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

I think to some point cost is important. If your fiancée could easily afford to throw ten grand at it without blinking and buys you a fifty quid second hand number from eBay, then I think you'd be saying rhe cost is very much important.

Anyone got any good recommendations for an insurance company specifically for jewellery? Think it’s time we moved.

I didn't get an emgagement ring, we kind of decided together to get married, but DH gave me a ring that I love for my first birthday after the wedding.

My ring cost $12 NZ. It's made of pounamu (NZ greenstone). It has seen us through 25 years of marriage, births, deaths, migrations, and natural disasters. I don't think the cost of the ring has any impact on the worth and value of either the people, or the relationship.

We were poor students, coming to the end of our degrees, and paying for our (for us, fairly expensive) wedding ourselves. We could have spent more on it, but I'm glad we didn't. This little piece of green jewellery has so much meaning for me.

Mine cost £150 and I still love it. It really wasn't important to me to have an expensive ring, just that I was going to be getting married to DH. Ten years later and still very happily married and I must admit, I think spending a fortune is a bit mad, but each to their own.

My engagement ring was about £250-300ish depending when he bought it (i know he had it for a while before proposing) and i couldnt care less. Its not at all about the cost for me.

My engagement ring is from the late 1800s and was bought at a jewellery auction. I have no idea how much it cost - I had it valued for insurance and know what it’s “worth”. I love it because it has a history - it has quite a big stone and I it being worn at posh events 100 years ago and it has also seen two World Wars. To me it has bags of mystery and it’s just awesome because of that. It’s also beautiful as it was what DH bought for me.

I can’t get my head round why someone would put a minimum price on an engagement ring - or any gift, tbh.

Mabellavender that’s beautiful

Mine cost around £2000. Princess with a halo, pretty blingy, which I love.

I would have said yes to a much cheaper ring, but I was so happy that dp had chosen something that I’d love, and thought it was worth spending money on.

I didnt care. I was 19 and it cost £65.00 out of argos. Still together over 30 years later. Why does a ring matter. Its a materialistc possession. Its unimportant to me.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being exacting in one’s expectations, nor in communicating them. Provided he can afford what she’s asking for I don’t see anything wrong with it at all. I’ve got specific tastes and high standards. It’s always women who are criticised for this. Woe betide those who like expensive bags/jewellery/whatever, but for some reason it’s absolutely fine for men to buy extremely expensive gear for hobbies or to blow loads of money on special interests, or getting ‘must-have’ thing such as season tickets or golf club memberships. It’s just another level of misogyny IMO, this criticism of women who know what they want and ascent afraid to ask for it.

If she wants a ring from an independent jewellers and of a certain quality, then thats totally fine in my book..

bluntness no I still wouldn’t care if he could afford 10,000 and only spent 150. I’m not very keen on jewellery in general and it’s a waste of money to me- as I would still be unlikely to wear an engagement ring. Lots of better use for a spare 10,000.

I don't think it's about the amount of money, but what it buys. There would be no point in buying me a diamond solitaire for a few hundred quid because I wouldn't wear it quite honestly, I'd prefer not to have a diamond ring if it couldn't be a decent size and quality and I'd want the option to say so.

Mine was only £500 and was exactly what I wanted. Bought it second hand.

I'm now looking to buy an eternity ring and I will be buying another antique and spending much more - maybe £3k and will get a ring that would likely cost 10k retail.

I own more expensive jewellery than my engagement ring - but I love it.

Even my wedding ring is second hand. A platinum plain Cartier band - cost £120 at auction, Cartier currently sell it at £1565

I would prefer something second hand too as opposed to new. I like the idea of history in old jewellery.

@Drogosnextwife your ring is beautiful 😍

Travellers , apparently.

I don't have a single in law/cousin/friend with a flashy ring, seriously in area at least the men and children have more jewellery.

Mine are high street and currently surrounded by two smaller pandora rings so they don't fall off after some unwanted weight loss.

My marriage is a good one as is DH and I'd take that over a flashy ring.

Mine was about £800 second hand, valued at £4000 now-platinum solitaire, I love it.

DH and I chose it together, I don’t think he’d have gone on his own!

The cost is irrelevant. The memories from which it came can be priceless.

mbosnz a bloody good friend bought me a pounamu pendant back from her travels in NZ. It’s easily my favourite piece of jewellery, such a gorgeous stone.

£2600 from Hatton Garden (would've been a fair bit more in a high street jeweller).

BUT....I paid for it myself from a redundancy payout as DH wouldn't have been able to afford much and I decided if I was going to wear a piece of jewellery every day for the rest of my life I wanted to LOVE it (and I do!)

My engagement ring is a Pandora ring. OH and I have always been super lax and honest with each other, and when we were talking about marriage (just randomly in convo) I said that I wouldn’t want an expensive ring because if I lost it I’d be gutted, I have to take my jewellery off for work and if it fell out my pocket or something I wouldn’t forgive myself.
He said that I should choose whatever ring I want as there’s too many to choose from. He said because I’d be the one wearing it he wanted to know it’d be something I’d be happy wearing every day.

uk.pandora.net/en/rings/vintage-allure-ring/191006CZ.html?cgid=c2674998-0abe-4e4a-b666-a0c9008c1108&src=categorySearch#backsz=60&start=58&cgid=c2674998-0abe-4e4a-b666-a0c9008c1108

It’s just silver and cubics. Worn it daily for 2 years and it’s still super shiny and sparkly. I get complimented on it so much and when I had to have an operation last year, a nurse asked me if it needed to be locked away in a safe storage in the nurses station, when I told her it was just a Pandora she was surprised as she said it looked so much more expensive.

I personally don’t see the big deal on rings. I know others do, and that’s fine, but my personal opinion is it’s just a piece of jewellery with a meaning. No different to wearing say a necklace your Nan bought you for Christmas 😊

We had just bought a house which needed a lot doing to it. OH as a surprise took me to a jeweller, I fell in love with an antique ring which cost less than the new ones. Years later I had an eternity ring, which cost more. You have years to accumulate more jewellery.

An engagement ring is a promise not an accessory imo.

Here is mine - 1.3 carats, high spec, Tiffany’s solitaire diamond in a platinum band. It was expensive. 5 figures. I had always jokingly told OH I wanted a Tiffany’s ring, didn’t think he was ever really paying attention!
I love it, but I don’t generally go around telling friends what it’s worth. We got engaged before we had kids and bought our bigger house.
To be clear, I’m generally very low maintenance and don’t ever buy designer brands etc. This is the only “real” jewellery I own and I love it.

Love the star Catface is that so you remember upon which finger to put one's ring?

I told OH if he spent more than£150 I'd be furious hahaha