Need engagement ideas and tips please

[CaptainCrunch]

Hey I'm not a monster.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

Hey she's the one that picked the ring. I was more then happy to pay $650 instead of $1000

Mrs Rathji picked her own ring as well, and it was about $850. I was floored and quite pleased.

[stang]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Finally someone understands, and sadly its a guy thats going to end up making a wedding ring out of tin foil and frozen snot, but I take the complements where I can get them.

No I wasn't surprised that someone called you names, I'm more surprised that he used the word "dinkhead"

Watch out before he calls someone a "doo-doo face" and somebodys feelings get hurt.

[LChoy]

My 2 cents

While my budget was higher than yours, the princple of getting value for money is the same

If you are on a budget, you have 3 choices to consider:
- Carat
- Shine (How "sparkly" she wants her diamond to be)
- Design

With your budget, you can only pick one of the above and compromise on the rest

If size is all that matters, try to land on a caret weight (it's really a weight not a size when you talk about carets) that's just under a popular weight. On diamonds, the markup jumps after .25, .5, .75, and super jumps at 1 and above carets. Therefore, a .48 caret can save you some money but is close enough to a diamond that's .5

Sparkle - This is arguable, but in my opinion, cut is more important than caret size. A better cut diamond will appear larger and shine more than a bigger caret diamond with an inferior cut. It's really a matter of illusion, but if she wants a sparkle, compromise on caret and focus on the cut. Also, some cuts will sparkle more than others (Brillant/round and Hearts on Fire cut being generally reflecting the most light)

- Design - If your future financee prefers a design over the diamond, you can save a lot of money. My wife wanted a simple band, but there are many customized rings out there in the marketplace. I seen antique looking ones, intricate engravings, unique metals...etc. With this option, it's probably the most difficult as you really have to know her, and it's the ring that's the main feature, the diamond/gems would just be an accent to it. Also suggest if diamond doesn't really matter, gems like Sapphires and emeralds are increasingly popular (see Princess Kate's ring).

Last piece of advice. A ring is a great way to start a new chapter of your life. You'll give her the best ring you can get her now, but you don't want to set the bar so high that the ring will be the most important/pretty thing she'll ever get. Perhaps in ten years when you are in a better place financially, you can upgrade it or make changes to it. Fortunately, there are a few retailers and diamond wholesalers, many of which her named in previous posts, that allow you to trade up your diamonds. Diamonds don't depreciate very much, so they'll take the value of your diamond, and you'll pay the difference for one that's higher in value. Good trade

Hope this helps

[darklord700]

Don't do it man. If the girl accepted your proposal, she's yours already and anyway. So why do it?

I often though man should propose to a girl at a bar that he first lays his eye on. Why try to lock up someone when they are already yours with marriage?

[Isbrant]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

My 2 cents

While my budget was higher than yours, the princple of getting value for money is the same

If you are on a budget, you have 3 choices to consider:
- Carat
- Shine (How "sparkly" she wants her diamond to be)
- Design

With your budget, you can only pick one of the above and compromise on the rest

Sparkle - This is arguable, but in my opinion, cut is more important than caret size. A better cut diamond will appear larger and shine more than a bigger caret diamond with an inferior cut. It's really a matter of illusion, but if she wants a sparkle, compromise on caret and focus on the cut. Also, some cuts will sparkle more than others (Brillant/round and Hearts on Fire cut being generally reflecting the most light)

Hope this helps

Very good post. Another note on the cut, the poorer the cut the greater percentage of the carrat weight is in the bottom of the diamond. The diameter of the diamond can be the same between a well cut light diamond and a poor cut heavy diamond. When looking at the two diamonds in a ring setting, they look the same size but the lighter one is more sparkly.

[Mightyfire89]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Huh, you spend less money on a wedding ring then an x-box and its her fault if she doesn't like it.

I hate to say it, but I think that there are some really weird priorities happening here.

I think I spent about $200-225 for an engagement ring. Thankfully, I married a sensible woman. Instead of spending obscene money on a stupid ring and a ridiculously expensive wedding, we thought it would be wiser to put that money away for our future plans. We got married in Las Vegas on Sept 10 2001 (do the math) with nobody there but ourselves and the Pastor. Then we had a blast spending about $500 more gambling on slots and cards. The whole thing cost us about $3500 (and we thought that was ridiculous, but somehow necessary). So, our wedding (and honeymoon) cost us about $3500, then we went home and had a reception for friends and family at our house which cost us about another $750 and was a total blast. So, $4250 total for the whole shootin' match.

The point of this is that spending your hard earned money on a tiny little shiny rock that your wife can show off to her friends is ######ed.

Because of decisions like the ones we made regarding our wedding (and hundreds more economically sound decisions) I am 41 years old and my wife is 34, we are 100% debt free and semi retired and living on 80 acres of paradise. We both work part time to save money for trips overseas and other extravagances, but we don't have to work. You can't imagine how stress free our life is. And all because we didn't make stupid decisions when we were young like, oh, I don't know...spending 2 to 4 months salary on an engagement ring. Think about it.

Weird priorities indeed.

To the OP, as others have mentioned, if your wife would be offended by a $500 engagement ring, then you have to ask yourself some serious questions. As in "Is this the right person for me?" Because if she truly loves you, then if you gave her an onion ring she would still marry you. My wife would have, I know that. We have been together for 15 years and married for 10 and we could not be happier.

Use your brain and you'll come to the right decision.

Best of luck.