As I said up thread, I found the cost difference between real and lab grown to be significant.
The 2.5 carat real diamond that my wife liked was $16,000. The same lab grown diamond (equivalent in the 4c’s category) was $3,500. We went lab grown, as my wife didn’t care if it was real or not for a variety of reasons. The main reasons being that she’s not going to leave it to anyone, and the aftermarket for diamonds is poor at best.
CZ - we didn’t even consider. That was a bridge too far.
Lab grown is real.
And CZ is just fine.
A post was merged into an existing topic: Hijack of thread new poster landogoshen
I guess the question is, are you aiming for the bling factor or sentiment? Sentiment says “I love you $16,000 worth and more…” not “I got the cheapest I could get away with.” Practicality says “Check ‘Ring’ off the list, then we have better things to spend our money on together…”
I disagree on the sentiment. If your partner-to-be cares about the price that much, they’ve got some serious issues and it should be a huge red flag.
Especially as De Beers and much of the Diamond industry is pretty f’ing awful.
Which is where practicality comes in. OTOH, “I went for the lowest possible price” has a message of its own, whether the ring or the wedding dress or the honeymoon. There’s a happy medium somewhere in between.
Agreed.
My ex-wife* got a diamond engagement ring. It was pricey but not insane. But the thing that set it apart is that I sat with the jeweler to design it. I mean, obviously I am not a jeweler, but I could make suggestions and have a conversation. The jeweler probably led me through some steps but I had input.
That was worth way more that the diamonds, I helped create it, in a design that I knew my wife would love.
And she knew I had. That is worth more than diamonds.
* we cant all be perfect, I wish she was still my wife
Exactly “how much did it cost?” is a big red flag.
Back when Ripple Coin was being litigated as a security and the judge asked for outside opinions, I considered sending a pointer to look at the trial history around De Beers, if there was any.
A co-worker’s brother got his wife’s ring at Costco. Before you judge him too harshly, they picked out a ring together and he later found a ring there that was identical and significantly less expensive. He didn’t tell her where he got it because it never occurred to him that it would matter. Years later it came up in conversation and she was very upset.
Actually, it was my wife’s father who said “send me a copy of the receipt.” But, that was because he was our insurance agent and being prudent to add it to the house insurance. 
My wife and I picked out the engagement ring together because basically, I had no idea what consituted a “nice ring” for her - basically she picked it. So, she knew exactly what it cost and where it came from. (The wedding rings were a pre-arranged surprise - hers was the matching plain band. We just “happened” to walk into Tiffanys on 5th Ave. when we were in NYC. “Let’s look around…” She had no clue…)
wifey and I agreed on stainless steel wedding bands …
IIRC mine was $80ish, her’s $120ish (with a microscopic diamond incrusted) …
neither of us gave/gives/will give a flying fork about that marketing induced social pressure… that seem to imply that the more you spend, the more you care/love the other
married for 15+ years now, rings holding up well
I never bought my late wife an engagement ring. She was well aware of the markup on diamond rings and made it clear to me that she didn’t want me spending that kind of money.
We actually had two sets of wedding rings. The ones we usually wore (and which I still wear) were purchased at an SF convention; they are silver and depict a dragon holding a jade chip. The other set were plain bands which she bought at a wholesale outlet, and were intended to be worn when one of us felt that the “real” rings were too ornate to wear. They ended up being seldom worn, and to be honest I don’t even know where they are now.
Good on you!
As I think I said about a hundred posts ago… the two things you will keep around for a long time from a wedding (three, if you count the spouse) are the wedding rings and the photographs, so those are worth spending on, as much as satisfies you both.
I bought a cheap gold band for the ceremony, then never wore it. When the price of gold went up I sold it as scrap. My wife was pissed off, I didn’t get her point.
I had a plain white gold band that was very inexpensive. I ended up selling it after the divorce for a few bucks.
My then wife and I went to a few stores that sold estate jewelry and found a beautiful diamond ring from the 1950s (we were married in the 1990s). It had someone else’s initials on the inside. The woman who ran the store took a liking to us and although it was expensive, we got a great deal. Presumably she still has it.
We spent a reasonable amount on the Engagement Ring. A small but nice diamond. Then I spent twice as much on a piano for my fiancée. This stayed with us for almost 30 years until we downsized 3 years ago. Kind of wrecked part of my 30th anniversary present though as that was going to be a professional tuning.
What is the sick and stupid suggestion from the cartel? 2 months salary? What a sad and borderline evil idea. That kind of money should be saved for things like a future home or in case of job loss, not wasted on a carbon crystal.
Yes. We found that Tiffany’s was quite reasonable. They were in fact cheaper than Birk’s, a upscale(?) Canadian chain. The design was more elegant. My wife liked the idea that it came from Tiffany’s more than she cared about the price, which was a bit more than half a month’s salary - what we though was a practical amount. And being able to brag it was from Tiffany’s, in a smaller Canadian community, was worth more than the size of the diamond. Of course, they don’t sell SI2 diamonds (1 carat, $C2,000) like People’s Jewelers did in the Square One Mall. After all, one of the main benefits of an engagement ring is being able to show it off. (And this was before lab diamonds were a thing). if you’re doing somethinng to show off, certainly brand names factor into it. And let’s face it, jewelry is essentially about showing off. Otherwise, yes, buy her a grand piano.
The only time it came off second best was when my nephew got engaged - his fiancee got a 1-carat ring, same design, from Tiffany’s. (My estimate, $US 16,000). But then, he was an airline pilot flying big jets in the USA at the time.
There was no way I could or we wanted to spend as much. In the end, practicality and mutual agreement are the overriding concerns.
(although when my parents moved into a home, apparently finding someone who would take the over 40 year old grand piano was a major effort. Fortunately, it was a quality brand)