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Well......the time has come....

Spunger

Spunger

Git yer dumb questions here
Feb 19, 2003
2,257
0
805
Yeah as the title says.......

My girlfriend started really bugging me about getting hitched. It's been 7 years so I guess it's time. She printed me out a slew of ring pictures which is great except they have no prices LOL. Hell at least things I print for her have prices...

So....I know by asking how much they cost is like opening a giant can of worms........so I'm gonna ask how much roughly (or exact) have you guys spend on the engagement ring? They one's she printed out for me have 2 rings (an engagement & wedding band I guess) but I'm smart enough to guess that just adds to the price. She knows I am not made out of money......and we've discussed having her assist in buying it if it's over what I can afford. I figured I have about $3500 that I feel comfortable in this.....anything over and she'll help out. I think she knows that's they only way she'll really get something she wants/likes.

We have some jewlery places here but they are for the rich and snobs of Santa Barbara. We walked into one place and there was a beetle covered in diamonds I think..........was close to $100k. We don't have the Crescent/Kay etc...type places that I know of. Though I don't think at those places they carry what I am looking for...

Just wondering...figured it wouldn't hurt any to ask :)
 
Broken_Spoke

Broken_Spoke

Mr. Big Hot Pastrami
Feb 26, 2003
2,410
0
Bozeman, MT
Out of the group of friends I grew up with and hung out with all except 2 are getting married and all paid about 2500-3000 for the wedding set
 
Ciaran

Ciaran

Fear my banana
Apr 5, 2004
9,839
15
So Cal
Since you are in SB, drive to the jewelry district in Downtown L.A. I am not kidding.... you will save HUNDREDS. There is no better place to go for jewelry on the west coast.

I spent under a G on my wifes engagement ring. Elsewhere I would have been looking at 2000 easy. It's not super big but we picked out high quality stones, particularly the sapphire, which is 1.03carats. The diamonds are .33 c each. The metal is white gold. She wanted a white metal, but didn't like platinum very much. (Go figure)

It's not a very good picture, but it's all I can find right now.


Her wedding band is more diamonds and sapphires, my band is sapphires only. Both in white gold. She also got her other wedding jewelry (necklace, earrings, pendant) in blue sapphires and diamonds to match. If you are interested I will PM you the name and address of my jeweler. After buying the wedding set, we get all our jewelry from them. We also take everything in once a year and they clean it all for us, free of charge.
 
littlemissmarz

littlemissmarz

Chimp
Mar 26, 2007
63
0
New Zealand
Ok speaking from a girls point of view ... general "rule" of thumb is girls expect you to spend 3 weeks to one months salary on a ring. Speaking in terms of someone who has a reasonably stable professional job. Usually that's minimum, but don't go too crazy. If she wants to send u bankrupt with the ring she's in it for the wrong reasons, lol.

They want to know you didn't go cheap on the ring ... but they also want you to not be stupid about it. I'd suggest getting her to show you some rings she likes so you get an idea of what she wants, but don't let her know how much you spend. Traditionally it should be the guy buying the ring, not splitting the cost. :-)
 
brungeman

brungeman

I give a shirt
Jan 17, 2006
5,170
0
da Burgh
first off... DON'T DO IT!

second... DON'T DO IT!

if you decide to go through with it, get yourself an education in the "4C's" of gem purchasing... it will pay dividends! make sure you use an "eyeloop" to look at every gem they show you... sometimes they look for a sucker to pawn off lesser quality stones on. If you at least ask for an eyeloop, and look through it, you may see them pull a different tray of stones which happened to me when I pointed out a large flaw in the stone the guy was showing me. He turned around and grabbed a different tray. At that point I was already to the point I was incensed that he would try to pull that, and I walked out the door. My mother who was with me still tells that story. We went to another shop and got a great deal.

As was stated... If she wants something that looks like a doorknob on her hand, and causes you to go bankrupt, she is in it for the wrong reasons! She will love anything you get her if it is similar to what she has suggested. Tell her "everytime I see your hand in my dreams... this is the ring I see on it" :thumb: she will love anything after that!
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,102
1,153
NC
3 weeks' salary? I don't think that's really a good rule to shop by... but the old rule of 3 months is, I think, on the high end. There's a big middle ground.

You should really know what kind of girl you've got and what she's going to expect or be happy with, and it's something we're not going to be able to tell you. There is jewelery for all budgets. Hell, a woman at my last job got a little, heart shaped ruby - no doubt purchased from JC Penny's - and was absolutely thrilled with it.

