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Engagement Rings

I mean it in the "you're just throwing money away" counterpoint. When you die, it's still a valuable asset to pass on to your children, you can use jewelry as collateral to secure a loan if needed at some point, etc In other words, there's a lot of worse things in the world to spend a chunk of change on than jewelry.

And of course it's consumption. It's a relatively new concept (diamond rings for engagement really aren't started becoming popular in America in the late '20s and '30s) that people feel "forced" into doing by tradition. So look at it sensibly, like all of marriage and it's related trappings.

OK cool. I thought that's what you might have meant. I definitely agree that it could be valuable as something to pass down; TeacherFianceeDeac's ring has my great-grandmother's diamond. I am just super nitty about slinging the i-word around.
 
Don't buy from a mall store, go online and you can save so much. Here are some good retailers:
Good Old Gold http://www.goodoldgold.com/
Whiteflash http://www.whiteflash.com
Brian Gavin Diamonds http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/

Get an ideal cut Hearts & Arrow round and it will look big with great light performance.
This message board is a better place to talk to people about engagement rings:
http://www.pricescope.com

Its a real shame you didn't do this 6 months ago, diamond prices just went up 20%.

This. I used Good Old Gold and got an extremely high quality ideal cut Hearts & Arrows round that she still gets comments on 7 years later because it throws light all over the room. And I paid a helluva lot less than the numbers being thrown around on here.

One key is to get the diamond and the setting separate from each other and from two different places, for a couple of reasons. First is that you can then get the diamond accurately appraised to both make sure you didn't get ripped off and so that it can be properly valued for insurance purposes. Second is so that they can do the laser engraving while you have it out, which can then be double-checked after it goes in the setting. The diamond looks so different in the setting anyway, most people wouldn't notice if it got swapped out for some garbage in the process. Jewelry salespeople are generally car salesmen who couldn't hack it - do you trust them? Third, the setting by itself is relatively cheap, so you can avoid some of the joint markup.
 
Wow, I've almost exclusively dated girls with much higher expectations than the girls on this board. I will likely give a 3.0 carat diamond when the time comes.
 
Yumm!


My mom doesn't have an engagement ring. I guess my dad didn't really propose, it was more like, "wanna just get married?" "k, cool".

She should have at least held out for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Also, my fiance's engagement ring was significantly more than 6-7000, but I don't feel bad about it. We are a dual income, no kids house with no plans to have children. I can build the money I dropped on her ring back up in plenty of time to blow it all again on the wedding/honeymoon. :wtf:

Seriously though, iirc hers is a 1.31 carat, G color, VVS2 clarity, signature ideal cut round diamond in a 5/8 carat sidestone platinum setting. I would hate for her to lose it but it's insured, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. She wears hers pretty much everywhere, just not to the beach and stuff.

Also, she never asked for a big crazy ring, and she always leaned more toward quality than quantity. With that said, the ring is not ostentatiously big and looks good on her.

Like others on here have said, I would just set a budget you're comfortable with and stick to it. That's what I did, and I came in just under my set budget and got exactly what I was looking for. Just do your research, like any other shopping endeavor, and you'll be fine. With that said, if you cannot afford to spend 15k, then absolutely don't do it. It's not worth going into significant debt for it when you can just get a better ring later, if you even want to at that point.
 
I remember when my wife and I were dating she said she thought spending a ton of money on a rock some poor African slave dug out of the dirt seemed silly. But she did want one, just a little one.

So I spent $2500 total on the setting and diamond (.9 carats) at CMI in Raleigh. I swear, that place must be selling CZ because it's crazy cheap. If you can get there, go see Keith and he'll hook you up.

Anyhow, about 3 years into our marriage my wife lost the diamond, and neither of us have ever cared to replace it.

This is similar to my situation. If I had spent a lot of $ on her engagement, she would have been pissed. As it was, my mom had given my her ring. I actually kept the setting b/c my wife liked it (it's a round cut stone, but setting is kind of boxy, so it looks like it's a princess cut) and replaced the shank. The ring broke, and since the setting is a pretty vintage setting, I'd have to pay to have the ring replicated/custom made - again, something that my wife would be more pissed if I spent the money on that than not having a ring. So she just wears her wedding ring around (and has for over 5 years). We'll probably never be in a position to have enough extra money to custom make a ring, but maybe one day.
 
