Wedding Ring : Engagement Ring cost ratio

nic82

bandraoi wrote:

Spend £10 on a cheap ring to use for the proposal, something she can keep as a memento and maybe something in the style you think she would like.

This is exactly what my bf did for me and it was perfect. I've still got the £10 ring and will never get rid of. I was initially planning on wearing it as well as my "proper" ring but TBH although the cheapy ring looks fine by itself it looks awful next to the real deal, so it's tucked safely away in my jewellery box.

My bf did end up choosing my "proper" ring for me too, but only because I wouldn't look at the expensive rings but, unbeknown to me, he'd been saving for months so that I could have an expensive ring.

That said, if I'd have fallen in love with a cheaper one then I'd have had it. The cost wasn't an issue to me, it's but when I tried on the more expensive one, I really fell in love with it (unfortunately for him).

nic82

DaveSmith wrote:

1) The engagement ring is generally the fancy one with the rock on it, and the wedding ring is the more plain one. TRUE

2) Engagement ring is the more expensive one? TRUE

3) My girlfriend likes everything wedding related to be traditional. Does the bloke traditionally choose both rings? AFAIK the bloke picks the engagement ring and the both pick the wedding rings. However, even if your gf is traditional, if you're not 100% certain as to her taste when you're buying an engagement ring, DO NOT buy it. Buy a cheapy one (see my post above). She will have to wear it for years and years so you want her to wear something she'll love.

4) Do blokes get 2 rings as well? FALSE I think I generally only see blokes wearing one. Is that the wedding ring or the engagement ring? I don't know any blokes that wear an engagement ring but I think it's becoming more popular. My bf hasn't got one. Most blokes just wear a wedding ring.

5) So IF £600 is an acceptable amount for the engagement ring, what is an acceptable amount for the wedding ring? That's completely upto you and your circumstances. My ring cost £2k BUT my bf had (without me knowing) been wanting to propose for about 8 months before he actually did it. This was because he wanted to save money in order to buy me a more expensive ring. However, I saw some really gorgeous rings for £600 or less (I got mine from Goldsmiths) when I was looking and I would have been more than happy with one of these until my BF picked up another one which I fell totally in love with.
.

White gold and platinum are very popular nowadays but remember that the engagement ring and wedding ring must be from the same metal, otherwise the softer one will wear the other one down

full-time-mum

DaveSmith wrote:

I was planning on spending about £600 on an engagement ring. This isn't 2 months income as I've heard recommended as:

I'm sure it used to be only 1 months pay - that's inflation for you.

For the record, my OH didn't spend anything like that on my ring. At the time I was a little miffed but in the fullness of time, its no big deal!

Bloke

I'm probably just confirming what other people have replied but...

1) The engagement ring is generally the fancy one with the rock on it, and the wedding ring is the more plain one. TRUE

2) Engagement ring is the more expensive one? TRUE

3) My girlfriend likes everything wedding related to be traditional. Does the bloke traditionally choose both rings? I'd say absolutely traditionally the bloke would choose both, with the wedding rings in conjunction with his wife to be. I'd say now it's pretty commonplace for both sets to be bought together as a couple. This is what I did, proposing and then taking her straight off on a shopping trip to get the engagement ring. My reasoning was that I'd like us both to like the ring, and if I bought something for her on my own I would never REALLY know if she liked it or not.


4) Do blokes get 2 rings as well? TRUE/FALSE I think I generally only see blokes wearing one. Is that the wedding ring or the engagement ring? I'd say in general blokes only wear one ring which is the wedding ring, but this doesn't necessarily need to be plain, and seems to be getting more common for a design to be on the ring

5) So IF £600 is an acceptable amount for the engagement ring, what is an acceptable amount for the wedding ring? I'd say whatever matches well with the engagement ring, but on a ratio basis my wifes rings are around 3:1 which would make your wedding ring choice up to about £200? This is all pretty arbitrary anyway as it all depends on personal preferences and how much money you have. I managed to save up for about 5 years and my wifes engagement ring cost around £3500, which to some people would sound like a ridiculous amount of money but to others is a drop in the ocean (to me it was a stupid amount of money, but it was all saved and it was something that I wanted to do)

nic82 is also very correct about the metals being the same in the wedding and engagement rings. Generally the blokes wedding ring will also be of the same metal.

I think in ascending order of cost is the following metals... Silver, Gold, White Gold, Platinum

Hope this helps,

Paul.

