AIBU to lust after the big shiny diamond rings?

[Beaverfeaver]

Me and OH got engaged May 2010. I have a gorgeous ring which is full of historic sentimental value to me and I love it.

But... I have only just in the last few months started noticing other ladies engagement rings and how big and sparkly they all are and it has made me feel a bit self concious of my ring which now seems a tad on the small side.

Me and OH were on holiday last week and he took me into a Tiffany store (I think I was magpie in a previous life and just love window shopping). And the lady starts getting out all the gorgeous and sparkly diamond engagement rings. Smallest was 0.5 carat which is much bigger than mine, but I also tried on a 1 carat too.

We were both amazed by the sparkle of these rings and they really were lovely and as we were walking out of the shop my OH tells me that one day he will get me one when he can afford one.
I told him not to be so silly and that I could never replace the ing I have now.

But am I vein unreasonable for secretly wishing that maybe one day I will own a ring like that?

I know OH really wanted to get me something a bit bigger when we got engaged but we ha jast bought a house and it would have been sillyto spend lots, so I worry that he thinks I am disappointed with it

Diddle - I will never stop wearing my current ring, so not looking for something to replace it. Just want big sparkles for going out with sometimes

I will be wearing it on my right hand as I don't fancy stacking some huge diamonique sparkler on top of my classic 1920's engagement ring.

I think that would look a bit silly

"I will never stop wearing my current ring, so not looking for something to replace it. Just want big sparkles for going out with sometimes"

Missed that, sorry!

at the risk of upsetting everyone here , could you please make sure that however big your diamond is that is has been ethically sourced

I would also recommend Diamonique, from QVC, only a jeweler can tell the difference.

I took one of mine in to get re-sized and the jeweler was very impressed and without the looking glass thing said that no one would be able to tell that it wasn't a diamond.

A very well off woman, my SIL knows had me order stuff for her to be sent to mine, so she could pass them off as diamonds and no one ever knew the difference, even though the women she mixes with are all rich and buy diamonds from all over the world.

Oh look here is a rare Sun Drop diamond up for auction on 15 Novemebr. Only $11 -15 million.

I'm probably a bit puritanical but I disapprove strongly of uptrading engagement rings. The ring you get engaged with is a mark of who you were and where you were in life at the time you got engaged.

Friends of my parents went on to become astoundingly successful (ie never out of business pages) yet she still has her teeny tiny little engagement ring. It does however sit next to a very sparkly eternity ring.

I've been looking at engagement rings. After much trying on I have come to the conclusion that some stones can be too big. My OH is much relieved that his equivalent to X months salary ballpark is way over budget so for once in my life I'm going to be a cheap date!

PS: I missed that you were looking just for a sparkly ring not a replacement engagement ring. TBH if you can afford it as a family go for it!

My original engagement ring was small and cost very little. Dh bought me a huge diamond solitaire for our fifth wedding anniversary and it's beautiful but a part of me still hankers after the one in the drawer because it meant so much and reminds me of that happy time (not that I'm unhappy now, but it was all so new and exciting then).

A be careful what you wish for anecdote

Paula Agree completely, though the whole diamond industry is pretty corrupt currently so even with ethical sourcing documentation there can be moral problems. I go for decorative etching over gemstones any day.

Wot PaulaMummyKnowsBest says. You really don't want to haunted by the thought your beautiful sparkly engagement ring that symbolises your most precious feelings for your DH is actually a blood diamond, bought at cost of the rape and murder of women and men in Congo and Zimbabwe, by militias fighting over control of the diamond fields.

Please ask your jeweller if your diamonds are certified by the Kimberley Process. The KP isn't perfect, but at the moment most customers don't even ask, and jewellers feel there's no pressure to care about the origin of their diamonds.

www.echinastone.com/

Not diamonds but beautiful cheap sparkly stones :o

This is where Dh got the sapphires for my engagement ring and a beautiful pendant he had made for me at the same time

The jeweler who set them for him told him they were the nicest sapphires hed seen in years :o

Moissanite is a fabulous idea. It may look like diamond but it's created rather than mined and so has none of the usual ethical worries a diamond has. It is also much cheaper than diamond.

I have a moissanite ring. For ethical reasons.

It looks amazing - like a top-quality diamond. It was a tenth of the price of a diamond and when we had it resized the jeweller (in hatton garden no less), thought it was a real diamond and was amazed when we told him otherwise.

I now have a moissanite eternity ring and earrings - all in palladium which looks just like platinum but is cheaper. Stunning. I get mine from www.moissaniteco.com who have a great selection and the prices make the shipping to the uk worthwhile (I once returned a piece and that went fine too)

All the diamonique I've seen/owned has been quite obviously costume though, it's the faceting - and the settings, to be fair. But you can get a nice ring set with CZs (which is what diamonique are), at lots of places, then just replace the CZ when it gets scratched/chipped.

Make sure you clean it regularly, to keep it sparkly. (good tip - put in the pressured steam from a coffee machine and then wipe with clean cloth. don't burn yourself.... I thread mine onto a spoon)

If you're in the UK, Boodles is a million times better than Tiffany.

And don't forget man-made diamonds - e.g., secrets-shhh.com Does what it says on the tin - diamonds are man-made and are FLAWLESS therefore very very sparkly, and set in precious metals. So, still not cheap, but much cheaper than natural diamond.

Forgot to say - clear benefit of man-made is the ethical side.

I am going to say to dp that if he must buy a ring it will need to be a fake. Is mossanite a better option then?

Sorry am on iPad , moissanite.

moissanite is much better than cz. Harder, looks much more realistic. Doesn't get dull/scratched. Is a bit more expensive but over the life of a ring that's not such a big deal.

Other options might be white sapphire (duller than diamond though), and I've always liked aquamarine which is another pale clear stone (pale blue though).

I lived in the USA for a while and maybe it was just that city but there was a lot of BIG BLING ON SHOW at all income ranges. My moissanite (three-stone ring, this one in fact), looks like a best-quality diamond and isn't so big it looks fake - and the setting is a 'real' jewellery one not super-thin or silver.

I have real diamond too (inherited), and prefer the moissanite.

I have a lovely blingy diamonique ring I wear sometimes though