Wedding rings...

[JetGirl]

My wife's engagement ring is either my grandmothers or great grandmothers. I inherited from my dad when he passed. We thought it was my grandmothers but when I took it to a jeweler to get it repaired and resized I was told that the cut is called an "old mine cut" which they stopped using in the late 1800s so it could of been my great grandmas.

I told her if we ever divorce the ring stays.

Yep. That's entirely possible.
I have a family heirloom with that cut in a basket setting. It's a zillion little directional cuts that really make it sparkle when it catches the light.
Tradition is that it's gone from mother to daughter over many generations when the daughter turns 16. Unfortunately, for my daughter, I actually wore it every day since my mother gave it to me...and just before she turned 16, it broke. I took it to a jeweler to have it fixed and they sent it to Indy. It came back untouched with a write up about how everything started crumbling from the moment they started trying to recondition it.
Best I can do at this point is have a copy of it made and have the stone set in the copy. The original is platinum...I don't know if that's tougher or weaker than silver or gold, structurally.
At any rate, that's something I can't afford to do yet.

 

[tmfinney]

The best advice I can give as I'm going through it right now is wait for sales. Back in November I got my girlfriends engagement ring. It's part of a bridal set that with the band will total one carat. I went before Thanksgiving and Kays wanted around $1350 for the engagement ring, I waited for the after Thanksgiving sales and saved $500. I'm paying it off right now and giving it to her for Christmas and I'll wait and get the band next year before the wedding.

 

[Eddie]

I showed this thread to my wife and she brought up another good point. She bought a $500 ring for our wedding, (so we spent $800 total on rings in 1994), she works with her hands a lot doing gardening and carpentry and such. We hardly ever wear our rings anymore except to dress up but she has once knocked one of the little diamonds out of her set and another time broke the entire set off when she wore it while playing volleyball. I got her a cocktail ring a few years ago and she likes that a lot better because the stones are set down inside grooves in the metal and it doesn't get hung up on stuff.

 

[JetGirl]

the stones are set down inside grooves in the metal and it doesn't get hung up on stuff.

That's what I liked about that basket setting. No prongs to snag on stuff.
Winter gloves with lining are a pain in the butt.

 

[linzal12]

If you are comfortable spending 2k do it regardless of what anyone says. If not talk to your fiance, and if you ar in love she will not care about the price. As far as where to go educate yourself and shop around. Personally i went with shane co. and have never been happier. They have an onsite jewler and a free lifetime guarntee.

 

[360]

Scutter has hit it on the head.

Someone suggested the cubic Zirconia...don't use that.

Thankfully my wife is level headed. I bought a nice band and moissanite to fill it.

Search the internet for moissanite. The best diamond substitution hands down, and no one will ever know the difference but you and her. Moissanite even fools jewelers. Ours said he couldn't tell the difference, but, he knew what we brought him. This stuff is a fraction of the cost of a real diamond, is as hard, and much much prettier.

Moissanite Created by Charles & Colvard, Ltd.

Joy Jewelers Moissanite

Pick your rock, then buy her the band she likes, and call it a deal.

As for mens rings, trust me on this one. But nothing but tungsten carbide. It's cheap enough, and will take any abuse you can throw at it. Mine takes a beating daily, and still looks like it is brand new.

I have purchased from [URL="http://www.joyjewelers.com]Joy Jewelers[/URL] on several different occasions, and they have been great. Prices are great too.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I'm getting married in October. While looking around at wedding bands I'm told hers will be roughly $2,000. I feel like this is pretty absurd, but I've never been married before. And we only looked at a single place today. Just wondering if there are any married people here that would like to share their opinion on how much a wedding ring should cost. Should I expect a $2,000 price tag everywhere I go?

I know weddings are really important to women and all, and I dont want to be a d.ck or anything...but $2,000 for the band? Really?

Do what YOU WANT TO DO. Just do it smart.

Shop around, get out the loupe and look at what you are buying, get the details, gold content, weight, the quality of the diamond.

You don't have to be a diamond "expert" to make sure you are GETTING what you are paying for. Google is your friend, every one else is just a salesman.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I just read through this thread a tiny bit and have one more bit of advice, good God what ever you do DON'T BORROW MONEY FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

DON'T EVER BORROW ANY MONEY BUT ESPECIALLY DON'T BORROW MONEY FOR JEWELRY.

DON'T BUY ANY PHONY, FAKE, PRETENDER junk.

