How much did you spend on your engagement ring?

#106
God, why must diamonds be so expensive?!

I am totally game for the eternity and plain band route just because of my personality, preferences, and lifestyle. Went in with my sister today to have screw backs put on her graduation present (pave diamond studs) and this vintage emerald cut with baguette sides caught my eye... Of course I wanted to try it on because it was TDF and I thought what the hell I won't love it on, it has nothing I'm really looking for in a ring besides low profile (even then that's stretching it). What do you know... I fell in love with it. $9750. That's almost double what I would ever feel comfortable asking of my SO at this time (and for a good long while for that matter)! I could have kicked myself I knew I was being so dumb. As beautiful as it was on and in general, I'm glad my sister didn't think it look like "me"-- a lot easier to part with the idea of making it happen after that.

Have any of you all had that happen... family members or friends don't think a ring that you love looks like "you"? Did it deter you from getting that ring and lead to finding the truly perfect one, etc? Just out of curiosity! :smile:
 
#111
burberryprncess said:
I don't follow this. Can you elaborate?
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I will do my best :smile:

When I looked around for my WG diamond band two jewellers told me that I should take care about the setting and the profile if I plan to stack the ring with any other ring.

I knew what they were talking about because my mother had a problem with her e-ring (prong setting) and her plain YG wedding band. She lost a stone of her e-ring - one of the prongs broke because the part of the ring below the prong had been like "eroded" due to every day usage over the years.

If you want to stack with another band you can try to avoid that and propabaly select a higher profile. Like this one (I just picked randomly a website): http://www.rcjewelry.com/Product/Shared-Prong-Diamond-Wedding-Ring-Band-in-14K-White-Gold-69676.aspx

Hope this makes sense.
 
#112
Interesting thread...a lot of posters giving financial advice but very few people answering the OP's original question? I'm super intrigued as well because when I read the avg amount spent on engagement rings in America I was surprised it was so low relatively speaking? Something like $3600 which is wayyyy less than the average 2-3 months salary tradition.

My bf* spent less than two months salary on my ring because he wasn't comfortable with the tradition, he said if he gave me a budget he knew I'd bump against it just because I could or go over heaven forbid lol. So I went in with no real budget, but common sense, and worked with a local jeweler to source in the perfect conflict free (as I was assured) stone for the setting I selected and when he wrote down the price, I was wellll under what my bf imagined I'd spend so that worked out fine I suppose. I'd feel very gaudy saying the final price now because I figured, this is tpf where women spend thousands on bags and shoes so I thought I'd see some numbers that would make my jaw drop when it comes to, arguably, the most important piece of jewelry a woman will ever own!

*still bf. he's picking the ring up today to stowaway will probably propose in late summer, early fall I hope lol
 
#113
These figures are pretty irrelevant because they're from 23+ years ago, but when we bought my engagement ring I did it at a jeweler where I could trade up any jewelry item. I had a diamond tennis bracelet that I was tired of, so we traded that in, and probably paid about $1500 extra for the ring. I believe the ring was around $4k with a 1 carat center stone and 2 side stones at a half carat each.

I loved the ring at the time but have since upgraded twice. No sentimental attachment obviously.
 
#115
The average US *household* income is 44k, which comes to around $2,500 a month after taxes. For a couple making this to spend $5,000-$7,500 on a ring is batty, especially when you consider the average U.S. household credit card debt of 6k. And "average" means that millions of households make less; we're a country where 1 in 5 children live below the poverty line. Advertising sells fantasies, and chief among them is the fantasy that Buying stuff=happiness and self-worth.
 
#116
Bitten said:
A chic diamond eternity band is TDF and I would wholeheartedly recommend :yes: :tup:

DF and I were looking at rings for a little while and we probably would have gone the diamond band route because we just could not find anything we really liked (neither of us really had any idea of what we wanted, we just kept finding things we didn't like!)

However, just when we had both decided we were not interested in going any further, my lovely mother gave us a stunning 1.5ct solitaire from her own collection as a gift, that we had set very simply in a WG, 4-claw setting with a very thin, tapered band.

If she hadn't intervened, I would have gone with something like the T&Co channel band that Ame has :drool:
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Aww thanks :smile:

I think there's been some pretty great advice shared.
 
