My engagement ring was about $2,000. His wedding band was $350. I don’t wear a wedding band, just the e-ring.
Heh. I spent exactly $5,000 on her engagement ring, about 10 years ago. Like you, this was after a ten-year relationship (all through college and then “shacking up” afterward), so I figured interest had accrued. The wedding ring was only about $300 or $400 (just a gold band).
The salesperson claimed there’s a standard guideline of “two months salary” or something like that, which sounded awfully shallow to me.
It was a pretty cool experience overall though: I went to the “Diamond District” (West 47th St. between 5th and 6th Aves.) and was able to pick out a ring mount and the stones separately (a diamond paired with sapphires on either side). I got the diamond and ring mount from one place, and then when I described how I wanted sapphires around it, they took me down the street into a building where there was a guy behind a counter with drawers full of various different gems. I got to pick my sapphires from a range of sizes and colors.
The street is also home to independent(?) gem appraisers. They sent a guy to accompany me with the diamond and the two sapphires to my choice of appraiser, who not surprisingly came up with a range that was pretty much what they said the gems were worth. His fee was something like $50 for the appraisal, but I never got around to paying it because in the middle of his detailed spiel/report, the building filled with smoke due to a kitchen fire in a restaurant on a lower level of the building and the FDNY evacuated everybody to the street. I think the jewelry shop eventually paid him later.
I managed to haggle the price down, too, though probably not as much as I could have, as they took my first offer: they asked for $5,500 for the ring, stones and mounting, and I countered with $5,000 including tax, which at the time was 8.25% in NYC. Paying in cash probably sealed the deal because while I’m not paying the tax that way, I’m pretty sure they’re not either, at least not on the full sale price.
I proposed to her on our tenth anniversary (of our first date). As you might imagine, the “M” question had come up a few times as we approached past anniversaries, so my original plan had been to wait until she was asleep that night, then to slip the ring on her finger and wait to see how long it was in the morning before she noticed it.
I chickened out of this plan though when it was clear she was going to bed nearly in tears, since I had dropped several hints that I’d gotten her a “special present” for the 10th anniversary, then stupidly forgot to get a good proxy present to stand in for the $5K ring. I attempted to recover by giving her the only thing I had on me at the time, which was a Mets jersey I had happened to buy that same day – in my size. It didn’t fly.
My engagement ring was about $1500 dollars in 1994, bought in Japan. We soon learned to keep our mouths shut about “engagement rings” or all the most expensive platinum solitaire pig ugly but 3 months salary worth would get stuffed under our noses.
When we got engaged I had to ask my hub to be for a ring, as he didn’t really know about the custom. (They do it here but it’s a plastic imported custom, not home-bred.) I told him about the symbolism of a ring never ending, thus the love never ending, and he liked that and agreed that I should have a ring. When we went shopping first, I found a small half-eternity ring with six diamond chips in it, which I really liked as it was flat and not likely to catch on clothes or pockets. He took one look at it and said, “You can’t have that - it stops!” Then we found a full eternity ring in gold (not platinum which I don’t like and which 99% of wedding rings are here) with 22 diamonds all the way round. I wore it every single day of 14 years until a few months ago a diamond fell out. I was very sad and have put it away until such time as we can afford to have it mended. Don’t want to lose any more of the diamonds!
Our wedding rings are very simple. I have two 2mm gold bands which go one each side of the diamond band, and hub has a platinum/titanium mix in the same 2mm style. I got the gold ones in England because they were cheaper there, for about 200 dollars (?? Can’t really remember but being so slim they were not much!) and we got hub’s here in Japan because platinum is cheaper here. The jeweller copied my ring and suggested making a titanium alloy for strength. His single ring was maybe the same as for both mine, maybe a bit more but it wasn’t expensive. Both rings were engraved in the Japanese jewellers for an inclusive price.
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 (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. 
Mine was a little under $200, his was around $400 IIRC (similar to this only smooth and all white gold).
My husband gave me his great grandmother’s engagement ring, so we only spent $100 to have it reset. My wedding band is a gold eternity band with 25 diamonds, that was $4000. I figured he didn’t have to purchase an engagement ring, he should at least get me a nice wedding band.
His wedding band is a white gold custom made band with engraving. It was about $400.
My husband and I bought my engagement ring together. It cost 50 bucks. I dind’t want to spend more because I figured my husband wasn’t rich and any money we spent on a ring would be better spent on more practical stuff. What I actually thought was: " I have savings, he doesn’t, so in the end I’m going to pay for that ring even if he buys it and writes the check. It’s pathetic".
I wanted to buy him a ring as well, but he is very picky and doesn’t really like the way a ring feels, so he still doesn’t have a ring and I doubt that he ever will.
