Engagement ring/diamond help

[Long duc dong]

Hoping some here can help, because I am way out of my element here......

This summer I am proposing to my girlfriend of 4 years. Any snide remarks about doing it or not are welcome, fire away, but I do have some important questions. I am sure some on this site have been in my shoes, and will have some advice.

I am looking to spend in the 10k range for a diamond ring, out the door. I have heard the way to do it is to go to a diamond broker, buy a stone, and get the ring made. Has anyone else done this? How long does it take? I would rather go this way, as opposed to just buying one in a store, as I would probably get reamed there.

Any advice is welcome, as I said before I am way out of my realm of expertise here. Any info on good websites to check out would also be a plus.

Thanks in advance, and flame away if you are bored at work.

[gatorboy]

costco. serious. there has been threads about this topic and costco is the consensus.

[Art Shirk]

There is a big thread about this somewhere.

I went to a really small private diamond guy (low overhead, well recommended) and chose the stone separate from the setting. Way more options, more intimate experience, more knowledgeable proprietor. Your 10K will go farther this way than at Costco, but for convenience and reliability, Costco is tough to beat. Depends on your time and whether you think your fiance will care if you basically conceptualized the ring from the ground up. Best of luck and congrats.

Good luck weathering the barrage of people evaluating your life choices and how you choose to spend your money.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Don't think anyone's gonna be flaming you.
Congrats.
10k? Sounds like one hell of a ring.

Sent from my cell phone. no, a cell phone.

[DeeAre]

Don't do it.

[systemoverblow'd]

Good luck weathering the barrage of people evaluating your life choices and how you choose to spend your money.

$10k on a fucking ring for a chick you've only known for 4 years and is going to take half your shit when she leaves in a few years?

Am I doing it right?

[supermodel159]

Buy a GIA Certified diamond from blue nile, and take it to a local shop to get set...

For 8K I would go for D/E Clr, excellent cut & VS1-VS2 range. Then just go as big as you want within your price range.

[Meathelmet]

Why?

Like why the fuck a 10k ring?

Honestly, I have am intrigued. Like,some would say that that money could be better spent in the wedding or honeymoon. Most of the women I know (including my own) couldnt give a shit if the gem is a 500$ or a 10k, well, unless they are total tweebs. What seems to matter is that you are getting something unique.

Friend got a old antique ring from 1650s for a grand and I decided to go the route to get a Über simplistc titanium ring that was like 400€.
Obviously cultural things matter here, some women would scorn at those, but why the fuck would you want to spend rest of your life with that kind of cunt?

Get a original ring that looks like your relationship and spend the rest of the money for a honeymoon to
a place like, say, japan to ski some pow?

My 0.3€.

[montanaskier]

why 10k? even if you can afford it, get her a sweet ring for 4k and spend the rest toward a sick honeymoon

[systemoverblow'd]

why 10k? even if you can afford it, get her a sweet ring for 4k and spend the rest toward a sick honeymoon

True story... my brother wanted to buy his now wife a $10k ring. He didn't have the cash so he tried taking out a fucking loan for it. When the bank wouldn't approve the money he came asking me and my other brother for cash to finance his stupid bitches wedding ring. Then when we all told him to piss up a rope he bought a ring he could sort of afford and actually proposed in front of all of us and said "let it be known this isn't the ring I wanted to get you". What a fucking maroon.

[Danno]

$10k seems excessive to me too, but maybe his lady is a materialistic bitch? or maybe he's so fucking loaded that 10k is to him what $500 is to me?

[montanaskier]

my entire wedding, counting the ring and her dress, whole 9 yards didn't come close to costing 10k. I don't get weddings and people spending huge coin on em....14 years later I remember as much about mine as I would had we spent huge dollars.

[leroy jenkins]

I really cannot wrap my head around buying a 10k ring for someone, perhaps because none of the women that seem to go for me have any interest in owning a 10k ring, but its really something I just cannot relate to at all.

Even if I had the money, I'd rather spend 5k to bring her somewhere unforgettable to propose.



Also, don't buy the hype about diamond rings being good investments, they are horrible, you'd be better off investing in Rontele and blurred's dream of owning their very own taco bell franchise.


Heres hoping things work out well for ya though.

[hutash]

Agreed, 10K is way to much to pay for a ring, unless you like expensive loafer as well, but that said, if you are going to drop that kind of money you better educate yourself, or find a jeweler you really trust.

Blue Nile is a good place to start to educate yourself, and there are a couple of web forums dedicated to stones. They are not TGR, but there is some intelligence there., unlike here

edit to add: You don't have to buy a diamond, there are many other stones that can work for wedding rings. Diamonds are just what we have been led to believe are necessary by DeBeers. For that kind of money you can get a really impressive stone in the sapphire family, (emerald, ruby, or just about any color sapphire.) Sapphire is the second hardest stone behind diamond.

