Engagement rings

Carats are volume, not diameter, the place where this helps you is if you can swing a 3/4 carat diamond, its significantly cheaper than a one-carat, but visually, they are very similar from a distance.

Quality? Get the lowest quality diamond that doesn't look obviously dirty. I have never seen a woman sell her diamond (but, honey...it's an investment!) while she was still with her guy. If she leaves you, it doesn't matter if it's low quality or not, and...if she stays with you and keeps the diamond, it still doesn't matter if it's a cheap one.

I agree with the above poster, diamonds are a racket, but...if you can afford it and she likes them (so she won't be embarrassed when she's with her girlfriends...read this sentence again, slowly...do it) eh, why not?
 
spinningmagnets said:
Carats are volume, not diameter, the place where this helps you is if you can swing a 3/4 carat diamond, its significantly cheaper than a one-carat, but visually, they are very similar from a distance.

Quality? Get the lowest quality diamond that doesn't look obviously dirty. I have never seen a woman sell her diamond (but, honey...it's an investment!) while she was still with her guy. If she leaves you, it doesn't matter if it's low quality or not, and...if she stays with you and keeps the diamond, it still doesn't matter if it's a cheap one.

I agree with the above poster, diamonds are a racket, but...if you can afford it and she likes them (so she won't be embarrassed when she's with her girlfriends...read this sentence again, slowly...do it) eh, why not?

I couldn't agree more with SM...but for a slightly different reason... :shock:

I went for "quality" over carats. After 25 years marriage, I think I'm going to have to "supplement" the original purchase. This time carats over quality. I was an idiot to be concerned with quality over size anyway, she has always had 20/200 vision. I know it sounds bizarre, but consider her visual acuity into the metrics of the purchase and you can't go wrong.
 
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My wife's ring, which three years later we are still debating getting a band for
You don't have to go diamond. A 140 year old ornate jade-gold ring is... actually better, in our opinion. And yes, our skintones are VERY different.

I eventually decided that I didn't want my finger degloved from that notoriously durable tungsten-carbide ring, so I got a thin-banded "white" gold ring now. Should snap if it catches on any heavy machinery.

But for her... get YOUR lady what she wants. Within reason. I agree that you should get the cheapest good-with-the-naked-eye diamond you can.
 
I am looking at emeralds because she mentioned a while ago she likes them and I do too.
 
An inexpensive loop is necessary, especially if buying from an antique store or from a private party. Jewelry stores all let you use theirs. Some flaws in stones (diamonds, rubies, and emeralds) and settings are less noticable to the naked eye, but affect the value; so it is best to shop wisely. I've made a loop out of an eyepiece from a pair of old broken binoculars that I fished out of the trash, but my favorite one which I lost several years ago was a homemade job that I bought for a dollar at the estate sale of an eye doctor. He put it together himself out of spare parts he had lying around, and the lenses were of very high quality. We used to buy at auctions locally, they had the best deals on such items but you need to know what you are doing before bidding gets going as all sales are final.
 
I bought my future Hex-Wifey a single large Princess-cut E1 (?) Diamond that was ... if memory swerves me correctly, was about 1.5c - and set in Platinum. For the wedding band, I found two similar sized smaller diamonds that were about 0.6c each of the same quality. I went to a pretty dang good diamond broker and the whole thing set me back about one months’ wages. At the time I was making it hand over fist during the Dot-Com boom, but those days are long gone.

On hind sight, I could have got away with less and had the same effect; the ring was nearly gawdy and leapt right off her hand in public and definitely magpie eye-candy… but as it turned out, she (the future Mrs. Hex) was a magpie-deluxe.

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It’s really a fun little story – our engagement. During this time we would often talk in opposites – I can’t even being to remember how this little game got started, but we’re talking about two people in stupid-love with each other … and the games you make up I think are quite personal, charming, silly, yet fun. I definitely had fun on this one and it when like this:

To my Intended, I asked if she’d like a ring made of lead, brass, or tin: In reverse-language, I was asking her if she wanted Silver, Gold, or Platinum. She chose “tin” cos she’s a magpie. In this way she sort of knew what she was getting without having to overtly knowing it.

Next, I asked her what kind of gem she wanted. Here again I used opposites, so I said dull bloodstone, dark jade, or coal. Meaning Ruby, Emerald, or Diamond. She figured coal would be best.

Somehow or another I had written up a little ditty describing how I was going to present her with a ring made of tin and coal… and you have to admit, it does sound pretty cheap! So when the day finally came, I asked the jeweler for a special box. In the process I related the story about tin and coal which made him smile warmly, and he dug up a perfect box for the occasion.

Now you can spend a lot of money on diamonds and rings and necklaces and earrings… but I’m here to tell you that no matter how much you spend, it all comes down to delivery and that final impression – which is permanent and forever and ever in the mind of your sweetheart!

