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

The cost of the ring absolutely doesn't matter, so long as you love it and its within what you as a couple can afford then cost is irrelevant. Demanding someone spends a certain amount is ridiculous - the commitment to each other is what is important, not the cost of a ring.

We shopped for an engagement ring together after getting engaged, I tried one on that I absolutely loved, to be told it was 4 grand! No chance of my (now) DH paying that much! But a few weeks later the jewellers had a sale and we got the very same ring for 2 grand instead. A lot of money still, and I'd never have demanded that amount of money be spent, but it was platinum and a near flawless diamond so I feel that we were getting a high quality ring for the money spent. Platinum doesn't need to be replated like other metals so for us it meant spending more now to not have to spend money replating it every few years.
I have some of my nans rings also - now she was someone to only ever insist on the best from my grandad - and I have to admit that part of the appeal of spending a bit more on a ring means it will still look good in however many years when it gets handed down to my children/grandkids. Saying all that though, my nans rings could cost pennies and they'd still be priceless to me because they were hers.

My ring was just over £4K (diamond solitaire).

However, I didn't get it when we got engaged. I didn't want one then.

I had a wedding band with diamonds in it.

10 years later and DH asked if I wanted an eternity ring to celebrate our anniversary and I decided I finally fancied a belated engagement ring .

We went to choose it together and had no particular budget in mind tbh.

I certainly wasn't after the "biggest" or most "flashy" ring money could buy.

If the ring I liked had been £500 then that's what I would have chosen.

The one we both liked best wasn't what I'd anticipated getting (it's a square cut) but it sat beautifully with my wedding ring and I still love it.

@spanishwife Fri 24-May-19 11:07:40
I feel the same about wedding dresses, why do girls who wear matalan and tesco clothes suddenly get a £2k dress?!

Wtf. So because people shop modestly or cheaply the rest of the time, they shouldn't push the boat out on a once in a lifetime item? Snobby much?

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

But Matalan and Tesco don’t sell wedding dresses! They’d probably do a roaring trade if they did!

Mine was about 1.2k however it was reduced from around 3k! I love it! I didn’t expect dh to spend that much. And he got a bargain.

It’s been valued around 5k.

Mine was 2nd hand, I love older styled rings and didn't want a standard shiny solitaire, it cost £750.
A few years later I took it to have it cleaned and the jeweller said I needed to get it insured because it's apparently a really good main diamond and worth over 5k.

I wish I didn't know though because I now worry about it getting damaged or lost, it took the shine off it a bit.

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

So, because someone can't afford to wear designer every day, they shouldn't wear designer for their wedding? Like it's some sort of club?

Mine was 4k, a tanzanite halo ring surrounded by diamonds with a diamond band. I love it so much because it's beautiful, not cos of the value but I would have been disappointed with a cheap ring.

This is mine. It's my 3rd one, I've got a cheap solitaire from the weekend we got engaged, a 1.5ct solitaire and then I saw this and loved it. Being expensive wasn't a factor in any of them.

@Sparklyring

Ooh, please show us a photo! I love tanzanite!

I have a beautiful and expensive solitaire but more of its value is because of its colour and clarity rather than the carat size. A massive diamond solitaire is not necessarily more expensive that one half the size.

My engagement ring way about £130 from Ernest Jones in 1996.

I'm now divorced but if I got married again the style would be far more important than the cost. I love trilogy rings or would give possibly give an engagement ring a miss and have a more elaborate wedding ring...a 3 colour diamond set Russian wedding ring would be my ideal have clearly given this far too much thought for someone who hasn't even been on a date since getting divorced 3 years ago!

wheresmymojo your ring is absolutely beautiful and the kind of thing I'd like if I got married again. Is the centre stone sapphire or tanzanite?

My engagement ring is dimante and sapphire. It think it cost £200? We bought it while we were abroad and I was more concerned about choosing something sentimental than bankrupting my (then apprentice) DH. We're more comfortable now but wouldn't swap it for anything.

Your friend is right about not buying on the high street, the mark up is ridiculously and you get far more for your money by buying either secondhand or having one made to order in Hatton garden.

Also De Beers did t just come up with how much it should cost but the fa t it "should" be a diamond. Pure marketing.

DH wanted me to choose mine after he proposed (probably a good thing as our taste differs somewhat) he had a budget of £300.
I wanted platinum so I didn't have to worry about re coating it, and a single diamond as I'm not keen on clusters. Our budget didn't stretch that far so I got one second hand online.
It didn't bother me at all. The only thing I'd change in hindsight is I'd try different styles on in real life before buying online. I also wish I'd gone to Hatton garden or the jewellery quarter for it and seen a few in real life and had the whole engagement ring shopping experience.

If thats all shes botherd about then i feel sorry for her dh to be-Mine cost about 500 picked it myself didnt feel right spending anymore than that

My ring was £200. We went to buy it together when we decided to get engaged. It’s white gold with three tiny diamonds and it’s absolutely perfect (I say that. I think I’ve lost it.)

My engagement ring was £149 and is a sterling silver small diamond ring. My wedding ring is £32 from Amazon - also silver with tanazanite stones.

It's not about the cost, she's incredibly shallow

I can understand what people are saying about if DP can afford more then it's a bit cheeky to only get a cheapo ring.

But personally I just feel a bit 'meh' about spending a lot of money on engagement rings, weddings etc. A lot of our friends got married around the same time as we did, spent a lot more money than we did and their marriage hasn't gone on to pass the test of time.

And to the person who said about buying expensive wedding dresses when you usually wear cheap clothes. My parents paid for my wedding dress. They wanted me to have something special. I very much doubt my parents would subsidise designer clothes for me for the rest of my life.

@spanishwife gosh that's such a condescending and supercilious thing to say.

Marriage is one of the biggest commitments in life.
Every nice person in the world deserves what they would like in life at some point. In my eyes an engagement and wedding being one of them.
An engagement and wedding ring that can be then handed down for generations to come, no matter how much it's worth.
If a couple don't have loads of money (like you make it perfectly clear you do 🙄) and choose to save for something that will last not only their lifetime, but their children's and so on..who are you to judge?

You sound very snobby and superior!

@FunInTheSun2019

Budgets and how much money you have to spare on non essential items like jewellery is wholly relevant in this discussion.

I said clearly in my post that my view was that if you had to suffer in order to pay for it, it's not worth it and it's really just down to your circumstances, lifestyle, tastes... I shared my views in relation to my circumstances. I'm not the only person on this thread to have an expensive ring. That's not snobby, sorry you inferred it that way.

I don't have an engagement ring or a wedding ring. My partner and I got married eighteen years back. I don't like rings - and perhaps I have a vague idea that they're also a symbol of being owned. (Probably okay when both partners wear similar rings.)

Excuse the wrinkly fingers. Mine was made for me (as was my wedding ring) 12 years ago. Platinum with 1.5 ct of diamonds. It cost £2500 at the time, valued about £5K to replace by insurance. I said I'd like a trilogy but didn't put a price on it and DH worked with the jeweller and agreed on the fairly classic (I think) style.

@keepingbees

I went to Hatton garden and felt it was really depressing so don't feel you missed out!

I fancied an emerald cut cut and having asked budget the jeweller brought out a tray with 8 loose stones raging from about 1.4 - 2.8 carat and then pointed at the stone that matched budget

We tried a couple of stores in case that was a rogue and all the same.

Eventually we went to an antique jewels which had a window crammed full of beautiful rings but I saw mine immediately. It was a 2.1 carat ascher which I thought was most beautiful ring I'd ever seen!

It's true we might have got a bigger/better stone but it was a conveyer belt.