I definitely spent more than I had budgeted. Remember that there will be tax, service plans, and setting costs that add up.

Do you have to get a separate rider on your insurance policy for an engagement ring? I bumped up the coverage amt for jewelry, but now I'm realizing that I probably need to do more than that.
 
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I definitely spent more than I had budgeted. Remember that there will be tax, service plans, and setting costs the add up.

Do you have to get a separate rider on your insurance policy for an engagement ring? I bumped up the coverage amt for jewelry, but now I'm realizing that I probably need to do more than that.

I have a separate policy for my ring, but I know people who have it as a rider on their homeowners. I would absolutely get a rider or a separate policy.
 
Do you have to get a separate rider on your insurance policy for an engagement ring? I bumped up the coverage amt for jewelry, but now I'm realizing that I probably need to do more than that.

Yes. Mine is like an extra $6 a month.
 
I have a separate policy for my ring, but I know people who have it as a rider on their homeowners. I would absolutely get a rider or a separate policy.

I got a separate Valuable Personal Property policy in conjunction with my homeowners. Crazy cheap and gives you peace of mind should anything happen to the ring.
 
I got a separate Valuable Personal Property policy in conjunction with my homeowners. Crazy cheap and gives you peace of mind should anything happen to the ring.

this. I also added my wedding band, matt's wedding band and several other very nice family heirloom pieces to it.
 
Wow, I've almost exclusively dated girls with much higher expectations than the girls on this board. I will likely give a 3.0 carat diamond when the time comes.

Seriously. These must be the most low-maintenance girls around. The expectations I generally hear of are in the $15k-$25k range. Of course, these are the kinds of girls that can afford to buy their own ring.
 
Back to the OP:

Just so we're clear, Billy Mitchell: is this engagement ring for the same girl, who, just a few weeks ago, you contemplated cheating on with a co-worker and sought this board's advice?
 
Wow, I've almost exclusively dated girls with much higher expectations than the girls on this board. I will likely give a 3.0 carat diamond when the time comes.

I really don't care (if I ever get to the point where I'm ready to marry someone) if he gives me an engagement ring or not; I think I got in an argument on the old boards about this. My mom didn't have an engagement ring until a few years after she and dad were married, and the one she did end up getting is very modest, so that's probably part of the reason I feel this way. I'm not a huge jewelry person and would be fine with just wearing a wedding band, and I think that money could be better put toward other things when a couple is young and either doesn't have a lot saved up yet or is still paying off student loans, huge house payments, etc.

My 2 cents. :plos:
 
When did I contemplate cheating?

http://www.ogboards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788


I'm trying to decide whether a co-worker wants me to bone her. I'm leaning towards no (I wouldn't be interested in doing it regardless), but I figure an office boning story thread could be fun.

Ahh, I see. I think based on a lot of the responses I misunderstood your intent with this thread. I thought it was more along the lines of "should I do this for the benefit of the Pit's entertainment." Glad that's not what you meant.
 
I just did the entire process of getting an engagement ring, and I found it was a lot more work that I thought it would be. The research behind figuring out what I wanted from a diamond took a lot of time and then going to look at the diamonds and the bands was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. I ended up getting it from the diamond district in NYC and spent less than I thought I would, and got the same ring I saw in Cartier for about a 1/3 of the price.
 
Agree that there's no "right" answer to what is the proper engagement ring. Except maybe, "It depends".

I did enjoy shopping for my (now) wife's ring. Ended up purchasing a "zero" or "ideal" brilliant (round) cut diamond of slightly > 1 carat.

It may just be because that's what I purchased, but I really like the round/brilliant cut far above others. And I agree with the person that suggested that the cut is more important (to a point) than the other qualities of the diamond.

Anyhow, try not to worry and just find something you like and that you think your (future) wife will like. And enjoy the moment...
 
My gf (soon to be fiancee) is 5'3" with pretty small hands so she wanted a fairly small diamond 1 karat or less. She also said she cared a lot more about the quality of the diamond and how it looked on her finger compared to size or $. The one she essentially picked was actually less than what I was expecting (around 4k). As has been stated a lot here though, I think it all depends on the girl.
 
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