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

[white collar]

can you explain? I don't understand.

 

[Imhoff]

About to take the plunge in a couple months. Shopping around for a ring. My stress is through the roof. All for love I suppose!

 

[perkyscalling]

I'm saving up right now, and have a question. How many months of savings would you say is average before getting the ring? Looking for advice on a savings/payment schedule. Retail has me broke all the damn time

 

[Medwed]

I've never bought one and she never asked for one, but she is Swedish, so she is sort of normal when it comes to female gender.

 

[7_rocket]

After reading this thread I realize I lucked out more than I thought. I'm currently shopping for a girl with quite small hands and honestly anything over .5ct is uncomfortable for her to wear. I can't imagine spending more than 3.5k on an engagement ring, both of us would rather that money go into a house.

******* truth my brother. I paid 5K. Remember it;s what you can afford. I'm facing this as well. We're also looking at a house

 

[norcaltransplant]

I am making the plunge. What do people use as a reference for approximate "market value" price?

I have been doing my comparison shopping with BlueNile, Whiteflash, and James Allen. I also LOL and visited the Cartier store in Paris with my girlfriend. A 1.6 CT round with halo was running around 50k after the conversion...

 

[usctrojans31]

Since this was necrobumped, I read the last few pages. Interesting discussion on several schools of thought.

I know that not everyone has an option like this but as my mother passed when I was younger, I was able to use a diamond from her jewelry. While I probably could have afforded to buy a slightly larger stone instead, the emotional connection was more important to us both. By having the diamond put into a new setting which my fiance (now wife) picked out, it created something shared between my wife and my mother, that she never had a chance to meet. I also had my wedding band made from gold melted from a few other pieces of my mothers jewelry. If you have access to such family heirlooms I highly suggest at least giving it some thought.

I did this too. We have diamonds that have been in the family for a while, and they went into the engagement and wedding band. All in, I spent $1800 or so for the work for both rings, excess gold and the four small diamonds needed to finish the pave setting.

It means the world to both of us. My wife essentially told me that she would have been furious had I spent the appraised value on the ring. That is money that could be in the buy a flat fund. And NYC prices certainly aren't cheap!

 

[otc]

Anyone buy their engagement ring at Costco?

 

[venividivicibj]

Got mine at BlueNile. They have an interesting upgrade policy where you can take it back at a later date and use the amount you originally paid towards getting a better ring.

 

[wojt]

Since this was necrobumped, I read the last few pages. Interesting discussion on several schools of thought.



I did this too. We have diamonds that have been in the family for a while, and they went into the engagement and wedding band. All in, I spent $1800 or so for the work for both rings, excess gold and the four small diamonds needed to finish the pave setting.

It means the world to both of us. My wife essentially told me that she would have been furious had I spent the appraised value on the ring. That is money that could be in the buy a flat fund. And NYC prices certainly aren't cheap!

My gf likes big stone rings, so I'd probably end up getting loose sapphire or spinel and then put it in a ring because 1ct diamond is a little out of my budget

Using something that has been in the family is great idea, I was given wedding bands of my grand-grand parents but unfortunately they have been stolen in break in 2 years ago

 

[norcaltransplant]

Anyone buy their engagement ring at Costco?

Costco prices their stones competitively. The problem with buying through Costco is the limited choices in E-ring settings and aftermarket service. A reputable jeweler will allow you to match stone with setting, make adjustments to the ring size, and provide aftermarket service.

Got mine at BlueNile. They have an interesting upgrade policy where you can take it back at a later date and use the amount you originally paid towards getting a better ring.

I used Bluenile as my reference point.

 

[terry_w]

Re-using family diamonds is the best, thanks for sharing your stories, guys!
We used my mother's ring as well, and gf was completely OK with that, since she knows how it's important for me.
And it means a lot.

As for savings, personally I believe there's nothing wrong with buying something small, or even just a plain or diamond band now, and when you guys are more established later getting a traditional eng ring then. Just don't go into debt. Your future family budget matters more than engagement ring.

 

[Shaunm88]

I went through this a while back. My now wife never wanted anything large or special and would of been happy with a $2 ring. We joked and walked into Tiffany and after trying on many rings starting at 1.7ct she put one on that was .83 and cried.

Talk about having to be the one. Did some checks and the ring shape was perfect so picked up that and a embrace wedding band.

I had a small diamond from the family and as I had two kids to a prior partner I used one of those diamonds and bought another from blue Nile from recommendation from Todd gray to make a necklace as the diamond was too small for her as a ring as she only wanted a simple one stone ring.

The budget well that was blown given it being Tiffany but worked out to one months wage or so.

 

[Joffrey]

I went through this a while back. My now wife never wanted anything large or special and would of been happy with a $2 ring. We joked and walked into Tiffany and after trying on many rings starting at 1.7ct she put one on that was .83 and cried.

[....]

The budget well that was blown given it being Tiffany but worked out to one months wage or so.

Lol sucker

j/k

 

[Shaunm88]

Lol sucker

j/k

You would think so but she kept saying dont ever do it and then when she saw it she was a little mad I did buy it. I’m just glad the 1.7ct she didn’t like.

She supports me with watches, fountain pens, shoes etc so I was happy.