Wedding rings (engagement)

I love non-traditional rings as long as they are designed to last. I worked in jewelry for years and got my GG. I used to hate when brides-to-be came in asking for pearl, opal, or turquoise engagement rings. They are going to chip, crack, shattered or burnish over time and look horrible and risk the integrity of the piece. IF someone wants a non-traditional engagement ring that will hold up consult the Mohs scale and choose a gem that is 8 or higher. If someone wishes to do metal only choosing a metal that can be worked on over time such as platinum, gold, or silver is best. The trend of titanium or tungsten rings is so upsetting. So many people get angry with jewelers when they find out the rings can never be repaired or resized.

That's good to know! I agree about the tungsten trend. It was crazy to find out they cannot be resized but it makes sense. I will purchase my hubby a platinum band with diamonds and a white tungsten band for a "rough wear" ring.

I never knew until recently that there was so many people against traditional rings. I guess I just never thought about it before.

What do you think about pricing? What do you think is a good price range for an engagement ring?

I love your ring!! That's exactly what I wanted but it turns out that style just didn't look good on me. Weird I know!! We decided on an emerald cut with halo. I honestly wish the center stone was bigger. The setting holds a 1 carat diamond and my center stone is .80. There's always upgrades! HaHa! We paid about $5,000 for the ring.

@erin that's beautiful! Now that I have my cushion cut I look at other shapes and just think they are gorgeous just not sure if they would look right on me. Thank you, my ring is platinum with a 1.25 carat center stone. It's almost 2 carats TW I think. He paid 10,000 for my ring. I absolutely love it!

We're you happy with the amount spent on the ring? I'm curious if the idea that a man should spent three months earnings on a ring is still current?

I don't like diamonds much, never have really bought into that marketing ploy, and the political issues surrounding them solidified my desire not to have one. My FH bought me an amethyst halo ring. I love it, and I don't know how much it was because I don't care. I have also never planned on wearing an engagement ring after getting married (I am really not a jewelry person). At the risk of sounding sentimental, isn't what the ring symbolizes more important than its monetary value?

Overall, I think some of us are turning away from the markers of middle/upper middle class status that we have been told we need to have in favor of more interesting or practical things.

Yea I am very minimalistic jewelry person. Yes the ring is sentimental and I wouldn't change t for the world and I know the price since there is insurance on the ring and I have the paperwork for it and we pay to insure it. Just curious on thoughts about pricing because I read a lot of ongoing post where people are completely against expensive rings and I was just curious on the views of people here.

The 3 months salary thing is a diamond industry marketing ploy... Holy moly I'd die if my ring cost that much! I was all for a moissanite, but my boyfriend wanted to get a real diamond. Went with a 1.2 carat oval with halo and small diamonds halfway down the shank as well. I think he spent $5-6kwhich is more than I would have picked out for myself but not too much, in my opinion. The right amount to spend is the right amount for you!

Oh, I didn't know that originated with the diamond industry. But that totally makes sense now. Diamonds are CRAZY expensive! I have made rings on the jewelry websites where you get to pick the setting and such and it's can get so ridiculous quick lol

I have an aquamarine ring

@Jess I see it's a 7.5 - 8 so hoping it holds up ... I have another aquamarine ring I've had for 18 years so here's to hoping.

FH is not a fan of diamonds (fair trade/believes they aren't worth the price/sustainability focus) but deferred to me on what gemstone I was interested in. I told him I wanted aquamarine (I have lived near the ocean almost all of my life and find being near large bodies of water incredibly calming). As it turned out, it's also his birthstone so when I told him that was what I wanted he teared up.

The ring he found for me is stunning, in my opinion,and I feel blessed to wear it every day.

Also, a quick PSA FH has a titanium band he has been wearing for the past few months. He loves it (bought in his size) but has noticed it scratches easily. He doesn't mind the look, but if you're looking for that bright shiny titanium look this is something to keep in mind.

It's also crazy the differences in rings. For example I always though my mother had an expensive wedding band (it's five medium sized square diamonds) but she just recently told me it was only $800. I was floored haha! Crazy how one ring can look expensive and be cheaper then another.

