Ladies: Engagement Rings!

[SilverSerpent]

I guess it all depends on the person. Diamonds are very expensive, therefore it shows commitment and true love to a women in most of societys eyes. Me personally, i'm not much for diamonds, I love sapphires better, but for my engagement ring I wanted a diamond and we went and picked it out together. I think if you aren't sure what she wants, get a nice ring to propose with then take her to pick out what she wants. Then again, there's a new stone out there that in my opinion is more beautifull than a diamond, but more expensive becuase it's rarer, mossanite. Very pretty.

[Evilbob]

Then again, there's a new stone out there that in my opinion is more beautifull than a diamond, but more expensive becuase it's rarer, mossanite. Very pretty.

 

True mossanite never made it into the jewelry market. There was entirely to small of quantity to do that. But they were able to create it in a lab as either a nearly colorless or green stone. Most Diamond testers now have a mossanite tester in them as well, as it will in a standard tester, test as diamond. But due to the lab costs and the company setting base prices that a jeweler cannot sell below (even with a sale) thats why it is expensive. Also it is nice due to sharing almost every good quality that a diamond does (hardness being the big one) but it is usually less included (yeah for labs) and has a higher refractive index (it make more sparkles).

I remember when Mossanite came on the market, it was so affordable. Now I'll admit it has gotten pricy, but still less than a comarible color/clarity diamond.

[SilverSerpent]

Interesting EB, the Silver Company here in my local mall, the only place i can find one, claims it's the true thing, and selling for almost double the amount of a diamond of the same size....Good thing i didn't actually break down and buy one...:)

[fieldarchy]

diamonds are a girls best friend!

 

I'd go with diamonds and white gold/platinum for the metal

[Enchantra]

I don't ever want a Diamond. Cubic Zirconia is fine as is Moisanite(sp?), those lab grown diamonds, and a host of various gemstones. However I detest diamonds, not simply because of their cost but because most (not all) diamonds come from Africa and I refuse to support the cruelty to other human beings that take place at the mines. It's pitiful.

 

My engagement ring is not something I've really ever given much thought to as to what I would want. I'm of the opinion the guy can surprise me, I'll be thrilled with anything as I don't expect much anyways. Heck I don't even expect to ever be engaged so that would just add to the whole surprise wouldn't it? All I ever expect him to consider is I hate yellow gold and hate diamonds. From there surprise me.

[mooseyjoe]

While many diamonds come from africa, it is not hard to find ones that don't. Most jewelers are happy to tell you where your diamond comes from, and those that aren't don't deserve your business.

[smokingwreckage]

Also, diamonds have a way high refractive index, giving them quite a surprising degree of "sparkle" when clean and polished. My wife's engagement ring was a really lovely shade of sapphire with two small diamonds- nice combination of colour and sparkle.

[M. Eversberg II]

Eh this isn't for me to propose to her though I guess what you all said is perfectly applicatable.

 

Interestingly nobody went with the dual setting.

 

While I have alot of affection for this girl, I'd likely have to fight someone over her hand, AND she's a Christian, which causes more problems about "traditional" weddings and stuff.

 

I was considering sapphire myself, actually, in a hypothetical environment. Ironically it is her birth stone, she finds it beautiful, and I love blue sapphire.

 

you could always go for the "One Ring" I mean it was pretty desirable by many folk.....ha ha

 

You mean like this?

 

M.

[Ayin]

I actually never wanted a diamond as my main stone. I like them for the sparklies, but not center stage. I knew that I needed a setting that was flush, or I would beat the bejeebers out of my stone (I live thru my hands, and I am not often known for grace).

 

We ended up with a jeweler who was willing to custom design my ring for us, at much less than what we thought it would cost to do so. Not that we didn't spend a pretty penny on it. I love the claddagh, and loved the (then) "new" setting of diamonds in a band. I sketched up the two hands, one above, one below (instead of each side) the band was made from the "sleeves" set with 5 baguette diamonds each, and the center piece between the hands is a heart shaped opal. It was supposed to be a black opal, but that was well out of our price range. I told him it could be an anniversary gift. It is in white gold, and the jeweler did a beautiful job. I love my ring, and need to get it sized up so I can wear it on my right hand now...

