Congrats and good choice on no diamond, they are over-priced and super-hyped. I think a sapphire is a excellent choice. I’d get a nice 2-3 ct one, in a square cut, with 2 tiny fake diamonds on each side.
Thanks for telling me about this! My fiance has always been attracted to the idea of a titanium band so I showed that site to him and he loved the designs on there. It looks like we may end up using them for his wedding band (though I still want some kind of gem in my engagement ring).
Thanks to everyone who has given feedback and ideas. There are so many choices, yet so many of them turn out to be overpriced when you look into them closely. It does help to hear what others think about this. After looking at the prices at some retail jewelry stores (mainly to get some ideas about what various designs look like on my finger) I am more convinced now than ever that buying a “new” diamond from retail is not for me. I don’t see any sense in making my fiance go into debt to get me a new diamond ring when there are some pretty, cheaper alternatives out there.
Don’t know where you are but when I lived in the SouthEast I learned that shopping for jewelry @ pawn shops was quite acceptable; no one thought twice about saying they got a piece of jewelry or a stone at a pawn shop. Maybe you could shop together for a ring or stone there? Much cheaper than regular retail.
I decided to go with a single ring for engagement and wedding with no stone. We went with a vintage band from here (I think I got that link from this board).
I got my wife a 1.75 carat medium blue sapphire flanked by 1/2 carat diamonds, on a simple gold band. The choice was a combination of budgetary constraints(she has big hands, and there’s no way I could have afforded a similar sized good quality diamond), dislike of diamonds and DeBeers’ price fixing, and knowing that she likes things that are out of the ordinary.
The color’s a little bit unusual- most are a dark royal blue, but hers is somewhat lighter.
She gets compliments pretty often about it apparently; she’ll come back and tell me every time.
Congrats!
And I agree with rubies. This is cute (ick on the color of gold, though). This is cushion cut and antique style.
I have 3 stone one from Kay Jewelers and I constantly get compliments. It looks antique, so I love it.
Congratulations!
I recommend pricescope.com (the Colored Stones board) for trying to source a colored stone you like – lots of helpful friendly people – although they do not deal with man-made stones (like moissanite).
For a second-hand ring or stone I recommend diamondbistro.com, although with all the usual caveats from buying second-hand (the nice thing is that this site has fewer of the Scam!Sellers than, say, eBay). Still, most of the people there are quite nice and you can often score deals.
Moissanite is a gorgeous stone. It is even more dispersive (more rainbow flash) than diamond, although make sure you get one that doesn’t have a greenish tint, as some of them do.
My official engagement ring is a cubic zirconia, which no one has ever called out as fake (it is a very, very well cut one from winkcz.com). My unofficial one is a lovely sapphire. So I am very much on board with your ideas!
I’d second Pricescope’s coloured stone forum as a resource if you are looking for something like a sapphire stone. I found a person to custom cut a sapphire for me there (in the US), as well as a benchmaker to set it here in Australia. If you are interested in sapphire engagement rings, here’s a thread showing many different options from participants (mine’s there too!)
Mine, which I received over the xmas holidays (from someone who also posts on this board) is sapphire flanked by two diamonds, as sapphire is my birthstone, and I prefer them over diamonds. (I didn’t pick it out, otherwise, admittedly, it would have been only sapphire). It’s got a high prong setting which I will have re-done, as I’m not keen on them. As someone mentioned below, they tend to catch on things, and I don’t care for that look overall.*
*He’s not worried about me fiddling and faddling with the ring or setting as I’ve re-set or sorted just about every piece of jewelry he’s given me; he’s more relieved that I said ‘yes’ than anything else, and that I can stand the sight of him when he’s got man-flu.
Oh, I forgot another important set of boards!
http://betterthandiamond.com/discussion/ubbthreads.php
is a discussion board for simulants and synthetics (they also welcome natural stones, but are not as knowledgable about them as e.g. pricescope) – you can see some gorgeous moissanite and cubic zirconia and synthetic (lab-grown, but otherwise identical chemically to the natural thing) gemstones like rubies and sapphires. The company that hosts the boards, betterthandiamond.com, I find to be a little overpriced for what they provide, but there are lots of people there who will help you find a simulant/synthetic ring that no one will ever realize is not the real thing (both my sister and I used advice from that site to get rings, and everyone always oohs and aahs over them).
Oh, I forgot another important set of boards!
http://betterthandiamond.com/discussion/ubbthreads.php
is a discussion board for simulants and synthetics (they also welcome natural stones, but are not as knowledgable about them as e.g. pricescope) – you can see some gorgeous moissanite and cubic zirconia and synthetic (lab-grown, but otherwise identical chemically to the natural thing) gemstones like rubies and sapphires. The company that hosts the boards, betterthandiamond.com, I find to be a little overpriced for what they provide, but there are lots of people there who will help you find a simulant/synthetic ring that no one will ever realize is not the real thing (both my sister and I used advice from that site to get rings, and everyone always oohs and aahs over them).
That is gorgeous.
Congratulations, lavenderviolet. I don’t have much to add on rings, since I do have a diamond. 
How about a Swarovski crystal? Their online store has some rings that might work. Many of their rings are fairly “busy” looking but here are some simple ones I found that have one main crystal in the center:
http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/1081949/product/Angelic_Ring.html?CatalogCategoryName=0112
http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/1024251/product/Flirt_Ring.html?CatalogCategoryName=0112
http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/953107/product/Dazzle_Ring_.html?CatalogCategoryName=0112
Thanks, and I have to say, the shop we worked with did a nice job, in case aanyone is in this neck of the woods.
I don’t have a photo, and my original ring was an oval amethyst that Typo’s mother had, that he gave to me. Later though, when we could afford it, we purchased a 2 carat oval sapphire. Lots more affordable than a diamond. We did have it set in a setting with 3 tiny diamonds on each side, but that’s optional.
I’ve always loved sapphires and dearly wish my mom had held off birthing me for a few more weeks so they’d be my birthstone :D.
I’m not familiar with moissanite.
Mine, of course! Mine’s the best!
Okay, so I lucked into my grandmother’s old 30’s setting (which Grandpa had taken the diamond from for a new setting in the ugly 80’s) when she died, so I’d had it set with a lab created emerald. When I got engaged I just had it resized to fit that finger. I LOVE it - it’s low profile, so it doesn’t catch on things. I mean, yeah, not everybody has a vintage ring hanging around, but I love this one and if I had to do it over again I’d have had something made like it. Well, if I had my exact druthers it would have been a white metal and a sapphire, but I like the sentimental attachment (and of course the price tag!)
It’s also very important to me that there’s no colonial history or other unpleasantness associated with my engagement ring - the gold, maybe, but I didn’t buy it. Grandpa did. 
I took a really quick photo and put it on Flickr here.
My wife’s is an opal. It’s her birth stone, and we both detest diamonds. Opals come in all different hues and types and reflect back spectacular colors.
My best friend’s wife had a large sapphire mounted on platinum, surrounded by some tiny white diamonds. I thought it was very pretty, and I am in general a big fan of having a large emerald or sapphire with some accent stones on the sides.
I don’t have a specific ring, but tourmalines are lovely–they come in a huge variety of colors and settings, and are not too expensive. I used to have a beautiful pink tourmaline in a gold setting…one of my favorite rings.
I had my mom’s engagement diamond reset into my own engagement ring after she and my dad divorced. Then I got divorced and it’s now known as the Cursed Family Diamond. 