Engagement Rings

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

After the engagement, she'll turn into Bridezilla anyways, and insist on micro-managing everything, including the wedding ring.

Yikes!

We're not all like that. I promise you, there actually are sane, sensible, considerate women in the world!

[lrjohnson]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

After the engagement, she'll turn into Bridezilla anyways, and insist on micro-managing everything, including the wedding ring. That's when you can pour your money into her wedding ring as she drags er takes you to her favorite jewelry stores to go shopping.

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

I tell ya, when it comes to women and jewelry, you just can't win. Might as well wrap up your credit card in a ribbon and just give her that instead.

Can you calm it down on the generalities?

[Broken Arrow]

Oops. Guess I got carried away.

No, I don't think women are all like that. It was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

[lrjohnson]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

Oops. Guess I got carried away.

The first crack was a freebie.

[Broken Arrow]

I apologize if I have offended anyone.

[Jacklad]

Another thing to consider is whether she wants a diamond at all. I've always found diamonds to be no big deal, and not particularly attractive. When hubby and I got engaged, he gave me his signet ring to wear until we could choose the real thing - and I chose a sapphire (well, it is flanked by two diamonds, but it's not a plain diamond ring). Worked for me - it's my birthstone, it's my favourite colour, and the setting was both plain enough and big enough to work with my large hands (a tiny solitaire would have looked silly).

Jackie

[budgetmom]

DH sent his mother asking me questions about her ring. Pumping me for info on what to get me. We were shopping for a new outfit for a fancy Valentine's dinner and she said that she was having some problems with the stones on hers. She also said that when they got married that they got what they could afford at the time, figuring they could upgrade in the future to something that she really wanted. She said that she was able to afford to get one now and asked me what I thought about I would want in a ring to give her some ideas. I am not a flashy person, so I said if it was me I would pick something small and that I would want a round cut so as not to end up scratching the babies with it orfaving it catch on everything. Some people have had good luck with other cuts not catching on things, but I used to have a marquee cut birth stone ring and I ruined more sweaters on it than I care to admit! DH proposed to me on Valentine's Day ( I was truely suprized, given all his previous commitment issues) with a simple round cut 1/4 c. dimond solitare with a white gold band. Perfect for me! When it came time to get the wedding rings we couldn't afford to get them because we were paying to put all the deposits and things down to live in a place together after our wedding. Sounds cheesy, but we went to WalMart and got the least expensive silver bands we could find. It matches my engagement ring well enough until we can afford to upgrade, maybe for anniversary gifts...

I'm glad that you have found the one for you, congrats! On a side note, though, I urge you to get premarital counceling even if your state doesn't require you to. It will help you both in understanding each others views regarding money, children, ect., all the little things often overlooked.

[kealina]

BA,
eh.... i'm not easily upset or offended so i didn't mind, but i do think pearlieq and irjohnson are right... there are lots of girls out there (especially on this site) who are nothing like that...

jacklad, i know what you mean... i like diamonds but sometimes i think people take it all a little too seriously... if i hadn't had connections (my aunt) that made it easier to get diamonds and if they weren't my birthstone i probably would have gone with an emerald or a sapphire... they're both so gorgeous...

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by budgetmom

I'm glad that you have found the one for you, congrats! On a side note, though, I urge you to get premarital counceling even if your state doesn't require you to. It will help you both in understanding each others views regarding money, children, ect., all the little things often overlooked.

This is such an important point that is getting overlooked in all this discussion about diamonds.

[joeswife]

ummm....my husband and i got a nice cz set for me. its a half caret middle cz flanked by 3 czs on the sides in a triangle pattern. the bands are white gold. i got them at walmart for less than 50 fot the both..the reason? i live on a farm and feed horses, throw hay and work with my hands. id flip if i lost an expencive ring. besides...diamonds dont make it any more "real". but thats only what worked for me. you may ask her what she would rather have...the ring, or something else. id rather have something else.

but..
congratulations and good luck. i hope you get the information you need.

[project15]

i spent about $1k on the one i got for my fiance. It's perfect for her and relatively affordable for me. I am financing it at 0% for a year just to add to my credit rating. It'll be paid off within the year anyways.

I got mine at Kay's Jewelers and bought the extended warranty with it which was a great investment choice in my opinion and didn't cost too much at all.

She sent me hints of the style of ring she wanted and then I chose my favorite of them. It didn't ruin the surprise for her at all since she didn't know when or which ring it would be.

[scfr]

Hey Roupey03 - If you are still reading after all of the crazy posts, you may want to check out Blue Nile, and on-line site that lets you custom-design rings. You don't necessarily have to buy a ring there, but you can get a lot of information to educate yourself before you go out shopping. [Go to http://www.bluenile.com/diamond_shap...c2m2&elem=copy to start by learning about shape, then study cut, color, clarity, weight, and certification.] Best to be informed before you step in to a jewelry store, or the sales people may start circling you like sharks. You can custom-design "dream rings" and compare what the same ring would cost with different quality grades or diamond sizes.

One more thing that I realize is pretty "out there" and not for everyone, but if the lucky bride-to-be is receptive to the idea, you could look in to buying second-hand. We (husband & I) bought nearly new Tiffany wedding bands from a gal who got divorced after only a few months of marriage. Retail for the 2 rings would have been $2,750, but we paid only $500. It hasn't jinxed us (well, at least not yet, knock wood). We've been married going on 14 years.

Good luck to you!

[abowers]

I just got a ring about a month ago! He proposed, then we picked out the band together, then he worked on the diamond details. My uncle owns an antique/jewelry store and I think he was able to sell my fiance the diamond at the price he gets them for.

[KellyJef]

My advice is to let your girlfriend pick out her own ring. I have a couple of friends who were "surprised" with rings that they absolutely hated

And, only one of them was able to be honest enough to admit to her fiance that she really didn't like the ring. Fortunately, his feelings were not hurt at all and he insisted that they exchange the ring for one that she would truly love wearing forever.

As someone else posted, most women have very strong tastes in the jewelry they prefer.

If money is an issue, I like the idea of choosing a few rings that she can choose from. My guess is that she will love one of them.