So let me start by saying that I am not a jeweler. I'm an obsessive lady who spent way too much time researching this when my husband said I could reset my stone & purchase our wedding rings.
My husband proposed to me with a solitaire because that's what I thought I wanted. It wasn't really my taste so for my birthday he let me reset the stone in a custom made setting. Why custom made? Because it was cheaper. Our thought was that this is going to be the rings I wear every day for the rest of life. I wanted to love it; I wanted it to be my style. And my husband agreed. I know sometimes Reddit gets on this circle jerk of hating engagement rings that cost more than $100, but this is a life long accessory that will get a lot of attention. I love my ring, I stare at it daily, keep it clean, adore it, and it's very important to me. Also a nice bonus, I get tons of compliments on it! Remember, this is going to be what you/ your spouse wears (hopefully) forever. It'll (again hopefully) get passed down for generations. You want her to love it! Some people don't care much what it looks like while some do and that's okay. You can want a pretty ring and still be a keeper. These are frugal tips, not cheap tips.
So first things first. Used jewelry is usually cheaper. I check Loupe Troop and Diamond Bistro daily. Americas Used Jewelry and I Do Now I Don't are other sites that do something similar. Good deals pop up regularly and sell quickly. Lots of rings can be resized and polished to look new by your local jeweler. One of the side stones in my ring is from Loupe Troop.
Second, an engagement ring doesn't need to be a traditional diamond. Gemstones are beautiful. Moissanite, white sapphires, CZs, the Amora gem are all colorless alternatives. Chris CZs are beautiful and inexpensive and I personally love the new Amora gem cut. I've seen both in person and they're both gorgeous. Colored gemstones are also beautiful options! My dream ring has a giant pigeon blood red ruby. Colored gemstones can be more expensive than diamonds though, so YMMV. Lab gemstones are great options that can be super affordable. I didn't spend a lot of time researching this because I was told I could reset my stone, not get an entirely new ring.
When threads asking for tips with engagement rings pop up I usually suggest proposing with a band. It can be a plain gold/ platinum band or a diamond band, whatever you prefer, which can later become the wedding band. If you don't know exactly what your partner likes, I think it's a good way to 1) have a ring to propose with that is more affordable and 2) allow your partner to have more say picking the ring (and possibly helping pay for it). I've previously bought a plain gold band off of iWeddingband on sale for less than $60.
Now for diamonds. Your diamond does not need to be a GIA certified, D colored, IF stone. My own diamond is a K colored diamond set in yellow gold. It's beautiful! It's super sparkly, set next to near colorless pear diamonds, and I cannot tell they're different colors. People who are more color sensitive might be able to, but even my incredibly critical friends and family have not been able to point this out. They're not shy about pointing out flaws (or perceived flaws) so I definitely would have heard about it. But most people aren't staring at my diamond that long. My center diamond would have been almost double the price if it were in the near colorless range. Most people don't think to look at these lower colors, but they're still nice and not as expensive. I was told excellent cut round diamonds hide color better as well. Pricescope has a tool to help you find a diamond on their main page. It brings up diamonds from lots of different places and makes shopping easy. There's also a lot of great info on that website.
And finally, don't be afraid to go the custom route. It's cheaper (not kidding). Both my rings are custom made because it was cheaper. When I first got engaged I popped into Kay's at the mall and was floored by how expensive they were and how poor the specs on their diamonds were. For that price I wanted quality! I checked out Etsy for our wedding bands but wasn't impressed with the prices there either. I ended up finding a nice local jeweler who made me exactly what I wanted for way less than Kays and about 1/3 less than what I could find on Etsy.
TL;DR: It doesn't have to be expensive.
November 15, 2018 at 07:45PM
