The question

Zola.

The timing of this thread has been rather impeccable... we were invited round a couples house last night who announced to us they are now engaged. They picked it together on holiday.

So on the way home we were talking about it, and I said would you have wanted me to pick it with you, and she said no! she would prefer if I had picked it, so there you go! Its on me I guess..

Pollycat, it has to be diamond, I wouldn't be open to anything else I don't think.

I need to research the 4C's and also find out the finger size.

My budget would be no more than 2 - 2.5k, as much as I would love to spend more, we are saving for a house and spending more than that would seem foolish.

Pollycat

Good luck with your search.

I've bought a lot of gemstones from India & Sri Lanka over the years and prefer to buy unset stones as a cleverly designed setting can hide a fault.

I'd start with researching the 4 Cs, then take a look at Blue Nile & Diamond Geezer website at the diamonds they have on offer in your price range (not forgetting that you'll need to budget for the setting too).

These websites will give you an idea of what you'd pay on the high street for equivalent quality.

Evil_Olive

Another place to try for getting more for your money is little local independent pawn-come-jewellers shops - they don't just do second hand.
We got mine from one of these and it was less than half the price of identical rings from Ernie Jones and the other big high street shops plus the stone had much better colour and clarity too.

InsideInsurance

Pollycat wrote: »

These websites will give you an idea of what you'd pay on the high street for equivalent quality.

Certainly Blue Nile does give a significant saving but I would take their High Street pricing estimate with a bit of a pinch of salt as clearly its in their interest to make themselves look cheaper by stating them as higher. See the same ring in H Samuels, Beaverbrooks and Tiffanys and you'd see three very different prices.

Gloomendoom

Zola. wrote: »

The timing of this thread has been rather impeccable... we were invited round a couples house last night who announced to us they are now engaged. They picked it together on holiday.

So on the way home we were talking about it, and I said would you have wanted me to pick it with you, and she said no! she would prefer if I had picked it, so there you go! Its on me I guess..

You should have carried on the conversation along the lines of... "Oh, I couldn't have picked it on my own because I wouldn't have known your ring size."

InsideInsurance

Gloomendoom wrote: »

You should have carried on the conversation along the lines of... "Oh, I couldn't have picked it on my own because I wouldn't have known your ring size."

She then points out the dozen of her friends who had unexpected proposals from their boyfriends with a ring in hand and who had managed to get the right size showing you are just making excuses/ lack of effort. :A

Pollycat

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Certainly Blue Nile does give a significant saving but I would take their High Street pricing estimate with a bit of a pinch of salt as clearly its in their interest to make themselves look cheaper by stating them as higher. See the same ring in H Samuels, Beaverbrooks and Tiffanys and you'd see three very different prices.

On Beaverbrooks website, they have a .48 carat diamond, colour G, clarity SI1. It's set in platinum and is priced at £3950.

On the Blue Nile website they have a .48 carat diamond, colour G, clarity SI1. It's priced at £820.
That leaves a fair amount for the setting.

One of H Samuels most expensive diamond solitaires is .25 carat, colour I and priced at £999.

Imho, that makes Blue Nile look pretty good value versus those 2 high street jewellers.

heartbreak_star

Zola. wrote: »

My budget would be no more than 2 - 2.5k, as much as I would love to spend more, we are saving for a house and spending more than that would seem foolish.

Trying not to be a party pooper here, but if my OH spent that on a ring I'd never wear it in case I damaged it, and also feel that at least £1.7k of that could have been better spent.

Would she feel the same? Or is she happy wearing expensive stuff?

Good luck!

HBS x

Buzzybee90

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Trying not to be a party pooper here, but if my OH spent that on a ring I'd never wear it in case I damaged it, and also feel that at least £1.7k of that could have been better spent.

Would she feel the same? Or is she happy wearing expensive stuff?

Good luck!

HBS x

That's like saying you'd never drive a car incase you scratched it. Having said that all my jewellery over £1000 is worn on special occasions only but that's not an engagement ring - it's an investment.

Evil_Olive

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Trying not to be a party pooper here, but if my OH spent that on a ring I'd never wear it in case I damaged it, and also feel that at least £1.7k of that could have been better spent.

I hear ya - my jaw dropped when I saw the proposed budget!!!!
I've got used to it now but I was afraid to wear mine at first and it was only a third of that!

I've heard that traditionally it's supposed to be 1 months salary but it seems to be creeping up because my grandma says that back in her day it was 1 weeks wages. More recently I've also seen jewellery websites and bride mags claiming that it's supposed to be 2, or even 3, months salary! But they would say that wouldn't they - it's in their interest for people to think they are obliged to spend more..... :rolleyes:

OHs absolute maximum budget was £1000 (and he couldn't really afford that!) but I knew that high street jewellers were massively overpriced so, when looking in those I upped the 'virtual' budget to £2000. We did find 'The Ring' in a high street shop (Ernie Jones) at £1999, then shopped around until we found the same thing for less than half that (with a better quality stone )

It then turned out that the family who ran the little local jewellers/pawnshop in question was known to OH's family and the guy gave him a massive further 'mates rates' discount on top of this.

I like the idea that I'm wearing what, to most normal people, is a £2000 ring, that only cost £650
Super MSE !