Engagement Ring

[lungfish23]

Originally Posted by TRDood

What would I expect for a 10k budget?
I assume anything brand named like Tiffany or Harry Winston will cost around 20k?

damn diamonds are so expensive!

Also, what happens if the ring doesn't fit the finger? or the style is not what your SO is looking for? worse case scenario, what if she says NO? any refunds? lol

Just surveying here since we are on this topic.

Ok..since I just bought a ring, I thought I'd share my insight into it.

For 10K there are a lot of rings available out there. It really depends on what you're looking for. I ended up getting mine from Birks because she chose it. Although she chose it and we've talked about getting married, the proposal time and everything else was still a surprise. I did it this way because I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking the ring back in case she didn't like it, didn't fit, etc.

So, most places (stores, not sure about online places) will do ring fitting/ resizing for free. (some up to five years, some for life) so you do not have to worry about the ring not fitting her. The down side is that she would have to wait while it got resized after you have already given it to her. So I decided that since we talked about getting married, she might as well pick her own and have it sized already.

And if she says no, then you can return it. I think most places give you 90 days.

The specs of the ring that I got was about the same price at Tiffany's and Birks. It was a little cheaper from Spence. There are 10K rings at Tiffany's and they're not bad. Obviously everyone wants the biggest diamond that one can afford, BUT she tried rings on her finger and some of the bigger diamonds were kind of stupid looking on her finger. She has really small fingers. It didn't look right (she said it not me, hahaha not trying to sound cheap.) So I ended up getting a smaller diamond than what I original wanted to find, but I got a better diamond. In the end I think that's probably more worth it.

One more thing to look at is most rings come in size 6. That's the average finger size. So depending on what store you go to, they either resize your ring or make you a new one. My fiance's finger is a 3.25. From what I've read/heard, you should really only resize rings up to 2 sizes. Anything more would compromise the structural integrity of the ring. Since my fiance's finger was too small, Birks said they would make a new one from scratch. Tiffany's said that they would still resize it and that it was no problem. So that's kinda why we didn't go with Tiffany's. Spence would also create a new ring, but that's because all their showroom ones are not real.

But regarding if rings would be 20k at Tiffany's. Sure there are rings like that but not all of them. The price doesn't differ too much. The diamond itself is only worth so much depending on specs.

Sorry if it went too long, but I hope that helps somebody.

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by TRDood

What would I expect for a 10k budget?
I assume anything brand named like Tiffany or Harry Winston will cost around 20k?

damn diamonds are so expensive!

Also, what happens if the ring doesn't fit the finger? or the style is not what your SO is looking for? worse case scenario, what if she says NO? any refunds? lol

Just surveying here since we are on this topic.

You can buy Tiffany's engagement ring for $1,300-$1,500 if you only want 0.25ct for example.

Harry Winston's starting price is quite a bit higher, probably like $9,000.

VanCleef & Arpels or GRAFF are also very good too.

[TheKingdom2000]

Originally Posted by lungfish23

Ok..since I just bought a ring, I thought I'd share my insight into it.

For 10K there are a lot of rings available out there. It really depends on what you're looking for. I ended up getting mine from Birks because she chose it. Although she chose it and we've talked about getting married, the proposal time and everything else was still a surprise. I did it this way because I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking the ring back in case she didn't like it, didn't fit, etc.

So, most places (stores, not sure about online places) will do ring fitting/ resizing for free. (some up to five years, some for life) so you do not have to worry about the ring not fitting her. The down side is that she would have to wait while it got resized after you have already given it to her. So I decided that since we talked about getting married, she might as well pick her own and have it sized already.

And if she says no, then you can return it. I think most places give you 90 days.

The specs of the ring that I got was about the same price at Tiffany's and Birks. It was a little cheaper from Spence. There are 10K rings at Tiffany's and they're not bad. Obviously everyone wants the biggest diamond that one can afford, BUT she tried rings on her finger and some of the bigger diamonds were kind of stupid looking on her finger. She has really small fingers. It didn't look right (she said it not me, hahaha not trying to sound cheap.) So I ended up getting a smaller diamond than what I original wanted to find, but I got a better diamond. In the end I think that's probably more worth it.

