How much did you pay for your wife's/fiancee's engagement ring?

[TheFoo]

Too much! I paid $40K for the diamond, a two-carat D VVS1 Royal Asscher, and $10K for the bespoke and hand-wrought platinum setting, which was full pave on the band and halo.

However this was back in 2006/7, in those heady pre-crisis days. I have no idea how prices have trended since.

If I could do it again, I’d get a same size or larger diamond but go down to a G color and VS1 or VS2 clarity, so long as well-cut. I really wanted that D back then!

No regrets on the setting. It is really beautifully made. Once I learned and saw the difference between true hand-wrought custom settings versus the “custom” settings marketed in bridal magazines that come out of molds, I couldn’t stomach the latter. Matters more with pave than without.

 

[double00]

stone in hand i knew i'd found my bench jeweler when i asked him about cnc and he was like 'what?'

 

[TheFoo]

My wife’s ring below. Condition is not bad for 13+ years of daily wear!

As mentioned above, if I could do it over again, I’d sacrifice some color and clarity for more size. Two carats is nice, but more carats is always better!

Not exactly a radical design, but I worked closely with the jeweler on the precise details.

 

[otc]

I'm just glad my wife wouldn't be caught dead in that thing...let alone something bigger!

 

[TheFoo]

I'm just glad my wife wouldn't be caught dead in that thing...let alone something bigger!

That would have been quite an ugly (quite possibly deal-breaking) reaction to something one obviously poured a lot of love and effort into. I’m just glad my wife never cared about what sort of ring I proposed to her with to begin with.

 

[vdubiv]

I think it is an amazing piece of jewelry and very beautiful, also way out of my budget!

 

[otc]

I mean--I hope you would know what they want before you buy them a ring?

I'm pretty sure it would be a dealbreaker on my wife's end if I showed up with a 2+ct stone...because clearly I have no idea what her tastes are.

I think its a well-crafted ring--I'm just glad I didn't have to buy one like it!

 

[ValidusLA]

Echo the above by vdub.
Very nice. If I were getting married now I might try to aspire to something thst level. Def couldn't afford it in my mid 20s.

 

[TheFoo]

I think it is an amazing piece of jewelry and very beautiful, also way out of my budget!

Thank you! You don’t need to blow any budget. It should be about the effort and thought.

For all the money folks on this forum spend on their own clothes, shoes, watches, etc., I’m surprised there isn’t more desire to invest similar or greater effort and resources into one of the most important gifts you’ll ever give to the most important person in your life.

I’m not saying anyone needs to spend $500, $5K, $50K, or $500K on a ring for it to be meaningful and beautiful. We each have our own circumstances. But I do detect a consistent disdain for the endeavor that undercuts the spirit of what an engagement ring should be at its very heart—a gift expressing generosity and love.

As for quality women: the best are the ones that don’t need a ring at all and wouldn’t think to demand any particular kind.

 

[TheFoo]

I mean--I hope you would know what they want before you buy them a ring?

I'm pretty sure it would be a dealbreaker on my wife's end if I showed up with a 2+ct stone...because clearly I have no idea what her tastes are.

Maybe we are just traditionalists, but in our families it would be considered very bad taste and in poor character to specify what sort of ring she wanted (or to even quietly expect a particular ring). Personally, I would not want to marry a woman who would either demand or scoff at any such gift, which she should know reflects my absolute best intentions.

My older brother was fortunate enough to have a two-carat diamond ring handed down to him from my mother. It was the engagement ring that my father scrounged for years to give her. So, naturally, my brother proposed with it. What kind of woman would reject or demean such a thing, regardless of what it looks like? To do so would have exposed all the worst sort of character traits and values.

 

[TheFoo]

Echo the above by vdub.
Very nice. If I were getting married now I might try to aspire to something thst level. Def couldn't afford it in my mid 20s.

I could barely at the time. Like I said, heady pre-crisis days. But I have never regretted it!

 

[vdubiv]

For all the money folks on this forum spend on their own clothes, shoes, watches, etc., I’m surprised there isn’t more desire to invest similar or greater effort and resources into one of the most important gifts you’ll ever give to the most important person in your life.

I’m not saying anyone needs to spend $500, $5K, $50K, or $500K on a ring for it to be meaningful and beautiful. We each have our own circumstances. But I do detect a consistent disdain for the endeavor that undercuts the spirit of what an engagement ring should be at its very heart—a gift expressing generosity and love.

As for quality women: the best are the ones that don’t need a ring at all and wouldn’t think to demand any particular kind.

I have no disdain for what you spent, jealousy maybe (in a friendly envious way) I spent what I could afford when I was 22, it's a 1carrot total weight diamond with a 3/4carrot center stone, virtually flawless (i too was hung up on it needed to be graded a certain way, thinking it really mattered, though without a jewelers scope you can't tell anyway) it's princess cut set in platinum.

When we had our 10y anniversary I got a complimentary ring to stack with it, also platinum, and forget how much total weight, since it's a bunch of channel set smaller diamonds to match the one's channel set on her engagement ring. All in around $10K.

No Regrets! I wish I could afford more to be honest! one day when we are older I will re-propose with something bigger and better!

 

[TheFoo]

I have no disdain for what you spent, jealousy maybe (in a friendly envious way) I spent what I could afford when I was 22, it's a 1carrot total weight diamond with a 3/4carrot center stone, virtually flawless (i too was hung up on it needed to be graded a certain way, thinking it really mattered, though without a jewelers scope you can't tell anyway) it's princess cut set in platinum.

When we had our 10y anniversary I got a complimentary ring to stack with it, also platinum, and forget how much total weight, since it's a bunch of channel set smaller diamonds to match the one's channel set on her engagement ring. All in around $10K.

No Regrets! I wish I could afford more to be honest! one day when we are older I will re-propose with something bigger and better!

Yeah, let me clarify: I’m not suggesting anyone do anything financially stupid or that one needs to buy a diamond of particular size or ring of particular dollar value. I just mean that a gift should be about generosity, not about what one can get away with.

Like I said, I could have gotten away with no ring at all. Maybe that’s precisely why I pushed as hard as I did to give her the most I could.

 

[Piobaire]

This last page has all been satire for my entertainment, correct?

 

[TheFoo]

This last page has all been satire for my entertainment, correct?

What’s more of a joke: a bespoke diamond engagement ring or his-and-hers dental office lounge chairs from Costco (two for one!) arranged around a backyard fire pit?