want to surprise her, try to get a feel for the style she likes. Marquis-cut was rather popular a few years back and is what Mrs. Thomas has. Through the years she's upgraded the stone and the setting, but kept the cut the same. If you don't know what she likes, just listen to her when she talks about someone else's ring.

Or you could go ring shopping with her, which is another viable option.

Good luck.

I have 2 cousins who married these unfortunate dudes. Both dudes are of different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities but both saved for 10 months.

Just pretend.

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+1 for not buying retail, or at least from a mall brand. Buy a loose diamond and have it set. Buying loose allows you to visually inspect the diamond for imperfections and depth of cut. Snakes like Zales pawn off shit diamonds at high prices to Joe Six Packs and Hockey Moms be cause those types are ignorant fools and listen to the diarrhea that pours out of some 22 YO punk's retail mouth. Knowledge is your friend, do some research online on what to look for. If you are on a budget (like I was a year ago, looking for my fiance's engagement ring) look around, get to know your stuff, Diamonds do not have to be perfectly colorless or free of imperfections. A little spec of carbon that can only be seen with 10x loop and a sharp eye, if placed in the right spot, can be set under a prong or something to make it less obvious, or if its particularly small most people wont notice. In my case I totally scored, I got a diamond with a little color, turns out it wasn't yellow color either, it has a slight blue to it and a "Slight Inclusion" that unless you look really hard will be missed amongst the facets.
You may factor in the size of your GF's hands when choosing a size of the rock. For instance, I ended up with a .35 Karat. This may sound small, but considering that I am with a rather petite lady it looks huge on her finger. Anything around the .5+ range would look too big on her.

Good luck man, know the lingo and look A LOT before you settle on the ring.

so how old are you?

Cushion cut is always a safe bet.

Remember that she's going to be wearing it forever (hopefully) and all her friends will be inspecting it for years to come. It took me a while to appreciate that its not like buying any other sort of jewelry.

Go for wow factor and avoid the stuff that everyone else has. You can do this by getting a big expensive/interesting rock or by getting a really cool setting. I favor the latter - too many engagement rings are cheap functional holders for the rocks. I like the older-style filigree look. You could also get an antique ring and have a new stone set in it. Platinum is all the rage these days, though gold is timeless.

I gave the missues something like this:

http://www.vancraeynest.com/index.html

WOW Stunning!

My wife introduced me to her jeweler when we were dating (don't all girls have one?!). When the time came I called him and said I needed a ring -- he knew exactly what it needed to be somehow. I upped the stone size (never a wrong decision) and he had some loose stones brought in from NYC and eventually made the setting, etc. I dropped a lot of coin but I knew I wasn't getting the short end.

I encourage you to get a reference for a jeweler and discuss "what if she wants something else" scenarios with him/her. Times are tough so you may be able to do well on price. If you are close to Philly I'd be happy to give you a name - PM me.

My suggestion is you find a new girlfriend.

You dont even sound like you want to get married, so stop forcing it. Find a new, hotter chick and keep repeating until you find one you KNOW you cant live without - not just cause she is "dropping hints" and your scared of being alone.

Because you can certainly tell by his two posts so far that he doesn't want to get married.

Quote:

It's something I've been wanting to do for a while...

I'd say you were on the mark with that advice.

The only advice I can offer is don't spend more than you can afford -- the excess is better spent on the mortgage down payment you will one day make. But that's just my opinion.