One more thing to look at is most rings come in size 6. That's the average finger size. So depending on what store you go to, they either resize your ring or make you a new one. My fiance's finger is a 3.25. From what I've read/heard, you should really only resize rings up to 2 sizes. Anything more would compromise the structural integrity of the ring. Since my fiance's finger was too small, Birks said they would make a new one from scratch. Tiffany's said that they would still resize it and that it was no problem. So that's kinda why we didn't go with Tiffany's. Spence would also create a new ring, but that's because all their showroom ones are not real.

But regarding if rings would be 20k at Tiffany's. Sure there are rings like that but not all of them. The price doesn't differ too much. The diamond itself is only worth so much depending on specs.

Sorry if it went too long, but I hope that helps somebody.

So how much did you pay for your ring and what are the specs on the ring?
Did you look at online sites like whiteflash or bluenile or diamonds.ca?

[Presto]

Here's how you get the right ring: Bring your soon-to-be fiancee with you. I know you want it to be a surprise, but I know a lot of people will have already had the talk about getting married, and if you pick it out yourself, there's a good chance that she'll hate the way it looks. At best, she may deem it passable if it looks expensive enough to show off. The surprise can be the time/location of the proposal.

When we decided that we would marry each other eventually, we did some casual browsing of rings. Ended up at a jeweler in Penticton, while on vacation, and she zeroed in on the ring within seconds of entering the store. Then we proceeded to spend 2 hours in there comparing other rings, until she was satisfied that the first one she found was "the one". It was over my budget, but some bartering got it down to the price I was willing to pay. To this day, she still considers her ring the best out of any she's compared it to. It would've been an epic, epic fail had I been the one to choose the ring. So, don't try and pick one out yourself!

[freakshow]

Where: First of all, don't buy a ring from Tiffany's. It's overpriced, and you can get the same ring made with a better diamond from another local jeweler. If money isn't an object and she really, REALLY likes teal, then fine.
I spent a lot of time looking online at bluenile and diamonds.ca, and eventually, all you see are numbers and letters. You HAVE TO go into a store and really compare diamonds so you know the physical difference between an E and an H, or a VS1 and a SI2. Once you've seen the difference your decision will be a lot easier, whether it's online or local.

Ring Size: There are many ways to find out what her ring size is, and any store should resize the ring for free. I found out by going to Tiffanys one day when we were downtown and she tried of different rings just for fun.

Style: This really depends on the girl. As Presto said, his wife knew exactly what she wanted and was very particular about the style. If you know your girl is like that, you'll need to do a bit more research and bring her along to see exactly what she likes.
For me, my fiancee didn't know much about rings and also didn't care that much. I also know her style quite well (ie. i could easily buy her clothes, or shoes or bags, and I know what she'd like and not like), so I designed the ring myself. She loves it and prefers it over other designs she's seen. The added benefit here is that everything was a complete surprise for her. Of course the extra surprise of the ring isn't worth it if they aren't going to like it.

Price: At smaller jewelers, there's always at least a little room to bargain. You might also be able to use the fact that you'll be buying the wedding bands from the same place as leverage.

Tips: Two tips that I've heard, but have not actually used are:
- If you're buying from a bigger chain, you might be able to find store credit on CL that you can buy at a discount.
- Diamonds jump in price which they hit a rounder number, so a .99 caret would be noticably cheaper than a 1.0 caret, or a 1.29 would be cheaper than a 1.3.

[Timpo]

Tiffanys aren't overpriced.
Nothing is overpriced when people are willing to pay for it.

[Timpo]

Tiffany Setting
$3,750

Carat: 0.50
Clarity: VS2 or higher
Colour: F
Cut: Exellent
Metal: Platinum



Peoples Celebration
$2,999

Carat: 0.50
Clarity: SI2
Colour: I
Cut: won't be "Excellent" like Tiffanys
Metal: 18k White Gold




also...what logo looks better to you?




The price of Tiffanys will be higher, however I don't think you'll be paying premium for nothing.

[Timpo]

^ why is this a fail? I thought I had a pretty good point.

[Presto]

Your point is judging product quality based on logos? That's a fail.

