Wedding rings

$600, my dp said my limit was $200 and to try TM!

He's since changed his mind after going to look at some bridal sets behind my back!

He keeps asking me which I prefer and design, tbh I don't mind...

Go to a few shops and barter with them until you get the best price, there is a huge mark up on jewellery and places like Michael Hill expect you to ask for a discount.

We spent quite a lot on our wedding rings, both DH and I got white gold and I have10 diamonds in mine and had it made to fit my engagement ring

 

ETA - there are a lot of sales in jewellery stores at the moment

 

Also with white gold you need to factor in the cost of regularly re-plating it

Edited by MamaT

I would recommend having a look at an independent jewelers, we did this and I got a much nicer ring for the same price or a little bit cheaper than what we saw at Michael Hill. It might be worth a look anyway!

I had never worn yellow gold before my engagement / wedding rings, only white gold & silver. DH chose my ring and I always thought my wedding rings would be gold anyway, not sure why!





Edited by MrsEmma

I think $500 is a good roundabout price, not too much but not cheap junk. And ALWAYS barter!!

Wish my DP could read this, he has such high tastes, my "birth of my son ring" was $1200 platinum and diamond ring which i am so paranoid about loosing and getting it dirty when i am outside. I hate to think what he will get for an engagement ring.

We got my bridal set for $400, so Engagement ring and band I love it, its quite simple but still has the bling And most people have complimented it!



Just to give you an idea of what you can get for a cheaper price. But go with what you like, I was never worried about a ring, would rather spend the $$ on other things but love that I have one

oh thats pretty bex! thats the kind of ring that i want simple but bling

the other thing i was thinking about was getting a ring with a black stone- first ring DP got me had a black stone and i loved it (before i lost it!) i could get a simple ring but with a black stone so it was different (for DP) there is so much to think about!

i would second the independent jewelers.

I can't really remember exactly but we got my wedding ring made by a jeweler and it was much much cheaper then my engagement ring! Mine has 10 diamonds (small ) in it and I choose that as sometimes I take my engagement ring off cos it sticks out a bit more and I still wanted some bling on with just my wedding ring. they have some great ideas and are able to compromise to your budget.

although in saying that Michael hill etc often have some good sales!

It is white gold and I find the re-plating cost ok given that it is only once a year.

Wow, my rings definitely didn't fit the rule. I wanted something a little bit different for my engagement ring, so I have dark blue sapphires (look black) with diamonds....my wedding band is plain gold. DH's wedding ring is a signet type ring with black onyx and a cubic zirconia. His ring cost just under $600, whereas the two of mine were under $300 combined (all on sale). Here is a pic....



The other ring I am wearing is a diamond one that i got for my 21st birthday.

Just my 2c worth. I worked at a Jewellers for about 3 years through uni and definitely absolutely do not ever pay ticket price for jewellery. Even on every day stuff that isn't on special you can usually get at least 10% off just by asking. On something like an engagement ring you can usually get a lot more off (the markup is phenomenal!) especially if they think there's going to be a repeat purchase for them in the future.

White gold like everyone else has said is iridium plated to give it the bright shiny look. The plating wears off over time and the white gold underneath it is more like very pale yellow than white. So it does need to be re-plated every now and then. It also costs slightly more to get re-sized for the same reason.

Make sure if you get a 9ct or 10ct or 18ct engagement ring that you get your wedding band the same as 9ct is harder than 18ct so if one is 9ct and one is 18ct the 18ct one will wear down (iygwim). 9ct will wear better than 18ct in general for the same reason.

Having a coloured stone like a sapphire is usually cheaper than all diamonds - the exceptions to this are natural rubies and natural emeralds. I wouldn't recommend natural emeralds if you want to wear it every day because they have a bit of a history of fracturing. They're also hideously expensive - the synthetic ones are fine though and not too pricey.

Cluster set rings, with more smaller stones, are heaps cheaper than big stones and give a good amount of bling They're also really pretty!

Budget-wise there are all sorts of "rules" that they say like 2 weeks wages, 3 months (good grief!). But I think those are all just inventions of people who sell jewellery. Spend what you can afford - it's going to look gorgeous as soon as it gets on your finger!

But my #1 piece of advice is try heaps of styles on, even if you're not sure about them when you look at them in the window. I liked the look of lots of rings that just look stupid on my fingers, but in the end I found something absolutely perfect for me. And if you find some things you like but aren't quite right, consider getting one made - it's not that expensive and you can choose things like the quality of the stones to make the price suit your budget.

Sorry for the novel!

Ohh I never considered anything other than diamonds but dark sapphires actually look really pretty!

...Not that I'm engaged or anything. I just like jewellery.