Birmingham Jewellery Quarter

Vikki_74

Hi everyone!

I'm a long time lurker on the wedding forum but first time poster so please be gentle!

We're getting married on 20 September and have just started looking at wedding rings but all the high street jewellers are SO expensive, and that's if they even have anything we like. I've seen people on here mention the jewellery quarter in Birmingham, and a friend who used to live down that way also suggested it recently, but I'm just wondering whether it would be worth the trip, especially given that we'd have to travel down from Warrington which even with very early booking train fares looks like it would cost us £20 each (or about the same if we drove down and parked for the day).

Has anyone ever travelled down there purely for the purpose of buying either an engagement or wedding ring? How does it work - should we have an idea of what we want before we go, do they make to order or do you buy like from a normal shop? I'm completely clueless here as you can tell so hope someone can offer a bit of advice or guidance.

Horace

In the jewellery quarter they have shops..they look like normal shops but you won't find Ernest Jones or H Samuel there. The shops in the quarter usually have a manufacturing jeweller working for them and he will often sit in the back out of sight making the jewellery but he will come and speak to you. They are amazing and can turn a squiggle into something beautiful - I am no artist and drew a rough sketch of some earrings that I would like to be made and although my idea was complicated it was executed to perfection.

There is lots to do in Birmingham and close to the Jewellery Quarter there is a Travellodge (its on Newhall Street so is close to the city centre and the jewellery quarter).

A manufacturing jeweller can make something to your specifications and it will be better quality and at a reasonable price..e.g. my diamond earrings cost me £400 to have made - I had bought 2 white diamonds anyway but I wanted canary yellow diamonds too, so I had to have the yellow diamonds and the gold and of course the jewellers time to make them..these same earrings are now worth over £2K So that gives you an idea.

DKLS

Have been twice, once to buy the engagement ring and the next for the wedding bands. The engagement ring was made the same day after selecting the band and stones, and settings, the platinum wedding bands took about 3 weeks to come back as we had them engraved.

Remember you can haggle.

Whatever you do dont stop at the Nite nite hotel, the photo on the website isn't the window, its a plasma tv linked to a webcam, so no windows, was like a luxury prison cell.

sapphire_uk

We used Betts Metal sales

I seen them online and i live in birmingham so i went to the jewelry quarter and ordered them. They made them and we had to go and collect 4 days later. we paid £260 for ours(for the 2). But first i went next door and weighed in a rope chain i had which had broken in 3 parts.. got £100 for that.. so was really pleased.. The rings are really nice, we had a beaded each on them both.

Betts Metals was the cheapest place i found. we looked at Argos rings but they was so thin and light they reminded me and kids play rings

If you register you get Trade prices. I am registered but went to shop to order.

indiegirl_2

We went specifically for our bands. Had no idea what we wanted, stumped up the £20ish each it cost to travel from home to the JQ station, and made a day out of it.

Having no idea what we wanted meant that it took us a bit longer; but after browsing some stores aplenty (some didn't want to offer ideas or advice and wanted us to know what we wanted), we ended up in Neweys who were excellent and helpful. They guided us towards a choice without any pressure, and we got them well within budget. If it's not busy (we went on a Monday), they can usually make them while you wait, think we waited about 45mins for ours to be made up, sized and polished.

Vikki_74

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I'll have a search around for the cheapest train tickets we can find and we'll take a chance on going down there for the day - sounds like a day in the week might be better than a weekend, especially if they can make the rings up whilst we wait. If that wasn't possible, would we have to go back to pick them up do you think or would a shop deliver?

We're not looking for anything that out of the ordinary I dont think - I want a wishbone-style as it seems to sit best with my engagement ring, OH wants something like this (sorry, can't get picture to post):

http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/detail/R/5077621/

but without the £899 price tag! We both want platinum if we can afford it, or maybe palladium if not, which I know is what's pushing the prices out of our budget, so fingers crossed we may be able to find something in Birmingham that suits.

Louiseuk25

Vikki_74 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I'll have a search around for the cheapest train tickets we can find and we'll take a chance on going down there for the day - sounds like a day in the week might be better than a weekend, especially if they can make the rings up whilst we wait. If that wasn't possible, would we have to go back to pick them up do you think or would a shop deliver?

We're not looking for anything that out of the ordinary I dont think - I want a wishbone-style as it seems to sit best with my engagement ring, OH wants something like this (sorry, can't get picture to post):

http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/detail/R/5077621/

but without the £899 price tag! We both want platinum if we can afford it, or maybe palladium if not, which I know is what's pushing the prices out of our budget, so fingers crossed we may be able to find something in Birmingham that suits.

Hi Vikki,

I work around the corner from the jewellery quarter and need to have a look for our rings too. Would you like me to take the ernest jones picture/spec and see what a couple of shops quote?

It will probably next week but more than willing to.

Lou

Lou

Vikki_74

Louiseuk25 wrote: »

Hi Vikki,

I work around the corner from the jewellery quarter and need to have a look for our rings too. Would you like me to take the ernest jones picture/spec and see what a couple of shops quote?

It will probably next week but more than willing to.

Lou

Lou

I can't believe you would offer to do that for me - people on this forum are so unbelievably nice sometimes! :j If you're going anyway and you really don't mind then yes that would be amazingly helpful - it would at least give us an idea of prices so we can decide if it's worth travelling down there. And there's no rush, we weren't planning on looking ourselves for at least another few weeks due to work commitments, busy weekends etc.

Vikki_74

Just to add, I can get 15% discount from Ernest Jones through work, so OH's ring would be more like £765 instead of £899. It's still quite a way above our budget though - we were thinking more like £400-£500 each at the very most. I actually can't believe how much mens rings cost in platinum - I guess because they're bigger than womens and therefore heavier, but I could get a platinum ring with a load of diamonds in for the same price as the one he likes!!

Louiseuk25

No problem at all Vikki-I'll probably go Tues/Wed next week, so if there is anything else you think of PM me or post on here.

We are saving Tesco's vouchers with the idea of using at Goldsmiths but I've got a feeling that we will still need to put cash towards the ring and might mean that we might aswell spend that money on rings that are even more lovely and definitely more unique.

When are you getting married?

Vikki_74

We were thinking of doing the Tesco/Goldsmiths thing as well but couldn't find anything we liked that wasn't too expensive - we get quite a lot of clubcard points but not that many!

We're getting married 20 September 2010 in California. The actual wedding and all the flights etc are all booked but I'm now starting to stress out about all the details like the rings! Really hope the jewellery quarter turns out to be an option as that might mean one more thing getting sorted and crossed off my list :j