 

Choosing a ring for someone is difficult. I would have honestly disappointed with a diamond center stone, and I couldn't wear anything but a flush setting every day. Happily, my man & I were able to talk about what I wanted quite easily, and when we did a ring shopping venture, his mom even came with! I think that she's the reason the jeweler took us seriously enough to talk custom rings with us.

 

As another stone alternative, you might want to look at tanzanite. Shades of blue, very pretty, but pricey.

[smokingwreckage]

A really good sapphire is lovely and it's a challenge (or it was for us) to find one in a truly intense blue. Most were either black or washed-out.

 

Oh no, Eversberg just put up his 666th post!

[vejlin]

But seriously, a diamond is the most traditional engagement ring. In college, a friend of mine proposed to his girlfriend with this dinky little ring with no diamonds that couldn't have cost more than about $200. The proposal was in front of about five friends, and the rest of us couldn't figure out how she wasn't insulted by it.

That's some seriously successful advertisement campaigns at work right there.

 

I mean getting everyone convinced that $200 for an engagement ring is "insulting". Brilliant!!!

 

People get upset about GW mini prices, but pft they're amateurs in comparison to the jewelry industry.

 

Lets think about this for awhile now. I keep hearing that diamonds are "traditional", I have serious doubts about that claim. How many generations does it take to make something "traditional" ? I mean seriously, how many ordinary folks do you think could afford diamonds on something like an engagement ring 100 years ago? So when did it get to be "tradition"? And who pushed to start this "tradition"?

 

Getting people convinced that you need to spend two months of salary on an engagement ring and that anything less is not good enough is simply genius.

 

Personally I'd never marry a woman who'd have gotten insulted because my engagement ring wasn't expensive enough. An engagement ring is a symbol of your love, since when is the amount of love I can give bounded by how much I can afford to spend on a piece of jewelry? Talk about superficiality.

 

Notice I said symbol. Because that's what it is. The ring is a symbol of love, it's not the actual love. The monetary value of the ring isn't a measure of how much the guy loves you. For all intents and purposes that symbol can be anything two people agree on. The cool thing about a ring is that it can be worn around on your hand so you see it all the time, and be happy about the love it symbolizes. Being something that you wear on your hand also means it should be something you think is pretty.

 

See I understand if the woman gets upset because she thinks the ring is ugly, or "not her style", but getting upset that it doesn't have a diamond or because it didn't bankrupt the guy is IMHO silly.

[Versutus Vulpes]

<V V steps up to the soapbox>

 

I am continually surprised by how often seemingly free thinking - intellegent people get caught up in the diamond marketing machine...

 

Hearing 2 months salary for an engagement ring is like the gas company saying - if you love your car you should pay $8 dollars a gallon for gas...

 

Diamonds are forever - Um no - no they aren't.

 

A single stone is old fashioned - go with multiple stones in a setting... Would you like to supersize that?

 

Know your diamond Cs before you buy!!! Yes - because then you can appreciate why you are overspending for a rock. If you plan on spending all of your time staring at your rock under a loop - then yes - this is important. If you plan on telling everyone all the details of your sone in some sort of bragging contest - then by all means - ask for a printout.

 

The rational side says - yes - diamonds are not a good investment (try reselling one*) are not indestructable (they will burn in a fire) are way overpriced and regardless of where the diamond comes from - they still result in affecting the cost of conflict diamonds**.

 

But the irrational side says - "diamonds = love"... There is (IMHO) no logical reason to go with a diamond. And before someone says - there is no logic in love - if it was love it wouldn't matter what you had on the ring.

 

The first and foremost reason for a diamond engagement ring is so the person who gets it can say - "I got a diamond engagement ring"... It is a bragging thing people. Men will moan and bellyache about it (but still see how they measure up against everyone else) - and you can see the woman who gets it as they walk around like they are being pulled by a string attached to it...

