Yay! I'm very excited....

zcrat41

Wow twirly, good advice. I would have thought 6 months was plenty long enough to find a dress! I feel a good few shopping days coming on in January!

gelato_cat

Congratulations!

My bf proposed without a ring and let me choose my own too. Like you, I wanted a sapphire and diamond ring, with the sapphire as the main stone. We went to Hatton Garden and there were lots of shops selling all different designs with sapphires and diamonds. Mine has an octagonal sapphire and square diamonds but we saw lots with round stones as well.

You will probably find that there are even more to choose from now that Prince Wills proposed with his ma's sapphire/diamond ring (Must admit I was a bit gutted when he did that as, even though mine is a totally different design, I was all like "now everyone is going to be turned on to the idea of non-solitaire non-diamond rings and mine won't be unusual any more! I soon got over it tho .)

I'm no expert but based on what we saw I would have thought your budget will go far in Hatton Garden, esp if you want small stones. Put simply, when it comes to diamonds, unless you're a millionaire you can either focus on the biggest rock and sacrifice sparkle (by ignoring the clarity, cut and colour) or you can get a smaller stone with a better clarity, cut and colour which often look much nicer (because they sparkle more!). There are lots of threads on here about diamonds and guidance on the web which will help you embark on this purchase well-informed.

I'm sure you will have lots of fun searching for the perfect ring - I love mine, and I'm glad I went for something a little unusual, it's quite a talking point and I get lots of compliments on it! It symbolises our relationship but is also the first piece of fine jewellery I've ever owned and I just love looking at it

Best of luck with the search

Suze

zcrat41 wrote: »

We're a little bit stumped here as neither of us know anything about jewellry. His budget is about £1000. After looking on the net I think I know what I'd like; a small round sapphire with a small diamond either side. We're thinking of going to Hatton Garden next week. Do you think we'll have much joy? Are people helpful? o/h is a bit worried he'll get ripped off as he's a bit naive on the shopping front.

zcrat41

Thanks Suzy, some good advice. We're going to go ring shopping in my local town on Thursday. If we don't get what we want there I think we'll try Hatton Garden on Friday.

We're getting on well with the planning already. Looks like it'll be 25th June and hopefully a Marquee on our family farm - I'm trying to get prices and quotes from people. I was dead chuffed that people were prepared to quote as I was worried they'd all be booked out.

Oh, and I bought my first bridal magazine last night.....GIRL HEAVEN!!! I can't believe how much people spend though! It looks like it can be a bit of a bottomless pit.

laura2481

zcrat41 wrote: »

Oh, and I bought my first bridal magazine last night.....GIRL HEAVEN!!! I can't believe how much people spend though! It looks like it can be a bit of a bottomless pit.

Don't know what magazine you got but I found the best two were 'perfect wedding' and 'wedding ideas' both £2.99. They have a good mix of price ranges. Some of the more expensive magazine seemed to have all designer price tags

zcrat41

Thanks Laura,
I'll try both of those. I think I bought 'Bride'. There's some good advice etc but you're right - how many people can afford a designer dress! They also have all these fabulous ideas for dressing the reception which look amazing but once you add it all up - wowee.

Ring shopping tomorrow - I can't wait!!

Magicboo

laura2481 wrote: »

Don't know what magazine you got but I found the best two were 'perfect wedding' and 'wedding ideas' both £2.99. They have a good mix of price ranges. Some of the more expensive magazine seemed to have all designer price tags

I like "wedding ideas" too. The big glossy mags are unbelievable in some of the things they have for ideas..my fave is a hair slide with some feathers and sequins for £95 :eek:!! However the smaller ones seems have lots of other peoples weddings maybe it's because I'm nosey, maybe it's because I like stealing their ideas, but I love reading those!
Have a great time ring shopping zcrat41, I'm jealous-we were meant to go to Hatton Garden last Thursday but were stopped by the snow
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