Engagement ring advice

[dice]

So i'm pretty sure the time has come around and I'm hoping for some advice on rings and stones. As keen as I am on watches, I don't know how deep the rabbit hole goes with rings.

The (hopefully) Mrs-to-be isn't keen on diamonds, butI know she is keen on blue opals. That's where the criterion ends, really.

Are there any considerations I'm missing, from those who have been in my shoes before? Any special considerations with opals? How on Earth do I get a ring size, while trying to keep it even remotely a surprise?

Thanks!

[kevkojak]

I would advise not to buy an Opal engagement ring. I've been asked a few times, every time I have had to talk the couple out of it.

It is a 5.5 (out of ten) on the Mohs hardness scale and is quite brittle.
Beautiful stone for a dress ring, but in an engagement ring designed to be worn every day in all conditions I'd be amazed to see it last 5 years.

If you want to skip the traditional Diamond, then a Sapphire makes a great substitute (keeps to your blue colour and it rates as a 9 on the hardness scale).
Opal, as a semi precious stone, is much more commonly found mounted in silver. My advice would be to buy her a nice blue opal necklace for the wedding day - not the ring.

[aucky]

Congratulations!

As far as i know, stone clasification remains largely the same, I quite enjoyed learning about it https://www.bluenile.com/uk/educatio...?track=SideNav

[gary1064]

This doesn't sound very romantic I know, but my wife and I took a trip to the jewellery quarter so that she could choose her own ring and get a bit of a discount compared to the high street. Popping the question with a ring behind my back wasn't an option as she asked me!

General advice used to be to budget on spending one month's salary on the ring, I got away with less than that!

Can you "borrow" one of her existing rings as a size guide?

Good luck in any case.

[SteveR]

I'd say the modern approach to this is to go with her and get what she picks. To keep the special feeling make a day of it. Go somewhere special rather than local or something. Congratulations also!

[Saint-Just]

Whilst the first advice should be "DON'T", the second would be to listen to kevkojak and maybe continue the conversation in PM as he is a great bloke to deal with.

[dice]

Thanks for the advice and congratulations so far - the latter might be a bit hasty though, I haven't even asked yet!

I'm young-ish (28) and both a bit of a traditionalist and a pragmatic - so while I see the benefits of making a day of picking the ring, the other part of me is screaming nooooooo. I'll need to resolve this internal conflict myself!

She's not much of a jewelry wearer. When I get the ring, I'm sure it will be worn infrequently (she works as an auditor in food and catering, so jewelry is a no-no). I expect like the rest of her stuff, it will be worn sparingly on occasions only.

Thanks again for all the insight. Anything more is appreciated, I'll be checking this thread whenever she isn't hovering...

[draftsmann]

I know it's my standard comment on these threads but if you're in London check out David Ashton in the OXO Tower on the South Bank. His stuff is gorgeous, like nothing else you'll find anywhere- and if you take Kev's wise advice to look at sapphires instead of opals, David makes some really lovely sapphire pieces. www.davidashton.co.uk

[walkerwek1958]

Whilst the first advice should be "DON'T", the second would be to listen to kevkojak and maybe continue the conversation in PM as he is a great bloke to deal with.

+ 1.......Kev's the guy to listen to.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to go for platinum in preference to white gold..... assuming you're choosing white metal rather than yellow gold. I'm sure Kev will have a view on this too.

I think diamond is the best stone choice, I always associate engagement rings with diamonds.

When looking at wedding rings I'd avoid the temptation to go for patterns, they are far more difficult to aler in future years when fingers change..........and trust me they do change!

Good luck and congratulations, I enjoy being married so much I've done it twice

Paul

[draftsmann]

Here's Mrs Draft's engagement ring made by David. Paul's advice about finger sizes changing with age is spot on too and had we been shopping for an engagement ring in our 20s something like this with the diamond set shank wouldn't have been a wise choice, but we're old and fat now so it's less of a concern to us.



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[adrianw]

Dom Hackett had mine made for me, service second to None and great value, I gave it to her at lunch before the Springsteen concert at Wembley last year, she didn't have a clue

[BCD]

I picked my missis ring, knew what she wanted and she was overjoyed that I'd picked her something she'd hinted at for years! As for sizing I took the standard size what it came in, and got it altered after I'd presented it.. No way on earth would I have got the right size otherwise!

[kevkojak]

+ 1.......Kev's the guy to listen to.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to go for platinum in preference to white gold..... assuming you're choosing white metal rather than yellow gold. I'm sure Kev will have a view on this too.

I think diamond is the best stone choice, I always associate engagement rings with diamonds.

When looking at wedding rings I'd avoid the temptation to go for patterns, they are far more difficult to aler in future years when fingers change..........and trust me they do change!

Good luck and congratulations, I enjoy being married so much I've done it twice

Paul

Yep, if you're looking at white metal then 100% platinum.
On the high street it's still a higher price than 18ct white gold, but check the scrap markets - it's currently about 25% cheaper!! Harder metal, much rarer than gold, higher purity and built to last forever.

[JP28]

Letting her choose exactly what she wanted as regards stone an design really worked for us. There will be plenty of excitement anyway and getting the right ring has meant it has been worn a lot.

[markrlondon]

That's stunning!