We married for the JOP. A couple months after the wedding, we got in a big fight and I destroyed the ring with a pair of pinchers. I don’t think I would have done that if the ring had been more expensive. But at that point I wasn’t wearing the ring much anyway, because pregnancy had given me swollen fingers, and the pregnancy hormones also caused fits of anger where the last thing I wanted was to be married and flaunt the symbol of being married.
One year later, we are still together and plodding on.
So, I guess the ring was worth the money. 
My wife is not much into jewelry, and definitely not into diamonds. We bought matching white gold wedding rings (which we wore through our “engagement” and then took off a few days before the wedding) for $169 each. They’ve held up pretty well the last 9.5 years, and we’ve both had them sized once.
i never had an official “engagement ring” - my ex made no money, so we used a ring he had bought me for christmas as “the ring.” (My birthstone was diamonds - this had diamond chips). It was a simple ring - I can’t imagine it was more than $100.
Our bands were $300 together - they were comfort bands.
I’m really glad we didn’t spend a lot because we got divorced. And I’m really glad I never had an official engagement ring from that marriage because I feel like if I ever do get married again, I can still have a “first.”
Mine was under $500, I know that much. I told him that if he spent more than that (actually I said $300, but oh well ;)), I’d kick his butt because I can have a pretty ring without spending a lot and we have other stuff we both have to save for.*
- This is not a value judgment on expensive engagement rings, etc. I think they’re pretty and totally love 'em. It’s just for my specific situation, I didn’t want to spend money. Heck, I hate his couch and loveseat he got for free but since they’re still fine, I see no reason to go out and buy new ones.
We spent $1,000 on my engagement/wedding band set - like Hello Again, that was more than I figured we would spend - I was definitely gunning for artificial diamonds, but happened to see this ring and really dug it.
I spent $125 or so on a titanium wedding ring for him.
Both have been solid choices - we like our selections (both our own and the other’s) and have gotten compliments from others (although I’m sure no one’s really going to rag on your ring when you first get engaged…). So far, I’ve had my ring a little over a year (we bought my set when we got engaged obviously) and he’s had his since April, and no regrets.
I inherited the diamond from my great-grandmother; the ring was $800. We bought the wedding rings in St. Thomas. I paid about $150 for hers. I don’t remember what she paid for mine but since it was a men’s ring it was obviously more.
No engagement ring and $100 total for both wedding bands. This was fourteen years ago. He stopped wearing his after about two years. I stopped a couple years after that.
Her engagement ring was around $150 - it was a Mystic Topaz stone which I got because it color shifts in very cool ways. She’s not a diamond lover (lucky me) and so a colored stone was a good choice.
Our wedding bands are matching Titanium with a gold stripe, maybe $300 for the pair. We chose them together because we like the grayish cast to the metal and the gold band set into is a subtle highlight.
Having been married twice before, I’ve learned the value of jewelry as it relates to marriage.
My engagement ring was purchased from the internet (sapphire and white gold); not sure exactly of the cost but I am guessing about $250.
Our wedding rings were custom made in white gold and designed by an artisan here in Denver and together cost $750 (I think most of that was for his; there’s a lot more gold in his than in mine). The stones for mine cost about $20.
Here’s a good shot of us with our rings.
I paid about 12 dollars for my wifes first ring. $11.59 actually. She saw it in a catalogue and that is what she wanted. She wore that ring untill I surprised her with a gold band on our tenth anniversary. Never asked for better, or diamonds. She was happy with it.
Our second daughter Shannon was six years old and immediately claimed it as hers, when and If mom decided to part with it.
When she became engaged to her husband, my wife gave her that ring. She wears it to this day. Not on her wedding finger but on the same hand.
Nah I have no regrets!
I think it was ~$400 for the pair. Narrow gold bands with 5 small channel-set diamonds in each.
I don’t know precisely since we bought the diamond and the ring separately and had a custom setting put in by a jeweler but I think all told it came to around $1500. It’s a simple but very architectural setting for a princess diamond in white gold with a platinum head, just under a half carat.
I think we paid about another $150 total for our wedding bands. His is black ceramic and he absolutely loves it. Very strong, doesn’t scratch, and doesn’t smudge at all.
I forget how much exactly my husband paid for my engagement ring, but it was under $20. We both got matching titanium wedding rings online for $55 each.
If I was going to do it all again, I would probably just skip the engagement ring, but I don’t feel like it was a waste of money since I still have the ring. I just don’t wear it very much anymore.
I think $6k for my wife’s engagement ring from bluenile, and another $1k for the matching wedding band. We’d been dating for 6years prior, if that means anything. About a hundred dollars for my wedding band (titanium).
I’m not really big on diamonds (especially with the controversy surrounding how they’re mined, and the fact that they aren’t really “valuable” stones at all), so I’d never be able to tell you it was worth it. But my wife still loves hers, so I’m not concerned. Hopefully it’s the last “real” diamond I’ll ever have to buy, and I hope the synthetic market completely takes over.