How much to spend on engagement ring?

Few rules of thumb:

It's about her showing off and you proving your worth. It's a contrivance, but still important.

Buy loose diamonds only, crap ones get preinstalled

The clearest diamond with a bad cut has no sparkle

Go for width, not height. Taller = more weight + more cost + more bulk with no extra sparkle. A wide 1.0 carat looks bigger than a skinny 1.2 carat while costing less.

Let her choose the setting, from the same or another shop. But make sure it's 4+ prongs.

Buy from a reputable wholesaler. DI is a good one:

http://www.diamondideals.com

Download and learn the geometry profiles, this is the best predictor of cut

Selected a 10k rock that appraises at tiffannys for double.

engagement ring

I love the look of the engagement ring, however, it is too small and will not fit my finger.

crzdcolombian said:

I just started looking and plan on doing the deed in the summer after I finish grad school. 3 months of salary for me is almost 20k. That would be insane to spend on a worthless rock that gives me no super powers. For that I want to be invisible or for it to have green lantern powers.

Went to Tiffany's and Jared but they are like 10k which is still crazy. Tho my friends who are engaged told me there are places in Boston you can get diamonds in whole sale prices. You are just paying for the brand name at the other 2.

Do you guys go with your girlfriend to find what she wants or just pic it? Seems anticlimactic to take her then ask.

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This. NYC also. Virtually all diamonds go through NYC, first stop coming into the country. Skip the middle men.

I had a budget of about 4K, that I was willing to spring for. PLENTY and not anywhere near 3mo salary. That was going to get a ring that looked like her Pinterest examples. Halo, pave, vintage style with a 0.6c diamond. Was going to run about $3800-4000 from Jared, Shaneco, etc.

Went to jeweler in little italy neighborhood. He laughed. For the same price he upgraded it to a full 1.02, GIA certificate and all. Appraised at 9k. Same cost to me.

The $300 roundtrip airfare to meet future mother-in-law (that she covered anyway with points) was well worth it. For her anyway, lol, didn't actually save me anything.

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My fiance had examples on Pinterest. We use Pinterest for everything. XMAS, BDays. Ongoing lists. Took one of the ring photos to jewelers and said match this style.

I also took her mother with me Her parents schemed good. She had no clue it was coming.

Menel said:

This. NYC also, little italy neighborhood. Virtually all diamonds go through NYC.

I had a budget of 4K, that I was willing to do.

That was going to get a ring that looked like her Pinterest examples. Halo, pave, vintage style with a 0.6c diamond. Was going to run about $3800-4000 from Jared, Shaneco, etc.

Went to jeweler in little italy. He laughed. He upgraded it to a full 1.01, GIA certificate and all. Appraised at 9k.

The $300 roundtrip airfair to meet future mother-in-law (that she covered anyway with points) was well worth it.

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Yes I asked her dad because he is old school before asking her. Then I purchased the ring of power. My family is Italian and I got the hook up with a guy in NYC that my godfather known for like 20 years. I went with her best friend and got it. Think I did a good job. The jeweler laughed and said anyone who goes to Jared is a sucker it was appraised for like over 10 grand, have insurance on it, have a Certificate for it too. Pretty happy with the experience. She obviously said yes and her family told me no trade backs so I guess I am stuck with her forever.

Myself, I've found pawnshops to be a good deal when it comes to engagement rings. You would be surprised at the rings that they have. I purchased a ring that was worth far more than I could afford at that time in my life by shopping in a pawnshop. I asked the owner if I could have it appraised, he photocopied my driver's license and let me do it. It was worth four times what he was asking.

Women love to show off their ring sets. While it doesn't really matter so much to guys… Ever notice how plain our bands generally are? It really matters to them. Make her proud to show it off.

Think I paid 3500 through one of my wife's connections. I didn't use a rule though, just paid what I thought I could afford.

I got the perfect ring for her and it cost $900. Go with whatever you feel is right, not based on how much it costs.

StephenCampbell said:

I got the perfect ring for her and it cost $900. Go with whatever you feel is right, not based on how much it costs.

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Where'd you end up buying? Any pics if I may be so bold?