[oblivion]

It's where and how you propose that's more important than having a ring straight away. The ring is the icing on the cake which you can both enjoy buying.
I proposed on a dive in the Blue Hole Belize. Upon our return we went to Hatton Gdn and bought her ring.
Sadly some time later she threw the ring back at me for reasons we won't go in to.
She got the ring back again on a dive holiday in the Maldives. We've been happily married ever since and now have 3 kids.

[monogroover]

Dom Hackett had mine made for me, service second to None and great value, I gave it to her at lunch before the Springsteen concert at Wembley last year, she didn't have a clue

That's lovely! But when did you present the ring?

[IdiotAbroad]

My wife has sapphire and diamond which I designed with a local jeweller. Turns out it was nearly identical to a great great grandmother's ring so I got extra points there! It was very good value too compared to a ring from a shop, and I could choose the exact sapphire from a bag of stones. Although I had to brace a little when the jeweller told me I'd made an excellent choice! One piece of useful advice was to have the ring on the bigger side if unsure, so that it could definitely fit the finger in the moment of proposing rather than it being too small!

Finding a wedding band to fit with it was in fact a greater challenge! Quick pic below but the blue really "pops" in the light.

As for location, it was on top of a very (30ft high) large boulder where I used to climb and had taken her on our first date. Had to be careful going on to one knee that I didn't fall off!







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[Dave O'Sullivan]

CS Bedfords in Ruislip do a few rings. Also do custom stuff as far as I know. Ask for Mark.

To make the trip better for you, they also sell Omega, Breitling, Bremont and others!

[adrianw]

That's lovely! But when did you present the ring?

:-)

[dice]

There is some great advice and recommendations in here, thanks very much all.

Its a way off yet, I'm very much planning ahead but I'll let you know how it goes!

[gunner]

Another recommendation for a custom made sapphire ring. I chose the stones (sapphires vary a lot) and the design for this in platinum. Additional benefit was having the wedding band made to match the shape.

[Brighty]

Is it definately diamonds she's not keen on, or just the style of solitaire rings?

My wife was not keen at all on big flash sticky-up solitaire rings and wanted something more subtle and understated, also something she wouldn't catch and damage/lose stone when at work.

I went for this in platinum with a 0.5ct stone and she was over the moon with it
https://www.diamondgeezer.com/02-0100-2245

Only problem with it was, because of the shape, we had to get a custom made wedding band, but wasn't too expensive and we got exactly want we wanted, the bloke machined it in silver while we waited, slimed it down a bit on request, then when we were happy sent it off to be cast into platinum. the result looks really good with both rings together.

[Dazzler]

Good luck, might be worth taking her shopping afterwards for a ring. Sometimes they like 3 complimetary rings that sit together, engagement, wedding and eternity ring.

[goregasm]

I got the wife's engagement ring from Blue Nile.

They have a configurator so you can pick the material & style of ring, and then pick the size, shape, carat weight etc of the stone

[J3w3ll3r]

There's defiantly something to be said for actually seeing a piece of jewellery,

You can buy a watch with reasonable certainly that one new Rolex is the same as another new Rolex assuming the same model number but the same can most definitely nor be said for a diamond ring

Yes you can use the 4cs but that's just the tip of the iceberg, I could name you a dozen other things that affect a diamonds look and ultimately value that 99% of websites most definitely would not mention


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[pitbull666]

I got the wife's engagement ring from Blue Nile.

They have a configurator so you can pick the material & style of ring, and then pick the size, shape, carat weight etc of the stone

Hard to tell from that image what material they are?

My wife wanted a Cartier Love ring as a wedding band but never like how it sat against her engagment ring.

[goregasm]

Hard to tell from that image what material they are?

My wife wanted a Cartier Love ring as a wedding band but never like how it sat against her engagment ring.

The Love ring is mine

The pic is from just after our wedding day, all 3 are 18ct white gold. Wife wanted diamonds so we ended up with a full eternity ring as her wedding band

Edit: better pic (no filter)

[Bendigits]

I'm a bit of an obsessive so when I was looking for the other halves engagement ring I did a huge amount of hunting around for stones and makers. I was looking for a really pale yellow sapphire and this was proving elusive. Eventually I came across the gem cutting work of John Dyer and I loved it, he's won bucketfuls of awards and I was sold. However he didn't seem to have any stones in the colour I wanted which was a shame. So I kept hunting and then found a jeweller that I liked the work of called Matt Powell, I saw this piece he'd made which I thought was amazing....



So I called him and we met up and as it turns out John is a friend of his and the morganite in the ring above is one of his stones. Long story short is that Matt called John and asked as to whether he had some sapphire rough in the correct colour which he did and he agreed to cut it for me. So after deciding on platinum and adding a few diamonds a few months later I took delivery of the ring below and everyone was happy. I would highly recommend Matt, he's only a young man but he has also started to win numerous awards for his work.



www.mattpowelljewellery.co.uk




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[pitbull666]

The Love ring is mine

The pic is from just after our wedding day, all 3 are 18ct white gold. Wife wanted diamonds so we ended up with a full eternity ring as her wedding band

Edit: better pic (no filter)

Nothing wrong with that I have one as well, so does my wife but she wears it on her other hand.