#117
ChocoAvantGarde said:
Interesting thread...a lot of posters giving financial advice but very few people answering the OP's original question? I'm super intrigued as well because when I read the avg amount spent on engagement rings in America I was surprised it was so low relatively speaking? Something like $3600 which is wayyyy less than the average 2-3 months salary tradition.

My bf* spent less than two months salary on my ring because he wasn't comfortable with the tradition, he said if he gave me a budget he knew I'd bump against it just because I could or go over heaven forbid lol. So I went in with no real budget, but common sense, and worked with a local jeweler to source in the perfect conflict free (as I was assured) stone for the setting I selected and when he wrote down the price, I was wellll under what my bf imagined I'd spend so that worked out fine I suppose. I'd feel very gaudy saying the final price now because I figured, this is tpf where women spend thousands on bags and shoes so I thought I'd see some numbers that would make my jaw drop when it comes to, arguably, the most important piece of jewelry a woman will ever own!

*still bf. he's picking the ring up today to stowaway will probably propose in late summer, early fall I hope lol
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Well what we spent on the ring then is now less than 1% of our net worth now. You don't have to assume ladies that the engagement ring is the *most* important, be all end all piece of jewelry that you will ever receive. Just like people who make their wedding day the *most* important day of their lives. This kind of pressure IMO is the reason we see so much debt and it also puts unrealistic expectations on everything and make it hard for people to build real wealth.

So I think you were smart not to get caught up in the hype. Enjoy your ring! You're brave to go custom, I always want to have a custom ring but then chicken out!!
 
#119
LeeMiller said:
Well what we spent on the ring then is now less than 1% of our net worth now. You don't have to assume ladies that the engagement ring is the *most* important, be all end all piece of jewelry that you will ever receive. Just like people who make their wedding day the *most* important day of their lives. This kind of pressure IMO is the reason we see so much debt and it also puts unrealistic expectations on everything and make it hard for people to build real wealth.

So I think you were smart not to get caught up in the hype. Enjoy your ring! You're brave to go custom, I always want to have a custom ring but then chicken out!!
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I guess I sometimes think of it as the most important piece because it's the only one I'd wear every day. I switch earrings, watches, bracelets, etc almost daily but it'll be the constant and it's a symbol more than anything. By that line of thought, I guess your wedding band is too the most important piece. I'm probably a bad person to judge I said the same thing about my cotillion necklace...then my class ring, promise ring from college sweetheart lol! Clearly I have no jewelry loyalty and a short memory!
 
#120
advokaitplm said:
Have any of you all had that happen... family members or friends don't think a ring that you love looks like "you"? Did it deter you from getting that ring and lead to finding the truly perfect one, etc? Just out of curiosity! :smile:
Click to expand...

Yes - DF and I were originally looking at a fancy intense yellow pear around 2ct, to set in WG with a tiny white diamond halo - but my jeweller couldn't find any yellow pears that really shone, so we were getting a bit bummed about the delay which is when my mother gave us a round brilliant diamond that she'd had for years and never actually had set.

I've never seen myself as a RB solitaire e-ring girl - I wear all sorts of rings on my left hand and I said to DF eh, not that fussed on the whole e-ring thing as I still want to be able to wear my existing collection sometimes. He said "That's nice. And I'm the sort of man who thinks when you ask a woman to share your life with you, you give her this ring as a token of your commitment for her to show the world."

Have to admit, I was a little taken aback - a man, having an opinion about engagement rings beyond cost and the 4 C's??? :wtf: :biggrin: But, because we're in a grown-up relationship and sometimes I can't just call him a stupid-head because I don't agree with his opinion, I conceded the point :P And he's happy if I wear my other rings sometimes :cool:

But we really had no ideas beyond the fact that he wanted to give me one and I hadn't ever really thought about it. I saw an amazing pear with halo on a Tiffany ad and that's where we started.

When my mother heard, she just shook her head and then the next week she gave DF the diamond and said, don't put stuff all around it - a beautiful diamond can stand on its own - I wanted tapered baguette shoulders (kind of like Cartier) but my mum AND my sister both said nope - so it became a really simple solitaire. And I completely adore it :biggrin:
 
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