A lot of people have ethical issues with diamonds and I understand that but I couldn't imagine a wedding set for myself without diamonds. During my GIA education and some of my own independent research I really delved into the Kimberly process which follows diamonds from the moment they are mined to who processes, maps the diamond, cuts it, and who sets it. My Diamond Story from Helzberg Diamonds does a fantastic job with this. Each ring comes with an independently verified paperwork of each of those individuals including their signatures and credentials. Also, many are sourced from Canada and come from a place where the workers have safe working conditions and an ethical wage. This is what sold me on their line. Also, working with AGS accredited jewelers have closely monitored (by an independent monitoring group) for their ethical practices in mining, sourcing, buying, and ethical pricing of their final product (they don't overprice to fake a discount or sale to bring it down to the fair market price).

@Harts&Bows I have seen old aquamarine which get a bit cloudy due to their burnished facet lines however it takes decades because they are slightly harder stones. Just be prepared to have the aquamarine facets re-cut at around 20-25 years (longer if you treat it well aka. taking it off for working out, swimming, doing dishes, and cleaning) and reset. It's a process and may take a couple weeks from beginning to end but if you find a qualified bench jeweler through AGS you'll be solid.

@ Emily that so pretty! That's crazy the jewelry couldn't tell! I took my ring to a different jewelry and he literally guessed the price almost perfectly. Moisannite is a gem stone right ? Is it durable to last a life time ? If so that's a great way to get a nice looking. Ring without paying tons. I also see a lot about man made diamonds too.

@SummerM I have assumed my ring isn't valuable enough to justify an extra insurance cost on top of the coverage I have. I totally get that, though. If FH was going to spend three months salary on something, I would rather be making a bigger dent in our travel wishlist and have no ring at all. But that's just me.

@AQuixoticBride I never said anything negative about your ring or that it shouldn't have insurance. I'm confused about your comment. Did I offend you/ring? Every ring now matter the cost should have insurance/coverage large enough to cover the cost as rings get lost and stones fall out and it would be terrible to get a beautiful ring to find a week or year later a stone missing and have no way to fix it without paying out of pocket.

Although traveling is a great thing! We love to travel to different countries during the summertime! Vacations always relax and heal the soul!

@Summer- No wonder I love it! HaHa! It really is beautiful. Congratulations!

We bought the ring together so I obviously don't believe in the 3 month salary thing. We saved for the ring together and just picked what we could afford. I couldn't imagine us spending more than we did. We love to travel and H has two kids. We'd rather spend our money on going out, taking the kids on trips and going to Hawaii. If we had purchased the 1 carat center stone it would have been about $8,000. We opted to go a little smaller. It's a quality diamond which was more important than size. If I could have had both I would have though. HaHa! Total weight is 1.05 carats.

@erin wood Thank you, your ring is beautiful also. I notice that woman with smaller fingers don't need such large stones because a smaller stone will look large on their hand. I need a larger stone to get the same effect. I say I have finger nuggets!

I asked to show him what styles I liked and he was not even allowing that lol he totally surprised me with proposing though!

With kids I'm sure going on family vacations and such would be much better!

My perfect thing ? $3500 from Helzberg #triplezerorating

We didn't buy an engagement ring, he proposed with my grandmother's. When we went shopping I had sticker shock on the cost, it just didn't seem smart to spend thousands especially considering a wedding will cost upwards of 15,000... So I decided I would prefer spending the money on a fancier wedding band that I will wear instead.

@ Jennifer that's great to have an heirloom ring ! @Amanda that's beautiful but what's "triple zero rating" mean?

I wish H had picked my ring himself. He just has bad taste. Lol! We would play this game when we first started talking about rings where I would show him rings and he would tell me if he thought I would like it. He was always wrong! HaHa!! I decided it was best for us to go get the ring together.

Yeah we try to take the kids on one really good vacation a year. We get away a couple times throughout the year. Usually to visit my friends. Last year we did Portland, Chicago and Hawaii twice. This year was all wedding except 2 weeks in Thailand for the honeymoon. I wish I was rich so I could do it all!!