[Supermoon]

Definitely get the stone separate, and then take it somewhere to get it set. I got my wife's done and just showed the gold smith a photo of what I wanted, and he recreated it for me.

Get the highest quality stone you can get, not just the biggest. Also if you get say a 1.9 carat it can be much cheaper than a 2 carat stone, even though nobody could really see a difference.

Also, find a reputable dealer as opposed to just wandering into the diamond district. If you don't know what you're doing you could get screwed.

+1 on the spend 5k on the ring and an extra 5k on the honeymoon, but it's your money, so whatever.

[Long duc dong]

Thanks for the advice. It is helping find the right direction to go in.

I agree that 10k is a lot for a ring. I can afford it, but it cost me what was a planned heli trip this year, so she better appreciate it.

She actually wants to get me a nice watch for a wedding present. I am trying to convince her that said money would be much better spent on something in AK/BC. She goes to Mammoth with me 2-3 weekends a month, and she is starting to really understand why people love powder, so I think she will come around to that idea.

[TomCrac]

Find a stone guy you can trust and have it made... Got mine done inside of a week.... Twice the ring for half the cost of mass market jewelers. Plus, its a much better story.

On spending lots O money on weddings.... A close friend of mine told his bride, "you can either have the "princes" wedding that you say you always wanted or we can do something reasonable and I will put a nice downpymt on a real nice ski house" .... poor bastard.

They must be out there, but, I don't know anyone that has ever said "Oh yeah... That was the wedding with that really great (chicken, Fish, prime rib, flowers, linens etc, etc.)...

Congrats and good luck.

[XXX-er]

the last time I got married we got the stones out of the ring from her starter marriage and put into a funky looking ring we chose from the jewellers cataloge. The positive thing about choosing a non-traditional ring is that she can still wear that ring and probably still does

Rings don't have to be expensive, there was an episode of Gilligans Island where mr Howell remarried mrs Howell using a cigar band

[shaft]

Nekked pics immediately for serious answers.

Search yelp for the 3 most reputable local places. It should be a place that can make you a custom ring in-house and that sells primarily their own work. If a huge donker stone is the requirement, have them show you a few there with prices then compare to Costco or a broker. It's like going to a dealership. Maybe you'll deal with annoying salespeople, but you'll learn a whole lot stopping by in person than scouring the web.

$10k is far too much imho. Does the chick like unique things, or is this just a Jonenes 'compare solitaires' thing? I recnetly paid $1,000 for a custom band of gold and mini-rocks. I guess you could spend $9k on the rock, but $2k on the rock and $7k on her dream vacation seems like a better investement.

Good for you for having the dough and congratulations.

[warthog]

I spent $8k on a nice ring from an estate place.
The band kept breaking, so we replaced the band 2 years later.
The new band had all sorts of bling in it for $1200 or so. We put the diamond in that, and it looks like it is worth $50k.
If I had to do it over, I would go with the broker, and buy the band separate. Find one you can trust through recommendations. Every decent sized city has a diamond guy. They are usually in unmarked buildings, where you enter through an alley or similar unmarked door. They do not advertise except through word of mouth.

I, and all my guests remember every second of my wedding. It was the best party any of us have been to in a long time. I do not regret any of it for a second.

[crackboy]

my suggestion is to value cut and clarity over size. the extra pop from that will make it look larger

[GeezerSteve]

My suggestion is to find a woman who would rather have $10K in the bank than have a gawdy ring, or at least would rather have $8K in the bank and a perfectly fine $2K ring, that, if free market forces were in effect, would cost a few hundred bucks. Fuck DeBeers in the ass.

[systemoverblow'd]

Oh wait, no diamond thread would be complete with out a picture right?

[XXX-er]

My suggestion is to find a woman who would rather have $10K in the bank than have a gawdy ring, or at least would rather have $8K in the bank and a perfectly fine $2K ring, that, if free market forces were in effect, would cost a few hundred bucks. Fuck DeBeers in the ass.

even more cost effective is to find a woman who doesn't want to marry, has a her own place and doesn' t need you

[Missing Sock]

Buy a GIA Certified diamond from blue nile, and take it to a local shop to get set...

For 8K I would go for D/E Clr, excellent cut & VS1-VS2 range. Then just go as big as you want within your price range.

Seconded on going with Blue Nile. Ended up getting my wife's ring through some jerk off at the diamond exchange in NY. Found the identical stone through him and one of the online diamond dealers. Online dealer was significantly less. Got him to match the price and then he tried gauging me on the setting. So much easier online. Get the GIA cert and you're good to go.

I've spent a lot of money on stupid things, buying my wife a nice ring wasn't one of them. Good luck.