$3500 will buy you a very decent piece of jewelery. You can price rings out (stones along with settings - and you can include a wedding band) at www.bluenile.com. I wouldn't buy from them, but at least you can get an estimate. Only you know what she's going to be happy with. As brungeman said, though, if she wants you to spend 15 G's on a ring that makes her lean to the side, dump the broad ;)
 
Greyhound

Greyhound

Trail Rat
Jul 8, 2002
5,065
365
Alamance County, NC
You beat me to the Blue Nile link, Binary.......that's the route I went. I gave myself a personal cap of 2G's because we had a neat wedding planned where we rented a double-decker boat and took all our friends out for a sunset ceremony in front of the wild horse island on the coast here in NC. We dialed back the ring price so we could go hog-wild on the wedding. It just depends on your situation as to what you want to spend.

Remember, it's not the ring that makes the marriage work.
 
vinnycactus

vinnycactus

Monkey
May 27, 2004
639
73
Matthews, NC
one thing to take into consideration is how active your fiance is. my wife rides and is overall very active. she didn't want the big baby killer rock that could get snagged on things and wanted a ring she could wear all the time. so for an engagement ring I went with a diamond wedding band. 5 stones inset so no snagging. her ring is similar to this.


what helped me is that her aunt is a jeweler so I got a good deal.
 
I Are Baboon

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,442
9,534
MTB New England
I went to the NYC Diamond District to buy MBC her ring. I paid about half of what local jewelers were asking for a similar size/quality diamond (1.01 carat on platinum band). Make sure the diamond you buy is certified.
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
If you have $3500, you will be fine! I just got engaged not too long ago, I had a ring custom made, and it was a little less than that.

Blue Nile is a good place to look, I know a lot of friends that have gotten stuff from there.
 
peter6061

peter6061

Turbo Monkey
Nov 19, 2001
1,575
0
Kenmore, WA
I'm not by any means, "made of money", so when a co-worker of mine suggested Tiffany, I just laughed. She persisted and I laughed again. It took a few weeks of this before I finally agreed to go 'look'.

I got the BEST service and product selection compared to every other jewelry store I had been visiting. Most of the mall type stores and similar just see you as $$$. The service I got at Tiffany went well beyond what I would have expected given I was spending ~3000 on a ring. And everything they have is top-notch. They don't deal with stones under a certain level.

Because of their continuing service, we then bought our bands there, and it's the first (and last) place I go when looking for any nice piece of jewelry for my wife.

Sure, they can sell you a $100k necklace, but they are just as willing to sell you one for $1k. I have since been to stores in DC, Vegas, and Philley. I have received the same service in all stores (even when wearing ripped up jeans and an old bike race t-shirt.)

Good luck on your search. btw, we did not go with a traditional single stone ring, but a multi-stone platinum band as she likes to ride and was worried about losing the stone. Oh, and speaking of that, she DID lose a stone out of the ring. I took it back and they replaced it FREE. What other jewelry store would do that? And you don't have to take it in for cleanings to ensure a warranty. They cover their work, period.
 
brungeman

brungeman

I give a shirt
Jan 17, 2006
5,170
0
da Burgh
a few things I will add to my statement above... the 4 C's are tough to judge what is important... Color is important if you are getting a white gold or platinum ring. Cut is always important, if the cut sucks the ring will not sparkle... Clarity is important if you look at a ring and can visibly see a flaw with the naked eye, (it can really make the ring look cheap even if you did throw good money at the thing)... As for size (carat) the cut can make the stone look bigger, but the carat weigh has several price breaks... it goes up quite a bit from the 3/4 carat up to 1 carat.... and then just jumps outrageously past 1 carat...

I bought a diamond that was a round brilliant cut "ideal", VS1 clarity, color "G" and carat was .69, just under the 3/4 carat price jump. I got a simple platinum ring with solitaire setting. The price for everything was totaled up at ~ $3600. I pulled out cash, and the guy said "oh you are paying with cash? well let me see what I can do!!!" he turns around with a calculator, and punches a few buttons, turns back around and rewrites the slip... $2990 plus 7% tax! $3200 :thumb: Then as he was finishing up, he notices some info on the papers certifying the diamond that it is engraved along the bezel with the serial numbers? He looks through the eyeloop, and looked surprised and I think he may have made a mistake on the price he quoted me, but he stuck with it, and also gave us a smokin deal when we went back to get the wedding bands!:thumb:

if you have a "jewelry district" go there to buy... like Ciaran said! The people in the jewelry districts will be dealling usually with a more knowledgeable customer, and will try their hardest to beat the other guys price on a quality piece of jewelry!
 
