Engagement Rings (merged)

This is a money saving site isn't it?

Have you got any dead grandmothers (I don't mean to be tasteless)? I gave my wife my grandmothers engagement ring (cleaned up and resized). I personally thought it was an excellent idea at the time - recycling, 'keeping it in the family', that sort of thing. A few years on I can see that she might have wanted her own ring, but what the heck - the wedding ring was new wasn't it?

thats a lovely idea. appreciate your not being tasteless, i wear my grans wedding ring, but will pass it on to my daughter, and hope she will do the same.

Call me horribly unromantic, but I couldn't bear to be surprised with an engagement ring - I'd HAVE to choose it myself. I chose my wedding ring and had it made by a designer, but didn't see it finished until the day my hubby put it on my finger, which was nice. How about buying a joke ring from a kid's shop and then saying you want to choose it together? 1-2 month's salary - is that gross or net? A 2 month gross salary would be fantastic - don't think my hubby would have ever spent that.

I chose not to have an engagement ring when we decided to get married because I thought it was naff, but as soon as I got a wedding ring I wanted one! I now have a diamond eternity ring, remade from stones from a family heirloom and a sapphire solitaire which my hubby bought when my daughter was born (I chose the settings for both rings). I still want a 1 carat approx diamond at some point (one day maybe).

My friend's hubby did an awful thing when he proposed. He dragged her up to the top of St Paul's Cathedral with her leg in a cast, proposed, went to the shop where he had chosen a ring, she liked it, he then went on to haggle the price down by £600 right in front of her - she said she was cringing. Gorgeous ring though!

I think, like everything else in life, it depends on what you want: do you go for an "off the shelf" or something a bit more special?

If it's something a bit more special, and you're prepared to pay for it (ie not Argos), read on...

Remember, as a starting point, there's the 4 "C"s when buying a diamond: colour, clarity, cut and carat. On each of these you should educate yourself what they mean and how they affect a diamond's price.

Colour: diamonds are graded from D (colourless, the best) down to Z. For the usual white diamond (as opposed to coloured, fancy), you don't really need anything at D, E or even F as the difference is imperceptible to the naked eye. So, start looking at an I - even a J - and work your way up to a G at the most. Anything better is just "gilding the lilly".

Clarity: another scale, going from Internally Flawless (IF), Very Very Slight 1 (VVS1), Very Very Slight 2 (VVS2), Very Slight 1 (VS1), Very Slight 2 (VVS2), Slight Inclusions 1 (SI1), Slight Inclusions 2 (SI2), Inclusions 1 (I1), Inclusions 2 (I2) etc. As with colour, you're going to end up paying a fantastic sum for anything that's at the top end of the scale and you really won't be able to tell the difference unless you get your microscope out. Advice is to start looking at SI2 and work your way up to a VS1, maybe a VVS2 at best if you think you can spot the difference, that is.

Carat: that one's again down to you. Remember the size of your fiancee's fingers, though. If she's petite, a 0.5 carat ring will look quite large; 0.75 carat definitely will. The ring will certainly look better if you follow the other tips here as it will "fire" (sparkle) more, making it a lot more noticeable. Also, ensure you get a complementary setting that shows off the finer qualities of your diamond, ie one that doesn't hide the stone and allows maximum light penetration (see below).

Cut: there's a wide range of cuts but the most popular is the round brilliant. Each one to their own on this one as to which cut you prefer but the quality of the cut greatly determines price. To explain, what's the point in getting your fiancee a beatiful diamond only for it to be let down by a shoddy cut? The research you've done in sourcing a VS1, G stone will be wasted because these aspects to the stone won't be allowed to shine through (remember, a diamond is just a prism after all and relies on light being allowed to pass through unhindered and without colouration it to give it its shining, dazzling qualities).

There are many other factors to consider if you're doing a proper job. For example, polish & symmetry.

One of the easiest ways to check out the permutations is to ensure you only buy a certificated diamond: GIA certificates are "best" (the most stringent).

You might also like to know of a trick that can save you thousands: you can end up with a ring that you would pay pretty much double for over here. What's more, you can choose to combine it with a holiday or from the comfort of your PC.

How? Import or get one on holiday from the States.

One of the biggest diamond centres of the world is in New York. A lot of the diamond merchants will happily find a diamond for you that conforms to all your desires, and more. The thing is, you buy a loose "stone" (they never call them diamonds) and then have it independently appraised, then mounted in a setting of your choice, then appraised again to ensure you're getting the same stone. The appraiser ships the stone directly to you or you can go over on holiday to pick it up.

It's all really easy and, with the fantastic exchange rate, you'll be getting a great deal in 2 ways: the DIY option means you save on the overinflated high street prices here and then there's that exchange rate that just can't be ignored.

If you go over to NY and pick up the ring, you'll even save on the VAT (but don't tell the taxman I said that) and delivery.

Watch out if you do import: there may well be an extra excise duty the EU imposed on US imports temporarily as part of the fight back on the squabble over US steel, if you remember your news from about 6 months ago.

I can recommend excellent people to speak to (and I hasten to add, I've no connection with them at all): to source a diamond (you can even do it online) try Martin from https://www.usacerteddiamonds.com. For an independent appraisal (costs about $75) of your stone, David Wolf of https://www.justappraisers.com. They will be able to guide you through what may appear to be a very daunting task but in reality is quite simple.

You will save a packet and, what's more, your fiancee will end up with a ring that will be the absolute envy of all her friends.

diamonds  ;D

my ex had the most beautiful solitaire diamond set in platinum for me at hatton garden, london. cost £3000

I recently bought an engagement ring having made much research beforehand. My advice is never buy anything from Hatton Garden, they are the biggest rip offs and rely on naive customers. For that matter all posh high street Jewellers would also be excluded.
I ended up buying from an online store where they undercut the High Street by 40-50%

https://www.diamonds.uk.com

Must say, their service was faultless and the ring arrived in a beautiful gift wrapped woodden box. My girlfriend (oops.., I mean fiancee'!) was delighted ;D
As a nice bonus they also supplied me with an insurance valuation certificate valued at the high street retail price.
If anything happened to it, I/we might even make a profit - lol
::)