sanigene

I’m getting to the point where I’m going to propose to my girlfriend (been together for almost 6 years) and I was wondering how much should a guy spend on a ring. I think I heard in the past that you should spend around 3 months salary worth, but I don’t know if that still holds true today. Shes not very materialistic and doest wear a lot of jewelry as it is. She hates gold so it would be white gold or silver. And she loves blue. So I was thinking maybe a decent diamond (1 karat??? ) with a blue gemstone on either side of it. I just don’t really know anything about these things and don’t want to get ripped off by a greedy sketchy jeweler. I can spend about $1200 now but I can go higher if I save up more over the next 2-3 weeks.

03-accent-03

3 months salary... f*ck that... Buy something nice.



Anything over .5 carat gets really expensive if you want something clear of inclusions / colorless.

i8acobra

I've always thought I'd propose with a small CZ ring, then go with my girl to the jewelry store to pick out something she likes.

pas1216

That is a GREAT idea. Buy a cheap $100 ring from a mall jewelry store and then go let her pick out the one she likes after. Not too sure if SHE would agree it's a good idea though.



When I proposed I had a ring custom made, using diamonds from a family air loom. I added more diamonds as well. Total cost when said and done was a little over 2K. I kept the ring small in size because she's a petite woman with small hands. I got lucky and she LOVED it.



When we got married/eloped, I surprised her (she didn't know about the wedding, we were in the Caribbean) with a wedding band and told her we were getting married on Wednesday (it was Monday at the time). She hated the ring I picked out. LOL! I told her no prob and we went and switched it out for something she liked. She felt bad, but I told her I would rather she have/wear something she likes, than wear something she hates, to avoid hurting my feelings.



You might want to throw out some subtle questions about what she likes when it comes to jewelry? Maybe accidentally visit a jewelry store in a mall to get an idea what she likes or dis-likes? Talk to her friends and family? Or just go out and buy a nice ring and hope for the best?



Whatever you do, good luck.

StrikeEagle

Depends on her hand size. Does she have bigger hands or larger fingers? Then you'll probably need a bigger diamond. My wife has pretty petite hands and works a lot with her hands (dental hygiene), so didn't want a huge diamond. So I ended up getting a 1/3 carat center diamond, then 3 small diamonds on either side. Then her matching wedding band had 7 diamonds as well, all totaled was just shy of 1 carat, and made for a super sparkly finger.



It also depends on what she wants - if she's not huge on jewelry, then probably even under 1/2ct would be perfect. I do like the idea of having 2 blue gemstones but I'm partial... Blue's my favorite color too.





Shameless self-plug - when you start wedding planning, my wife and I do wedding photography! We love to travel and would be honored to shoot your wedding! www.joelandamberphotography.com

majik

It's a one time investment that should (hopefully) last for an entire lifetime. I understand that she's not very materialistic, but that may not come into play with the typical girls "dream" of wedding, flowers, ring, etc. A coworker of mine doesn't wear hardly any jewelry, but her boyfriend just bought her a $1,200 watch and she wears it religiously - she loves it (even though she never wears watches) because he gave it to her.



$1,200 won't buy a very nice 1 carat ring. A 1 carat stone will cost more than a 3/4 with two smaller 1/8 diamonds on each side (1ctw.)



Gold is at an all time high, has been for several months. Platinum is usually more expensive than gold, but might be more comparable right now since gold is so high. Maybe not, maybe platinum prices increased along side gold. Research the pros/cons to platinum. There are a few both ways.



I personally don't like the blue stone idea. Sapphires would work, but I'm more traditional and wanted diamonds. The blue stones may bring more attention to the center stone, though. It's important to gauge what she likes. My wife and I dated for ~6 years before I proposed. It was inevitable, so we weren't shy about "ring shopping" well before I proposed, so I had a good idea of what she wanted.



I personally like princess cut or round cut most, but I chose round because it tends to have more fire/sparkle. I found a good quality center stone, the sizes I wanted, and I then decided based solely on looks. I wanted something with that fire and sparkle. Just because it's a higher rating doesn't mean it has the LOOK of a higher rating. I wanted to see the colors sparkle, and 6 years later I can still see it blinging across a room, even though her center stone is only 3/4 carat.



3 months income is a good benchmark, but if you can spring for more, do it. It's something she'll wear every day for (hopefully) the next 60 years. The usefulness of $1,500 vs. $4,000 spread over 60 years is insignificant. Also, consider your income. I don't know your situation, but if you're an intern making $10/hr. but expect to be making $20/hr. at the time of graduation, you may want to go a little higher than current income. If you're FT and making $30k and don't see anything more in your near future, aside from a 3% raise, then use your current income.



scenario: if you were buying a car that you'd use every day for the next 60 years, would you spend a little more to get something much nicer?



Awesome idea. But, depends on the girl. I tried to get my wife to trade hers in for a larger ring. What girl wouldn't? That's like denying a free LSx swap in a Genesis. BUT, she said she wanted to keep the ring I gave her, because that's the one I originally gave her and it reminds her of the time we spent dating. oh well, I guess i'll just HAVE to spend that money on my car now.



Even if she hated the ring, she's the type of person who wouldn't tell me and would just live with it for the rest of her life.





This is similar to the ring I bought my wife, but with round stones and different size stones. She picked out the band to match

http://www.helzberg.com/product/1ct+...by=newArrivals

pnutkitten

Princess cut solitaire. Wedding band with diamonds and sapphires alternating.



Its not all about size, a clearer cut smaller diamond will have more sparkle than a larger one that is poorly cut.



I would budget around 2k. Also, if you like nontraditional, go to Kay's and look at LeVian's... they have a lot of blue.

Visionz

Looked into Yehuda diamonds also if you want to save some money....



http://www.yehuda.com/

nos4atu

Dood, seriously, diamond nexus labs. Check it out.

Stocker

Blood diamonds. Buy Cubic Zirconia if you think it might fly.



We spent maybe $1000 total between our 3 rings and we're happy. . . and two of those had little diamonds in 'em (not mine).