Some words of advice I've come across(obviously not my own).

Never give a ring on a birthday or for christmas. The reason behind it, is that if for some reason something goes wrong(obviously nobody expects it), the ring could be considered a gift and then you're out thousands of $$$ with no fiancee.

Also the 3 months thing is Bullshit. If you make $50k a year that's $13 grand you're supposed to spend on a ring. 2 months seems to be the most reasonable without cheaping out. Get the best you can afford though, and even if it's not much you can always go bigger.

My mom just recently had her wedding ring diamond set on a new band and had about $7000 worth of "upgrades". When my parents originally got married my mom made my dad take back her engagement ring so they could afford a microwave for their house, and he bought her a cheaper one.

Point of the story, get what you can and go bigger afterwards.

 

i showed my wife this before she went to bed.
her reply was, it is ugly, has no taste or style, it just plan
with no emotion to it.

all i can say is that the game is bling bling, not cha ching.
she wants something on her finger to show off.
it has got to have style, some pazazzs, high on the bling bling factor.
it has got to say i love you when you open the box.
a big rock on a circle only says one thing, MONEY, cha ching.
in fact this has got me thinking about my self, i have a anniversary coming up
i need to do some ring shopping my self.

 

Way too much for an I1 diamond....don't buy it. Now it it's the cut that she likes, try looking at a cushion cut. Not a lot of women have it, which is nice.

This is just a reference point....
http://www.diamondsafe.com/cushion-c...ment-Rings.asp

And here's a site you can play with. I found a diamond 1ct G/VS1 GIA Cert, set in 14kt white gold. approx $4100.

http://www.diamondsafe.com/Engagemen...2171&setID=843


Lisa

 

Dan.. you don't want me to call you out on this do you?

Lisa

 

when i proposed to my wife i had just turned 21 (granted wed been dating since i was 16)... as you can imagine there was alot of other **** that i wanted that i coulda bought instead of her ring (the total came to the equivalent of 6" lift, 35s, and wheels for my old truck LOL....trust me i added it up many times) in the end though it was well worth it. we've been married for about a year and a half now and i wouldnt trade any part in the world for it or anything else for that matter.
one thing i will suggest though is dont spend a fortune on your wedding if you do decide to go that route... our wedding came in under $4000 for everything including her dress, make sure you shop around or before you know it youll have spent $28k like the one guy at my work.

GL with w/e you decide

 

Well some good news me and my girlfriend talked again last night. We were discussing what type of wedding she wanted and basically I have a lot more time to save up for a ring. She is from Colorado, that is where her family is, so she wants the wedding to be in Colorado during the summer so we can have an outdoors wedding. So she mentioned that next summer is when she would want it. So that is basically 1.5 years away. She said that she need roughly 8-10 months to plan the wedding. So I have about ~8 months to get the ring. Which is great cause I was thinking she wanted to get married this summer.... About the ring, she wants to use her grandmothers wedding ring as the wedding band, basically to add too what I buy her. She even offered to go up to the store and buy the ring together, I said NO!!! She did clarify the cut that she wanted. So things are working out great!!! The wedding is going to be really small, just immediate family, but a really long international honeymoon, which her father is going to pay the tab on all of that. She is going to wear her best friends dress so that is covered. So basically all I have to do is just buy the ring. So with all that said, it looks like I am going to be getting a little bit larger of a ring then what I looked at yesterday.... I think she is just gettting a check from her father to pay for the wedding, basically a set amount, but she said that she would rather have a small wedding and save the rest of the money to put towards a bigger house. Which we talked about the living arrangements and she is going to move in with me after we get married then we are going to sell the house after about a year! The build something bigger out in the country with some land. She even mentioned the shop again!!!!

 

thats ******* great dude, i hope everything works out for you guys exactly as you said it. congrats bro

 

Lisa, thanks for the great site. I really appreciate all the help!

 

I'd say it all depends on the woman. With my fiance she did not want a big showpiece. In fact she told me that if I spent that much money on her, it better be for her new horse trailer. LOL. She's very outdoorsy and working with the horses, so for her, a smaller diamond with a low profile setting fit the bill. Thats not to say that the ring is plain or ugly, its just obviously not a massive rock either--something like that would have been destroyed in the first week with my girl.

 

well, i cant offer much advice.... as i dont like jewelery, and my GF doesnt like jewelery either. so i guess my problem is solved. lol. give her a piston ring !!!! chrome plated !