B

bean

Turbo Monkey
Feb 16, 2004
1,335
0
Boulder
Definitely check out the smaller local jewelers, especially the ones that focus on custom rings. I've been to two shops so far, Shane Company that somebody linked to earlier, and they were very pushy trying to get me to buy a stone and setting even after I had told them that I had already set up a custom design elsewhere and was only looking for the stone. The other is a small local jeweler that mostly does custom stuff. We took in a few pictures that Dara found online, then they asked what she thought of a few rings in the case taking notes the whole time. So the next time I went into the shop by myself we were able to work with those notes to create a custom ring for her based on what she liked and her lifestyle (active, so there's nothing sticking up to get caught on anything). It wasn't much more to have a custom one made, so that seems like money well spent.

This place also happens to use Canadian diamonds which was a nice little bonus since it meant that I wouldn't have to source the diamonds from another shop.

I was planning on spending around $3k, but Dara told me not to go over $2000. The platinum ring and diamonds alone can't be done for that little, but I'll probably drop the size of the sapphire just a touch to get closer to the budget. Total for the platinum ring, changes to the mold, a sapphire around .75ct and 6 smaller diamonds to scatter down the sides is about $2700. Now I just need to go order the thing.
 
geargrrl

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
the whole 3 months salary rules was created by DeBeers marketing department around the turn of the century, as was the concept of a diamond as a symbol of love and commitment. When sales slacked off in the US, DeBeers turned to other markets like Japan and used the same marketing techniques to create a need where there was none before.

The book, The Heartless Stone, written well before any Leo DC movie came out, is a very interetesting look at the whole industry.
 
peter6061

peter6061

Turbo Monkey
Nov 19, 2001
1,575
0
Kenmore, WA
When did the 'two month' thing change to 'three months'?

Every commercial I heard on the radio and every ad that mentioned it when I was shopping for an engagement ring always stated, 'two months'.

A few months ago, a buddy of mine asked me about it and what he should spend. I mentioned the two month thing and he said locally, his buddies were spending 3-4 months salary minimum. I figured it was just the DC area and the salaries that go along with the houses overlooking the Potomac in Great Falls. But doesn't the whole idea of # months address income fairly well? I mean two months salary for a guy who makes minimum wage is vastly different from two months salary for the CEO of some major company.

I'm glad my wife sees things similarly.
 
stinkyboy

stinkyboy

Plastic Santa
Jan 6, 2005
15,187
1
¡Phoenix!
If you love this chick, then just kick it. Take her on a nice vacation every year that you continue to love her and buy her random flowers and bake her bread, etc. That's love.

If she is pressuring you for a ring, that ain't right. Trust me, I have 3 used engagement rings.
 
TreeSaw

TreeSaw

Mama Monkey
Oct 30, 2003
17,670
1,855
Dancin' over rocks n' roots!
Ciaran -- that ring is GORGEOUS!!!! I would definitely not fall into the "typical" female category when it comes to jewlery. I really didn't want a large rock on my finger and with your budget, ($3500) you should be able to get something very nice. Definitely check out BVs link and get to know the 4Cs. Also, get some ideas from her on what she does & doesn't like as (hopefully) she'll be wearing it for the rest of her life. Good luck!!!
 
M

Mike B.

Turbo Monkey
Oct 5, 2001
1,522
0
State College, PA
I'm with brungeman - don't do it.

If you're dead set on it, go visit the RM of the diamond world at diamondtalk.com for an edumacation. I highly recommend Jonathan at goodoldgold.com as well.

Diamond/jewelry districts have more people looking to rip you off than any other. Certifications mean nothing unless they come from GIA or AGS, the others are a joke. Don't buy into appraised value either, it requires no training or education to appraise diamonds but it's often used as a sales tactic. If you are looking at round diamonds they can be highly analyzed for some very specific cut characteristics. Once upon a time I bought an AGS 000 ideal, Hearts & Arrows from Jonathan a while back which in hindsight would have been money better spent on a new bike.
 
Slugman

Slugman

Frankenbike
Apr 29, 2004
4,024
0
Miami, FL
littlemissmarz said:
Ok speaking from a girls point of view ... general "rule" of thumb is girls expect you to spend 3 weeks to one months salary on a ring.
Click to expand...
Wow - if my wife ever told me how much to spend on her ring, I would not be marrried to her. "expect you to spend"... just wow.


And as Geargrrl said - the market is bogus and inflated.

Maybe Stinkyboy can offer you a good deal on one of his spares?
 
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