Wedding/engagement rings.... ?
Q.What are your experiences with buying a Wedding/engagement ring? We are going out this weekend to buy one. Don't know price range at the moment. Any suggestions? Comments? I'm definately going with a diamond of some sort, leaning toward a solitaire(princess or round cut), for the engagement ring. Anybody got a silver/platinum instead of the traditional gold band/ring? Also what kind of price range did you all go with?
A.I would recommend determining how much you want to spend and then doing some research to find out what type of diamond you can afford in that price range. There are lots of different factors that contribute to the overall quality of a diamond, it is a good idea to learn about these things before buying a ring. My husband did a lot of research on the net to find out how to select a good quality stone, etc. Also, depending on what types of stores you are looking in, prices can vary quite a bit. Mall jewelry stores will definitely be higher than stores that deal with more volume. For example, we have a small section of downtown which has a whole bunch of local family owned jewelry stores located in one building. They definitely have better prices than the mall stores. Price range really should be set before you go looking. You should set a limit. You can spend from $1,000-$10,000, but YOU need to set your limit according to your budget. Many of my friends only had a couple thousand or less to spend because they were in college. My husband had more (even though he was also in college) because he worked. His college was paid for by money left to him by his grandfather. Many people are not quite as fortunate, but don't break the bank on your ring. You don't want to be paying for it three years after you are married!! My husband and I pretty much pay for everything in full. I know most people pay things off. We dont' like to have debt (which is a good thing when you buy a house!), but sometimes it is unavoidable. We just don't buy things if we don't have the money. If you have to pay it off, I would advise that you be able to pay it off in a year or less. I know you want a nice ring, but you don't want to regret writing the check every month for years to come. Trust me -- save your money for when you are married! We have all these things we want to buy now that we have been married for 2 years. Set a reasonable amount. Stick to it. If you want something nicer later, you can always get it later. If you can afford it now, do it now!! It sounds like you know pretty much what you want. Now, you just have to decide on size and quality according to your budget. If you want a high quality diamond, you may have to get a smaller carat weight to fit your budget. If you really want a certain size, then you may have to sacrifice quality a little. The larger the diamond, the more the price goes up with quality because they are harder to find. The smaller, the easier it is to find a good quality diamond, so the price will not go up as significantly as it would with a larger diamond. I hope that made sense. My husband bought me my diamond without me with him. He didn't know much, but the salesperson was extremely helpful. Make sure you find a store where the salesperson is helpful. After all, you don't know much about diamonds. You need to educate yourself. You wouldn't buy a car without doing some research, so you shouldn't buy a diamond without doing a little as well. Learn about the 4 C's -- color, clarity, cut, and carat. Look at diamonds with variations in one aspect at a time so you can judge for yourself what is most important. My husband found that the color made the most difference in the appearance, but that is an opinion. You may think cut or clarity are more important. My diamond is a 1 carat, brilliant cut (round), in a tiffany setting, with very very good color and good clarity. The color is better than the clarity because he couldn't see a difference (with the naked eye) with the different clarities as long as it was at least an SI (I agree), but this will vary with carat weight, cut, etc... I imagine a brilliant cut depends on differnt qualities than a princess cut. If you want more sparkle, go with the brilliant cut. My band is gold because that is what I prefer. I wore more gold at the time. I actually wear more silver now, but it really doesn't matter. My wedding band is also gold. Platinum is very nice, but it is quite a bit more expensive than gold. If that is what you want, though, get it. It is worth it. I got engaged on February 25 and my absolutely adorable fiance shocked me with a gorgeous three-stone ring, platinum band. The center stone is a 1.02carat princess-cut diamond, flanked on both sides by 1/4 carat round diamonds. (It's been over two months and I can't stop looking at it!!) He bought the ring in the diamond district in NYC from a reputable broker. The color, clarity and cut are considered very good. He wanted to stay within the $7000 range, and he was able to. Depending on the quality of the diamond, you can spend anywhere from $2000 to $10,000 per carat (I even saw a one-carat for $15,000 - don't ask). One note, though - if you go with a diamond with a lower color grade (I or lower), do not get a platinum band. It will make the diamond look yellow, brownish or tinted. You'd be best off with a gold band in that case. One more word of advice - go with quality if you have to choose between a big low-quality diamond or a smaller high quality diamond. Believe me, you can tell the difference! For really great advice, check out The Diamond Guy at weddingpages.com. He answers hundreds of questions about buying diamonds. You can look through the archives for the answers to just about every diamond question you can think of.
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