RunningRach

I think you should just do what suits you as you know yourself and your girlfriend best.
My engagement ring cost £450 and is 18ct yellow gold diamond solitaire. We shopped for that together after my (now) DH proposed and although he had a £900 budget this was the one I liked.
Our wedding rings we bought together but each had a choice in what they wanted - mine is 9ct white & yellow gold and carved and DH's is a white gold plain band.
We got some comments from friends as to how we were 'supposed' to do it but we did what suited us most.

Hope it all goes well for you Dave. Have you though about how you are going to propose yet? My advice on that is not to try and make it a "perfect moment" as you'll end up getting stressed out and nervous. Try finding somewhere that means something to you both - we were in a car park eating takeaway chips at the end of a hectic day at work for us both when DH proposed...and I still said "yes"!

Hay_2

We got engaged about 8 years ago on holiday...we didn't have a lot of money and bought a litle £200ish diamond solitaire for me and a two colour band for DH.We didn't get married till last year and on my 30th bday and birth of our third child he replaced the original ring with a beautiful one carat three stone which was £1250:cool:
We only paid £120 and £80 for each of our wedding rings.

MrsTinks

I am wearing on my pudgy little finger the ring my OH bought and proposed with... It's white gold and diamond solitaire in drop shape and it's perfect! But I would have settled for a ring from a cracker!
My OH knew wat kinda style I like etc as the proposal wasn't 100% a surprise just the timing lol
He even "borrowed" a ring I wear on the right hand to get the size as spot on as possible and I haven't even had to have the ring altered. It's perfect and I love that he took time to find one I would like and then get the size so I could wear it straight away.
I have no idea what it cost as he didn't want me to know (but comparing the rock size to others it wasn't peanuts!) because to him it mattered that I had a ring I would cherish for the next 60 years with any luck
My first engament many years ago was a £99 wishbone shaped ring that I picked myself... I should have realised it wouldn't work out when after proposing I was told to go find the ring I wanted and come and let him know when I'd found it... :rotfl:

rio

To be honest I think you should buy what you feel you can happily afford, and that depends on circumstances. At the time we decided to get engaged and get married within the year, so a lot of our money went on the deposit for our first house instead of an engagement ring. My husband to be took me out for a romantic lunch, proposed and we shopped for the ring later that day slightly tipsy as I recall! Bear in mind that the carat of the ring is important, if you buy an 18 carat gold engagement ring, then you should buy the same quality of gold for the wedding ring, there is some scientific reasoning for this, something to do with how the gold wears. Unless you are totally convinced what type of ring she would like I would steer clear from buying it unless you can get one of her close friends to have a hypothetical chat with her about what she would like if ever she got engaged.

BY the way considering romantic proposals, I would steer clear of the ring in a glass of champagne idea, a friend of mine decided to propose to his girlfriend in this way, but when the champagne was poured in the ring became invisible, she swallowed it and nearly choked to death, they spent their first night as a newly engaged couple in casualty having her airways checked!

grannybroon

Well, got engaged first time round mid1970's and got a £20 'antique' ring from prawn brokers (still got it!) Broke up early 20's, met DH and married him within 10 months of meeting. No engagement ring, just fabulous wedding ring but he has bought we lovely rings over the years, On my 50th he bought me a diamond ring worth £2,000. Monetary value not important but the thought and deed fantastic. Unfortunately fingers slightly out of shape now with arthritis and now all rings (including wedding ring) having to go for a resize because if I put them on can only wear for about 3 hours before joints swell up and have trouble take off! I hate not wearing my wedding ring but can't bear the thought if it had to be cut off!

Love

GB

milkydrink

1) The engagement ring is generally the fancy one with the rock on it, and the wedding ring is the more plain one. TRUE

2) Engagement ring is the more expensive one? TRUE

3) My girlfriend likes everything wedding related to be traditional. Does the bloke traditionally choose both rings? I would say he chooses the engadgement ring & you pick matching wedding rings together

4) Do blokes get 2 rings as well? No.
I think I generally only see blokes wearing one. Is that the wedding ring or the engagement ring? Wedding.

5) So IF £600 is an acceptable amount for the engagement ring, what is an acceptable amount for the wedding ring? If that's what you wish to spend then it's acceptable to you & you are buying it. As for a wedding ring, these are traditionally a plain gold band (in the same carat gold as the engadgement ring), you would be hard pressed to spend anything close to £600 on one of those.

If shes a traditional girl, then it's gotta be a plain diamond solitare in an 18 carat gold ring. About as traditional as they come. Then matching plain gold bands (yours thicker, but the same) also in 18 carat.

Good luck.