[too_slow]

Originally Posted by Timpo

^ why is this a fail? I thought I had a pretty good point.

I think you should stick to your bodykit threads. You obviously do not have a clue about precious stones.

*bookmarked page for future reference*

[Timpo]

well check out some JDM engagement rings..some of them are pretty sick!

4°C
http://4-bridal.jp/engagement/collection.html
i-Primo
http://www.iprimo.jp/rings/

[xmisstrinh]

just a random thought...

make sure the girl loves YOU more than the IDEA of getting married.

[MASTER_J]

How about buying a ring from Hong Kong or something rather then in Canada? The ring from Hong Kong could potentially be a conflict diamond, but how much cheaper exactly are diamond rings from Hong Kong/China. My friend purchased a 1.01 ring for around 10k (3k for band, 7k for diamond) in Vancouver, does anyone know how much it would cost for the equivalent in Hong Kong? Thanks

[Jermyzy]

Originally Posted by TRDood

What would I expect for a 10k budget?
I assume anything brand named like Tiffany or Harry Winston will cost around 20k?

damn diamonds are so expensive!

Also, what happens if the ring doesn't fit the finger? or the style is not what your SO is looking for? worse case scenario, what if she says NO? any refunds? lol

Just surveying here since we are on this topic.

With regards to ring sizing, most people I know would just "steal" a ring from their gf and bring it to the jeweller to get sized that way. They can usually make small adjustments for sizing after with no problem. I bought my diamond through a diamond auction, and got a custom setting made at Ragnar jewellers. They made a wax mold of the ring and got my wife (gf at the time) to try it on to ensure accurate sizing. Obviously that takes away a big chunk of the surprise of the proposal, but we had already been talking about marriage for awhile at that point. She still didn't know when I was going to propose, and the design of the ring (she was blindfolded), so I still managed to surprise her when I proposed

[RiceIntegraRS]

I think the best way to find the perfect ring for ur gf is to ask one of her guy friends(who u can trust) and ask him to take her ring shopping. He can tell her hes gonna marry his gf and needs a womans opinion on a ring. Then boom ur future wife picks out a ring she loves not knowing it was actually for herself.

[freakshow]

Originally Posted by RiceIntegraRS

I think the best way to find the perfect ring for ur gf is to ask one of her guy friends(who u can trust) and ask him to take her ring shopping. He can tell her hes gonna marry his gf and needs a womans opinion on a ring. Then boom ur future wife picks out a ring she loves not knowing it was actually for herself.

What if she actually knows what the other girl likes? Then boom, you just pissed off two girls by proposing to your girlfriend with her friend's ring!

[flameboy54]

I'll let you guys know a foolproof way of her getting the ring she wants and still keep the surprise factor.

Get a dummy ring - be it from Claires, any generic jewelry store, even a ring pop for fun. I got a sterling silver solitaire with a CZ centre when I proposed.

Propose with the dummy ring - The nice thing about a silver/CZ ring is that it looks real. You can also use it as a backup when the real ring in the future needs to go in for repairs or if you don't want to take the real ring abroad when travelling.

After the proposal, you both shop for the real ring - you win cause it's a surprise, she wins cause she gets her dream ring.

[iEatClams]

Country is very important to most girls.

Girls hate the idea of Blood diamonds. They dont want to be wearing something that is "tainted" on their fingers.

Canadian diamonds are becoming more popular now because of that, and hence, the premium in price.

[BlackZRoadster]

in regards to the Tiffany vs People comparion, the tiffany stone is way nicer.

Its got a higher color and clarity.

To the OP, get at least a 1CT center stone. Stay away from anything SI in clarity, and color in the D-F range. With an ideal cut. This will get you the shiniest looking rock , this should be in the 13K range with a no name jeweler. But same stone at Tiffany would probably be about 20K with those criteria.

[freakshow]

For the stone, definitely stop browsing bluenile and go to the actual store. Get them to show you stones of different quality, then you'll clearly be able to see which grade to get.

[Psykopathik]

my Wife never wanted a diamond ring. "What a fucking waste of money" she said.

I love her more each day.

[RFlush]

Next comes the wedding bands