Cost of engagement ring

[brightbluesky]

Recently had a chat with a colleague who is expecting a proposal soon, she said that she has been looking at rings for sometime, and was specifically only looking at rings that were 3k plus with as large a solitaire centre as possible...! She has made it clear to her boyfriend she is "worth it" and won't accept any less, her words, and he isn't to go anywhere near a high street jewellers or spend less than 3k!

For a moment I felt a pang of envy and the thought of owning such a rock, then I got a grip! my own ring is a white gold cluster and cost £700 in 2008. We went to look at different jewellers, and I picked out a handful of rings I loved. My husband then went pack and made the finally choice.

Cost didn't come into it. We didn't have a budget, just wanted to pick something that was durable and a bit unusual (I didn't want a solitaire).

Was the cost of your ring important to you? Or did you just go for something you loved too?

Photos welcome :)

Here's mine

Your ring is beautiful.

No the cost of my ring is not important to me. I have a ring that I think is lovely. It's not huge or flashy but I love it. DH gave it to me in 2006 when he was 23 years old. We had just had our first baby and we were building our house and he was working a lot.

To me, the ring is a symbol of commitment. We are 11 years married this year and (I think!) still going strong. We have 3 children, one on the way, a lovely home and he's honestly my best friend. I don't think having a more expensive piece of jewellery to wear would have benefited the way things worked out for our relationship.

But I do know what you mean, I have friends who insisted that the 10k Tiffanys ring was important.

Each to their own, I suppose.

I think I mean improved our relationship rather than benefitted..

I think the old tradition is that an engagement ring should cost a months salary. I hope your colleagues fiancé is aware if she's like this over an engagement ring, it doesn't bode well for their future. Grabby much?!

I've no idea how much my ring was (got engaged 20 years ago) j bought the frisking in South Africa as my DH's parents got engaged there. Brought the diamond back & had it made into a ring. Would've cost a lot more I'm sure if we bought it ready made in the UK. I chose the diamond I liked (& it was from a family friend who was the jeweller) & I genuinely don't remember the cost, but there's no way I'd have put demands on the price.

If it's all about the size of the ring for her I dread to think how much she'll demand to spend on the wedding. Here's me thinking it's a declaration of love and wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone.

If I were her fiance, I would not marry her.

(She's putting a price on herself - ?!?)

Thank you Harry Potter, I do love it, it needs recoating but can't bear to have it sent away!

I do feel sorry for her fiancé, kind of takes the romance away from a proposal if you are being dictated to so much! And a lot of pressure with demands about ££!

From the age of about 23 I had my heart set on owning a yellow diamond at one point in my life and there was one I used to regularly visit in a local jewellers, it was £4K and I knew I’d never own it or even try it on! I met my DH when I was 28 and we happened to go shopping on Boxing Day and the jewellers had taken the expensive rings out of the window as they were closed! I thought it had gone so told my then DP about it and said it’s stupid really but I had always felt it was mine!

He proposed just before my 30th birthday with THE ring! It was the only yellow diamond they sold there! I had to have it re-sized and to this day I can’t stop staring at it and can’t believe it is mine! It could have cost £50 and I still would have loved it I never dreamt he’d actually buy it!

Won’t upload a pic as it might be outing!

I forgot to say, your ring is beautiful and you should never feel jealous of what someone else has (or wants) your friend sounds like she is taking the joy out of a proposal and I would feel sorry for her if she feels that’s the importance of it!

Sounds beautiful mrsx!

I think wanting a specific ring or style of ring is very different to being totally fixated on the cost....x

J Lo has a collection of very expensive engagement rings gathering dust in her safe and one on her finger but rumours abound over her current beau being unfaithful to her.

Expensive rings do not equate to lasting happiness if the cost is relevant.

Though of course if you and your partner are high earners then it would be odd if he bought a ring out of Argos.

The one-month’s salary ‘tradition’ was nothing more than a marketing ploy by a jewellers (de beers, maybe?).

I picked my engagement ring. It’s not flashy - I wanted a small, delicate ring with a small diamond. If my OH had been left to pick it he would have felt it necessary to go all out and get a much bigger diamond and a more elaborate style. I’m happy with mine (obviously, since I picked it!), but if I had wanted a more expensive ring and it was comfortably within his budget, I would have expected him to happily get it for me, and I wouldn’t be shy about making my expectations clear. I can’t abide meanness. It’s not a nice trait, and it speaks volumes about what kind of relationship one is likely to have with someone.

Her DF probably earns (or has saved) more than yours. I don’t mean this in a nasty way, it would have been really odd for my DH, who is a high earner, to buy a cheap ring from Argos. He didn’t spend much — 1.2k (10 years ago) on both my solitaire (0.75 carats highest quality) and my wedding ring (which has small diamonds all around the band) but managed to keep costs low by buying diamonds and gold at cost seperately and getting them made by a jewellry designer in India. I think if you bought them from a shop they would cost 2-3k then.

Also, I love your rings. Beautiful and sets you apart, which I like.

De Beers, you know the diamond people, are the ones who came up with the whole salary dictating the cost of the ring. It was a marketing campaign.

Mine was dirt cheap, I wore it for the best part of 18 years, I no longer wear it because it isn't to my taste anymore. Still married.

I am getting a 20th wedding anniversary ring, but not a diamond. When you look at gem stones which look like diamonds they are a fraction of the price.

If this video doesn't link to the right bit, 3.55 in is where they start to show you a direct comparison between a diamond and a moissanite. Incredibly similar.

If you want to have it recoated you should be able to take it in to a Jewellers, leave it with them and come back on the day.

My ring was a good four figure sum - but we had more than enough money in the bank and we didn't need to scrimp and save to afford it.

Worth it to us because of its meaning and the fact I would need to wear it every day, so had to be real diamonds and solid gold. I also wear other expensive items e.g. designer bags/shoes and fine jewellery daily, so it was realistic for the 'most important' item to be in line with that. I am also quite into style/fashion/my appearance (whatever you want to call it), so I wanted something quite specific too.

Bottom line - if you can't afford it, then it's not worth suffering over. But if you can, and you often wear expensive/valuable things, then why not?!

I feel the same about wedding dresses, why do girls who wear matalan and tesco clothes suddenly get a £2k dress?!

My engagement ring is my DH’s grans ring and my wedding ring was my grans ring. They are elegant rings I think and look perfect together (I’d thought about getting a new wedding ring but in the end didn’t like anything as much as my grans ring).

I’ve been engaged before and had a beautiful but quite noticeable cushion cut solitaire with halo, with custom made wedding ring - whole set was over £2k from a wholesaler but would have cost a lot more on the high street. You know what - the ring was beautiful but meant nothing. When I split with my former fiancé I sold them and went on holiday to the Caribbean.

Current rings are much more modest, but they suit me and mean so much more.

My ring was 6k. Dh knows I love jewellery and that a nice one was important to me.

If he bought me a cheap one I’d be annoyed for two reasons, firstly he can afford a decent ring! Secondly if he bought me something I really didn’t like it’d make me feel like he didn’t know me or pay attention to the kind of thing I like.

I also bought him a breitling watch when we got engaged because I think it’s nice for the man to have something too. Every time he looks at it he will think of me just like I think of him when I look at my ring

@spanishwife - why not, if that’s how they choose to spend their money?!!

PS big does not always equal tasteful

She sounds like a pillock.

@Mabellavender Love that Mabel! I did the watch gift too :)

We spent more on my ring than I intended. I wouldn't have been bothered how much it cost, I fact the less the better but it was 1400, we got them down to 1200. That was 4 years ago and I still admire it a lot 😂. It's little but I love it.