 

</end rant>

 

Needless to say I have a strong opinion on this subject. Which is just that - my opinion. Everyone has to play the game - I just don't like the rules sometimes. If you like diamonds - great - just ask yourself why - and see if there is another alternative that fits the bill.

 

 

* I know - this should be forever - but outside of engagement rings - diamonds make cars look like a retirement plan. Diamonds have virtually no value outside of societal value, and part of this is nobody wants a 'used' diamond.

 

** Canadian diamonds are expensive - because they are in demand - hence this increases the demand for cheaper alternatives... Want to stop human abuses because of diamonds... STOP BUYING THEM. All of them. No demand - no value.

[cutebutpsycho]

I told my husband that the only thing he was allowed to buy me was a ring that was silver colored with NO stone. This was when he was my boyfriend. If he wanted to spend the kind of money he'd spend on a diamond, he could get something we could enjoy together like, say, a motorcycle. So, I have a white gold Claddagh ring which I LOVE! I do wear a diamond, as anyone who has met me can tell you, but it's because it belonged to my grandfather. I firmly believe in keeping the family jewelry and wearing it as a memory of the family and my heritage.

 

I would never buy a diamond, simply because I think they're horrifically overpriced for what they are. Sure, they're pretty, but I don't think they're worth the cash. I can think of so many more important things......

[Frankthedm]

Was talking with a lady friend of mine about stuff, and I began to wonder: What's the best stone for an engagement ring?

A modest part depends on how shallow her circles of friends and associates are. To my understanding, some families and friend groupings treat that ring as a status symbol, in which only expensive rings bring any respect.

 

Obsidian or Hematite make a cool ring in my book. Not as a stone in the ring, but as the material of the ring.

[Ayin]

Lets think about this for awhile now. I keep hearing that diamonds are "traditional", I have serious doubts about that claim. How many generations does it take to make something "traditional" ? I mean seriously, how many ordinary folks do you think could afford diamonds on something like an engagement ring 100 years ago? So when did it get to be "tradition"? And who pushed to start this "tradition"?

 

Personally I'd never marry a woman who'd have gotten insulted because my engagement ring wasn't expensive enough. An engagement ring is a symbol of your love, since when is the amount of love I can give bounded by how much I can afford to spend on a piece of jewelry? Talk about superficiality.

 

Notice I said symbol. Because that's what it is. The ring is a symbol of love, it's not the actual love. The monetary value of the ring isn't a measure of how much the guy loves you. For all intents and purposes that symbol can be anything two people agree on. The cool thing about a ring is that it can be worn around on your hand so you see it all the time, and be happy about the love it symbolizes. Being something that you wear on your hand also means it should be something you think is pretty.

 

I could be wrong, but I think that engagement rings were originally given, not just as a symbol of love, but because when you got engaged, couples tended to engage in things that were supposed to be left 'til after the marriage. If the guy then decided that he did not want to marry this girl, he could dump her (no harm done to him), but she was "ruined" as far as polite society was concerned, and maybe pregnant. Keeping the ring (and this is why a woman does not *have* to return the engagement ring as per tradition) allowed her to have something to sell to provide for herself and her child if she came upon dire times. Thus, a more expensive ring showed a woman how much the man valued her (or at least her virginity) as well as wowing the social circles. Of course, that last was also probably from an ad campaign.... I don't know when all of this was going on, though.

 

I've always joked that my husband was going to have it easy when he bought jewelry for me. My favorite rocks tend to fall in the semi-precious category - tiger's eye, turquoise, hematite, tourmaline, malachite, bloodstone & leopard jaspers, obsidian, you get the idea. Even my birthstone, garnet, tends to be in the lower price range of sparklies. Of course, on the opposite end, I positively *love* a good black opal...

 

 

Was talking with a lady friend of mine about stuff, and I began to wonder: What's the best stone for an engagement ring?

A modest part depends on how shallow her circles of friends and associates are. To my understanding, some families and friend groupings treat that ring as a status symbol, in which only expensive rings bring any respect.

 

Obsidian or Hematite make a cool ring in my book. Not as a stone in the ring, but as the material of the ring.

 

Not to mention coral or carnelian for those who like more color!