MICHAELSD said:

Where'd you end up buying? Any pics if I may be so bold?

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It was Robbins Brothers. Just a classic Tiffany style ring with a 14k white gold band and a 1/3 carat diamond. I'll PM you a picture when I can, probably tomorrow afternoon.

StephenCampbell said:

It was Robbins Brothers. Just a classic Tiffany style ring with a 14k white gold band and a 1/3 carat diamond. I'll PM you a picture when I can, probably tomorrow afternoon.

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Don't worry about the picture; just interested for the sake of the thread. If you don't want it out in the open that's understandable.

She should love it!

The general "rule of thumb" I've always heard is two months salary. Not three. That sounds like what happened to the 15% tip rule of thumb somehow transmogrified into 20% tip standard.

Whether talking about number of months salary on a ring or percentage of a restaurant bill, they already have inflation built in!! There is no need to change these standards.

And they are both completely made up anyway.

thekb said:

The general "rule of thumb" I've always heard is two months salary. Not three. That sounds like what happened to the 15% tip rule of thumb somehow transmogrified into 20% tip standard.

Whether talking about number of months salary on a ring or percentage of a restaurant bill, they already have inflation built in!! There is no need to change these standards.

And they are both completely made up anyway.

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Yea tipping is annoying in big cities where meals are crazy. Tip is 18% required if you have a table of 6 or more I believe. My friends engagement party we paid 380 in TIP !!! WTF Did the 3 waiters do to warrant that. They didn't give us hand jobs or lap dances to cost that much. I mean the steak was good and everything but $380 in tip is just insane. Rent is expensive in NYC but if I made $380 on tip for 2 hours. I would totally switch careers

crzdcolombian said:

Yea tipping is annoying in big cities where meals are crazy. Tip is 18% required if you have a table of 6 or more I believe. My friends engagement party we paid 380 in TIP !!! WTF Did the 3 waiters do to warrant that. They didn't give us hand jobs or lap dances to cost that much. I mean the steak was good and everything but $380 in tip is just insane. Rent is expensive in NYC but if I made $380 on tip for 2 hours. I would totally switch careers

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Yes, 20% would have been required then.

crzdcolombian said:

Yea tipping is annoying in big cities where meals are crazy. Tip is 18% required if you have a table of 6 or more I believe. My friends engagement party we paid 380 in TIP !!! WTF Did the 3 waiters do to warrant that. They didn't give us hand jobs or lap dances to cost that much. I mean the steak was good and everything but $380 in tip is just insane. Rent is expensive in NYC but if I made $380 on tip for 2 hours. I would totally switch careers

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They share it with bussers, front-of-house, etc. Still, must be making a great salary at an upscale steakhouse.

It's all depending on how much you WANT to spend, but just be careful when you're buying. Sometimes Jewelers can and will set a high price tag for no reason. They will try to upsell you as high as they can, and just be wise about it. You shouldn't have to pay an extra $2000 just because they "say" that this diamond is such a better quality. If you think the ring is pretty, don't let them sweet talk you into buying something you dont need.

squeeks said:

I cant believe this thread is still active.

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7 years old...

Just watch this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5kWu1ifBGU

Old thread but since it got bumped:

Had wife's custom done, had her mother's ring, three diamonds. Kept one diamond for a necklace. The other two larger ones were old school miners cut and had been in fam for about 100 years. Shockingly super nice, even the appraiser and shop that did the work never saw miners cut that looked as nice as these did (usually their kinda cloudy looking and easily can see the cuts). So the one hard part was getting another diamond to match which took some time but they pulled it off as we wanted to do a 3 prong. And b/c of the custom design was hard getting the smaller diamonds that run down each side of the ring after the main ones. Had a couple designs she liked and went off that and kept adjusting. She thought I got off easy as I didn't have to buy a ring and only 1 diamond, little did she know that b/c it was custom, it costed over twice what a similar type of ring bought at a store would go for lol. Then I realized since it was custom I couldn't buy a normal wedding band, had to have one custom made to fit it.... more $$ lol.

But was well worth it, came out awesome and so unique and detailed.