Well, I told my sweetie that I worked and worked and worked to find the darkest blackest chunk of coal I could find, and I finally found one! I’m telling her this as we are lying in bed with the lights out, so I knew her imagination was working upon my words as I continued. Yes – I said, this chunk of coal is so dark – it will suck all the light out of the room, I kid you not – which elicited a giggle. I can’t remember how I managed to stretch this dialog out for as long as I did, but it was a long time before she finally said “Oh, I can’t wait to see it!” …which of course were the magic words I was lurking for and I said to her that as a matter of fact, I’ve got it right here! Wait… I said, (opening up a little cupboard on the headboard; there’s one on each side that’s convenient for stashing knickknacks). Right… so it’s still dark as night, no light whatsoever in our bedroom. I told her once again how this chunk of coal is so powerfully dark – it’s gonna suck all the light out of the room!!! Are you ready? She said yes – and I just knew her eyes were wide open in anticipation:
I pulled out the ring box cos I knew exactly where it was hidden, then I brought it up close to her face and said, ok here it goes – but just a quick peek… and I opened the box!

The jeweler had given me this box with a light inside that shown out so that the diamond ring was on top – and the way that the gem was cut with all the facets – scattered the light exquisitely. Considering we had been laying there in pitch blackness for a long time, the effect was perfectly blinding and completely opposite of a Black Hole. I snapped the box back shut and She squealed like a little girl!

I said: Wanna see it again? :twisted:

I’ve been married twice. The first one I loved dearly – but couldn’t stand to live with her. The second one (magpie) I would have died for, but eventually she did not love me and turn colder than the darkest Arctic night. But for a short time – we were happy. This was one of the best moments.

You could hand your gal a cigar ring. If the presentation is right, it won’t matter if it’s paper. Make it a perfect moment!

To your happiness: May it last for all Eternity!
Cheers, KF
 
I used some scrap aluminum to make her a temporary ring. She said yes to me :D and I will let her pick one out.
 
veloman said:
I used some scrap aluminum to make her a temporary ring. She said yes to me :D and I will let her pick one out.

Another one bites the dust. Before you know it it will be expensive wedding, no money left. Arguing over money, then the conversation of having children will come up,,, and game over! :lol:

No really, congratulations!, but try and dodge the children conversation for as long as possible :wink:
 
My advice is to be generous to each other. You're in it for the long haul. If you do that and it doesn't work out, it's her fault, and you deserve someone better. But in my experience, generosity breeds generosity. Congratulations!
 
Children are a long way off, if ever. We both have no desires for such right now.

She is very generous and I am very lucky. I appreciate her a lot.
 
Napoleon III of France is reputed to have given a banquet where the most honored guests were given aluminum utensils, while the others made do with gold.
Aluminum was selected as the material to use for the 100 ounce (2.8 kg) capstone of the Washington Monument in 1884, a time when one ounce (30 grams) cost the daily wage of a common worker on the project. -Wikipedia :p
 
This thread is so full of great one liners:

DONT DO IT.... in 50 years you will wonder why you didn't build a new ebike instead
Cover your ass with a prenuptial contract. Then think about spendy jewelry
A wedding is nothing but a funeral with music,jmo
I hear married is like being dead except you got to wake up and go to work everyday
Diamonds are a racket
You're too young. Don't do it.
Dude. who in their right mind spends 4k on a bicycle ?.
Nothing says "weird dude" or "cheap bastard" better than the wrong ring.
$6.00 engagement ring? That is an abstinence ring. Cause if you think $6 buck ring is enticing to most USA females , then you are most likely not going to be considered for a lifetime of marriage ... but instead, sentenced to a long stretch of not getting laid :cry:
I have had engagement rings thrown at me before and the ones over 1/2 carat can hurt when they hit you, but they're easier to find afterwards.
...so she won't be embarrassed when she's with her girlfriends...

:lol: :lol:
 
1st year of marriage..great
2nd year of marriage- 1st child, things started drifting away
3rd year of marriage- 2nd child, complete chaos.

not saying it will happen to you, but talk about a miserable existence, love my children though.

Also my wife lost her ring about a year into it. LAWL
 
You can go the Moissanite ring too, it looks like diamond, sparkles like diamond (so much so that some jewellers testers cant tell the difference), is as hard as diamond (just about, diamond is very marginally harder), and lasts as long as diamond, but isnt quite as expensive. I got my ex a 1.25ct ring, with diamonds set on each side and Moissanite set as the centre stone, it just looks like a big diamond ring, as the Moissanite is quite a rock and a half, she thinks its diamond, so does everyone else, but its not.

Dont confuse it with Cubic zirconia, that's just a crappy diamond knock off thats not where as tough, it chips, and dulls and is generally crap after a year or so, where as Moissanite is basically diamond for a lot less.

http://www.moissanite.co.uk/

You can also get man made lab diamonds too, there was a company called Gemanis I think or something similar making them, they are made in a lab inside big compression machine things, they are 100% diamond the same as regular diamonds, but generally cost slightly less.

You can also get various colour of diamond, some are cheaper than others, as well as various quality, generally the less inclusions a diamond has the more expensive it is. The inclusions are the flaws inside it like tiny cracks, black flecks etc. I had a ring custom made, I bought the boss (ring bit) in white gold with the diamonds on each side off Ebay of all places (there are loads of rings on there), I then sent it to a Moissanite specialist Joseph Schubach http://shopping.schubachstore.com/ in the USA to have the Moissanite stone fitted to the ring. They then adjusted the size for me and sent it back to the UK.

Just make sure you hang onto the export shipping notice, as they try to sting you on import otherwise, just tell customs its been sent for repair.
 
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