Buy what the heck you both want. If she wants a big phony hunk of glass then get it but I wouldn't. You want to spend the rest of your life a phony pretender? Every time you look at her finger it's a lie?

WTH, is that the symbalism the ring means to you? Get what you can afford, get what you want, what ever it is, don't pretend it's something else. If your whole life were an apple barrel you'd be throwing in a rotton one the very first move you ever made together.

I may not be the most pleasant person to be around, but I got the best woman who was ever on this planet to marry me. I worked at it, it was the best thing ever happened to me. Hands down.

The only one I've been married to, only one she's been married to, been married 34 years now. If there's one thing I know it's that there is going to plenty of marbles and bannana peels ahead, don't start out throwing any on the floor on purpose.

 

[Jimbovia]

Just spend what you can afford to. She'll be happy with whatever it is, and if she isn't...an uncontested divorce in Hendricks is only $137 My ex wanted much more than I could afford, but was happy with what I had provided...initially.

Ooops, headed to Putnamville for USAC, see ya'll later!

 

[henktermaat]

Yeah- you only spend what you want. You certainly don't have to be like anyone else! Mine were close or under $1000.

Giving your wife the gift of an emergency fund is extremely valuable. As Dave Ramsey says, women have a "security gland" that acts up and makes your life miserable unless you have a little safety net

 

[sur+rifle]

I opted for a titanium ring. Far less expensive than gold or platinum and much more rugged. And it matches my titanium watch. Right now it looks like you can still get nice ones for less than $50:

Titanium Rings at Amazon

My wife opted for white gold to match her engagement ring.

 

[ljadayton]

wowwww...my entire ring set (3 rings...my engagement, my wedding band and my ex's wedding band--never worn btw) were like $150 at Walmart back in 2000....it was the sentiment behind the rings, not the rings themselves....we also didn't have a wedding..we got married by a judge. We figured we were JUST as married as someone who spent thousands of dollars on a dream fairy tale wedding. Bottom line, you know her, you gotta live with her.....so talk to her

 

[Joe Williams]

wowwww...my entire ring set (3 rings...my engagement, my wedding band and my ex's wedding band--never worn btw) were like $150 at Walmart back in 2000....it was the sentiment behind the rings, not the rings themselves....we also didn't have a wedding..we got married by a judge. We figured we were JUST as married as someone who spent thousands of dollars on a dream fairy tale wedding. Bottom line, you know her, you gotta live with her.....so talk to her

We did both the judge thing and the fancy church wedding thing, four months apart. Now I'm stuck buying two anniversary presents a year... suckered from the get go, I was!

 

[Bigum1969]

We did both the judge thing and the fancy church wedding thing, four months apart. Now I'm stuck buying two anniversary presents a year... suckered from the get go, I was!

You were, indeed.

 

[joekoug]

I was dating a girl and about a month ago she said something like, "Just so ya know - 2 carats, no less!" And I said - well actually I never said anything, I never talked to her again after that comment. The idea of spending $20,000 on an engagement ring is so absurd.

 

[printcraft]

I was dating a girl and about a month ago she said something like, "Just so ya know - 2 carats, no less!" And I said - well actually I never said anything, I never talked to her again after that comment. The idea of spending $20,000 on an engagement ring is so absurd.

Dude, you messed up. She probably had a bunny suit at home...........

 

[misconfig]

My wife's engagement ring was $4,000; the band she picked out is around the $2k range.

If you ask me, it's all about preference; you most certainly can get a band much cheaper than $2k that's for sure.

Weigh your options, most people put a down payment on a home // pay bills or for the wedding instead of dropping absurd amounts of money like that.

My ring is carbide; it was $150.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Yep. That's entirely possible.
I have a family heirloom with that cut in a basket setting. It's a zillion little directional cuts that really make it sparkle when it catches the light.
Tradition is that it's gone from mother to daughter over many generations when the daughter turns 16. Unfortunately, for my daughter, I actually wore it every day since my mother gave it to me...and just before she turned 16, it broke. I took it to a jeweler to have it fixed and they sent it to Indy. It came back untouched with a write up about how everything started crumbling from the moment they started trying to recondition it.
Best I can do at this point is have a copy of it made and have the stone set in the copy. The original is platinum...I don't know if that's tougher or weaker than silver or gold, structurally.
At any rate, that's something I can't afford to do yet.

