I remember those commercials that encouraged you to spend 3 months salary. But I know they were attempting to guilt people into spending as much as possible. If you’ve gotten engaged relatively recently (an engagement in 1965 wouldn’t be informative) would you post how much you paid?
If you got engaged while making an unusually high salary I would also ask you not respond. But if you were earning what I would consider in the average salary range, say anywhere from 40k - 80k I’d like your responses. I’m not gonna request that you post your salary but if you feel comfortable sharing what your salary was at the time you bought the ring that’s cool too.
I think you’re going to get a skewed answer here, since my impression of the SD is that a lot of Dopers don’t believe in getting diamond engagement rings.
I don’t know how much my ring cost exactly, but based on the specs I would guess it’s closer to one month’s or two months’ salary than three months’ salary. My SO’s salary falls into your average range.
I spent not even one month’s salary on a diamond ring a couple of weeks ago. It looks great and she loves it–what else matters?
Don’t buy into the “X months’ salary” B.S. Pick a nice ring with a good quality (e.g. VS2, G colour) diamond that falls within your budget. Honestly, the only people who really care about all the $$$ you’re spending are diamond traders.
The ring belonged to my great-grandmother, but it was in rough shape – the band had worn almost completely through, and the stone (a sapphire) was damaged. So I had it repaired and restored, and replaced the sapphire with one that had a vintage cut. That cost a bit less than one month of my modest just-graduated-college salary.
I’m above your salary range but I’d have a very hard time justifying more than a week’s salary on ring. Certainly the more you spend and the bigger the ring the less classy they tend to be and that would make me uncomfortable.
Personal choice though, my wife would hate a flashy ring and would be horrified if I spent thousands on anything for her. But then that goes to the heart of the matter. There is no “right” amount other than the amount that makes you both content, and there is no “right” ring other than one that carries true meaning for you both.
Go to pricescope.com and ask there. It’s a consumer advocacy site for diamond jewelry buying. I think you should buy what you can afford and what she likes.
I spent about $2500 and got a gorgeous ring that my wife loves. I am glad I spent that amount…any more would have been overkill and tough to swing at the time, but looking back, I don’t feel like I spent too much. My salary was much closer to the low end of your 40-80k range than the high end, BTW.
My wife does not like diamonds so I spent about a month’s take home pay on a custom designed ring. My previous gf wanted a diamond ring worth the full 3 month’s pretax salary.
Womans point of view - If you’re more worried about how much you’re spending rather than what she’ll like you’re looking at the wrong metrics.
My ring was $12. I prefer silver, I don’t wear gems because I’m really hard on rings I tend to bang my hands into things and I’d previously pointed out this design as something I really liked and was considering buying.
You know your fiancee better than we do. Does she have faith in your taste or would she rather have some input into the piece of jewelry that she will (hopefully) wear every day for the rest of her life.
I’m right at the bottom of the OP’s salary range, and I spent about $500. It’s a 3 stone white gold ring with an emerald in the center and a white sapphire on each side. I would have bought her a diamond if she had wanted one, but she’s against that sort of thing, and besides she likes things that are green (she’s a horticulturalist).
We weren’t going to get an engagement ring at all mainly because my wife thinks any amount of money spent on one is a waste. But a bit after we were engaged we were offered a ring that belonged to my great-grandmother, so she has that.
At the time (2007) I made about 60k, and I spent $3000, IIRC.
I ended up getting her a 1 carat cornflower blue sapphire flanked by two smaller diamonds. The only reason I went so big was because she’s got big hands and anything more normal sized would have looked unusually small, even though it would have been normal sized.
The wedding ring I got her was a lot cheaper; most of the diamonds were from my grandmother’s wedding ring, and the setting wasn’t anything exciting.
Couple hundred bucks six years ago. My wife and I had a little bit of a cold war between my opinions on DeBeers and the false mythology of the “diamond engagement ring” and her desire for, well, a diamond engagement ring. Nothing huge (hey, we got married) but it wasn’t resolved either.
Then she was at an estate sale with my mother and saw some antique diamond ring and loved it. My mother called me and asked if she should pick it up, I said yeah and she went back and bought it. $200. When I proposed, my wife was very surprised and happy with it. It being “used” neatly circumvented my issues and she got her diamond ring. We had some nagging doubts about whether it was a real diamond due to the price but had it tested at a jeweler who confirmed its authenticity.