# How much did you pay for your Engagement/Wedding Ring? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224 "2008-11-18T01:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/41 "2008-11-19T01:09:58Z")
We initially went to a handful of jewelry stores to see what was out there and what we’d like. After meeting untold numbers of pushy salespeople that made used car salesmen and fitness club salespeople look like angels, and a nearly equal number of apathetic types, we finally settled on a design. At that time, it was as much “This will do” and “I’m tired of this! I wanna go home!” as anything else, so we didn’t buy anything. A little poking around on eBay later, and I found someone selling the same design for far less. Instead of about $400 each, we got a pair of carbide rings for $30 each, and got better service from a random eBay vendor than any store we visited in person. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/42 "2008-11-19T01:14:05Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > I won the diamond in my wife’s engagement ring, so that part was free, although it was worth around $500 at the time. The ring itself was custom designed and built at the store which gave us the diamond and ran us somewhere around $500. We bought our wedding bands from the same jeweler; both pretty simple, 24K gold bands, but hers has a notch in it so it fits perfectly with the engagement ring. IIRC, the wedding bands also ran around $500 each. Those three items are far and away the biggest extravagance we have ever splurged on. 🙂 Now, that’s not completely true - we bought a house for $158,500, too. 🙂 Since Jim won the diamond, we didn’t have to decide if we would go traditional with an engagement ring or not. I love my custom-made rings, and I do think they are worth it. I don’t really care if my gems are diamonds, cubic zirconias, or coloured gems, though. We established the night Jim won the diamond that I can’t tell the difference between diamonds and CZs. ETA: After reading your post about jewellery stores, **gotpasswords** , I have to say that buying our rings at a custom jewellery-making shop was a great experience. I’d recommend them to anyone (Goldsmiths on 14th Ave, for any Calgarians. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/43 "2008-11-19T01:14:56Z")
My ring set is about $23,000. I got it about 3 years ago. It was made at the Michael B studio in Studio City, CA. It is a Michael B platinum micropave diamond set and the e ring diamond was purchased loose in NY and set into it and I have the matching diamond wedding band. Both the band and the ering have 42 small diamonds set into a lace pattern. And yes I love it. A long time ago I saw it in a magazine. Little did I know I would be able to have my dream set but I do. My husbands is about $400. I don’t remember, he is onto his second one. He lost his first swimming in Maui. Anyways it is white gold plain comfort fit band. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/44 "2008-11-19T01:18:53Z")
I spent about $75 on a pearl ring (with two small diamond on each side of the pearl) for m’lady’s engagement ring, from USAA, where I had just received a $50 credit for their jewelry store. I got her band at Sam’s for $999, a 1 ct tw channel set yellow gold band with a kink in it to accommodate the engagement ring. I bought my band at an online retailer the name of which I’ve forgotten, titanium with a tilted band of gold, for about $275. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/45 "2008-11-19T01:22:27Z")
His wedding band was $350. We swapped two of the diamonds for sapphires which cost a bit extra. My engagement ring was about $350, white gold and sapphire with diamond accents. My wedding band was about $450, white gold and sapphire with diamond accents as well. Here is the engagement and wedding band [soldered together](http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-w7gb_bvp4o15bRCJq7WlQ). I absolutely adore my very unique wedding ring. And I love that it didn’t cost as much as most people spend, yet manages to outshine all the pricey ones! Completely, totally worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/46 "2008-11-19T01:23:42Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > My engagement ring was custom made and cost around $1,000. That was more than I was mentally thinking we’d spend, but I do love it. A Lot. It’s got a square cut grass-green Tsavorite Garnet with a smaller Moissanite on each side, in a Palladium setting. [Check it out](http://www.wedge.net/images/tsav3stone.jpg) (that’s actually a rendering, in real life the Tsavorite is brighter). > > Both our wedding rings were around $200 for the pair - they’re titanium with a silver inlay. Cheap and durable… like our love. 😃 That is freakin’ gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/47 "2008-11-19T01:26:06Z")
$0.00 Not very traditional here I guess. I like jewelry but not on me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/48 "2008-11-19T02:04:02Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > That is freakin’ gorgeous. What she said. That tsavorite garnet is beeyootiful. (Thanks for the tip - I’m busily bookmarking jewellery from a tsavorite garnet site. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/49 "2008-11-19T02:18:43Z")
I think her set of rings put me back around $250. The 25yr ring I got with an employee discount and on sale cost me around. $8,000 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/50 "2008-11-19T02:42:18Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > What she said. That tsavorite garnet is beeyootiful. (Thanks for the tip - I’m busily bookmarking jewellry from a tsavorite garnet site. 😃 ) Thank you!! I do love to show off my bling. 🙂 My ring was custom-made by [www.moissaniteco.com](http://www.moissaniteco.com) - although they do not list tsavorite stones in their regular inventory, they were easily able to get it for me - I recommend them if you are thinking about a diamond substitute. ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/51 "2008-11-19T04:56:28Z")
I paid a handsome sum for my girl’s ring, though I could afford it at the time. The important thing to remember is that the “three month’s salary” guide is an ingenious marketing device invented by the DeBeers diamond cartel - for no other reason than pure profit. Buying an engagement ring is an emotional occasion, and their campaign has played into this well. A little or a lot, the cost is not the question; so long as the look on her face is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224/52 "2008-11-19T04:59:32Z")
> [@Libre](#): > > The important thing to remember is that the “three month’s salary” guide is an ingenious marketing device invented by the DeBeers diamond cartel - for no other reason than pure profit. Buying an engagement ring is an emotional occasion, and their campaign has played into this well. Finding my wife’s engagement ring as an estate piece was an elegant solution to the fact that I really, _really_ didn’t want to enrich DeBeers with something I recognize as 99.85% marketing and, at the same time, my wife wanted a diamond and not a lecture about how people are tools for buying into the DeBeers myth. This way, she got her rock and I could sleep knowing that DeBeers wasn’t getting my cash. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-pay-for-your-engagement-wedding-ring/473224.md?page=2)