My wifes is a basket setting also, with 2 small satellite stones. Sorry to hear about your ring. I was lucky, just had to have it a new shank and the two satellite stones replaces and one point. The shank was so worn from wear I swear it was almost thin enough to cut.

We did both the judge thing and the fancy church wedding thing, four months apart. Now I'm stuck buying two anniversary presents a year... suckered from the get go, I was!

Yep you been had.

 

[Indy317]

We went to a place that was going out of business. It was actually a mall based jewelry store that had expanded to suburban strip malls, but was downsizing back to mall only. We got two white gold (looks like silver) bands. One is the engagement ring, the other is the band that goes with it. Total was $1,000. The "retail price" was listed at $5,000...

We took it to get it appraised at an independent store on the NE side of Indy, Khamis Fine Jewelers. She appraised it at $2,000 and said we got a good deal, but laughed when I told her they were claiming a worth of $5,000. We had her size it, and my wife got it sized too small, and they were nice enough to charge us only half price (not that costly really) to re-size it. The only thing is that we bought and got no warranty. Just so happens, one of the baguette diamonds fell out. We decided to take it to Khamis and she only charged us like $100 to replace the lost baguette and the repair guy checked the others and said they all seemed OK. Hard telling why it fell out, but it has been about four years and so far, nothing else happened with it.

You should be able to find something nice for $2,000. If your soon to be wife has her mind made up on a certain cut, style, etc., I feel for you. It may be time to have a very upfront talk with her about money. You might actually find out you two have different views when it comes to money, living in debt, etc.. Trust me, if she is dead set on a $6,000 ring, have you even discussed home buying? Saving money? (And even if a soon to be wife/husband has money in IRAs, 401(k)s, and/or a savings deposit doesn't mean they are 'savers.' It all depends on how much money they have in those accounts and then you compare that with how much debt they are in-student loans, car, credit card, etc..).

Trust me, if you are looking at $2,000 for a band only, that is shocking. I was upfront with my wife about me being frugal. She calls me cheap all the time, but we will have our home paid off in two years...saving us around $90K+ in interest that most folks pay out over 20-30 years on a home. Oh, for my ring, I got a silver or white gold band with a line of diamonds (small, looks like crushed pieces really!). It was $300 and I get complements on it all the time.

a BMW is absurd to those who can only afford a KIA.

..but i personally felt the woman i love was worth more than a few hundred dollars spent at the mall.

For those who have money to blow, spend away. However, most folks don't, but _think_ they do. What is sad is that folks will spend thousands on a diamond ring, know they have blown that money on 'the ring' and when they go to buy their new family car, used to skip out on the side impact airbags. Then they get smashed into and get injuries that likely would have been much, much less sever had they spent what used to be $500 on side curtain airbags.

It kinda reminds of folks who buy heavy duty, V8 trucks and SUVs for "safety," then they also go out and buy a motorcycle to drive during nice weather days to "save on gas."

Dude, you messed up. She probably had a bunny suit at home...........

Yup, and 2 carets of cubic zirconium can't cost that much!!

 

[melensdad]

I'm getting married in October. While looking around at wedding bands I'm told hers will be roughly $2,000. I feel like this is pretty absurd, but I've never been married before. And we only looked at a single place today. Just wondering if there are any married people here that would like to share their opinion on how much a wedding ring should cost. Should I expect a $2,000 price tag everywhere I go?

I know weddings are really important to women and all, and I dont want to be a d.ck or anything...but $2,000 for the band? Really?

When I got married, 25 years ago, I could not afford a nice ring. My wife got a down payment on a Jeep Cherokee and the payment book instead of the engagement ring. Our wedding bands were simple bands, $49 each.

For our 20th anniversary I broke down and had a 1.4 carat yellow diamond set in white and yellow gold with a pave' of white and yellow diamonds set in the band. I designed the ring and its the only one like it in the world. Clearly my lot in life changed over the first 20 years of my marriage but it took 20 years for my wife to get her diamond.

Today a $2000 ring is chump change. But for a newlywed a $2000 expenditure on a ring is foolish. At the time when people MOST NEED money to get their lives set up for a FISCALLY SOUND FUTURE it makes no sense at all to dump thousands of dollars into a small rock that can be pawned for 10-to-maybe-20% of its appraised value.

I say you need to sit with her and consider your financial situation and carefully look at all the options. Promise bigger better WHEN YOU ARE ABLE but don't hurt both of your financial futures today with something so foolish as a rock on a ring.

JMO