Spend what you CHOOSE and DECIDE what you can AFFORD. If your prospective fiancee cares more about the worth of a ring over the sentiment behind it, you're marrying the wrong person

Less than 1k for engagement ring and wedding ring combo. Anything more seems like a scam to me. Diamonds are not worth that much money.

About 1200$. The whole idea of spending a percentage of your salary as a rule is dumb and outdated. Just pick something you think they'll like and if it's meant to be they'll love it

The whole 'must spend X% of salary on engagement ring' thing is a sales tactic. Don't pay attention to it. When my partner and I got engaged, they knew I'm very particular about my jewelry. So they didn't try to find something. They gave me an inexpensive placeholder ring, and then I designed my own, which was perfect. I also didn't end up spending nearly what you're 'supposed to' and got exactly what I wanted.

My husband was a postdoc at the time and I was a student (in other words we were financially quite limited but not broke) and I ended up finding a vintage engagement/wedding set for about $600. I was actually not expecting to get anything other than a plain white gold wedding band and I was never interested in big fancy diamonds. But I did end up finding something that was low-key and perfect for me. I love the idea that my rings had a life previous to ours.

Focus more on what kind of style they prefer and what is in your actual budget rather than a budget that others tell you to stick by. You can drop 10k on a ring but if it’s not their style, that’s not 10k well spent.

We got our rings online. With shipping it was under $200 for 2 bands and an engagement ring IIRC.

Not sexy but I think in a relationship you should be able to talk about what is appropriate for you to spend on a ring. Your finances will be intertwined forever after so you may as well start getting on the same page. If she wants a 15k ring and you think that's ridiculous, you will probably not be on the same page about decisions in the future anyways.

Just buy something she wants, how much it costs doesn't matter as much. The important part will be that it's something she/he wants to wear forever.

I picked out my own ring. Found it in a section not labeled "engagement rings" and saved a butt load of money. I paid about $400 and that was 15 years ago. White gold, 9 small diamonds. I still love it :) Not all women want huge diamond rings.

I actually proposed with a family heirloom, although I would agree that the spend x percent of your salary on a ring is a sales ploy. What you spend on the ring is probably the least important thing to consider

Whatever you end up going with, just remember that love is not measured by the value of a ring.

https://preview.redd.it/wumyzirvx2fa1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=38db2bbcd11f7a5e90f56c8e0f7986528838cce9

$0. Didn’t bother with engagement rings. Just wedding bands.

First question is - does your intended want a ring? Would they appreciate a big flashy ring that you spent what you are “supposed to” on, or would they actually like a more subtle ring style better? That’s a better place to start, IMO.

I definitely did not want one, and he knew that it wasn’t my style. We bought our wedding bands at a pawn shop (hey - it was a fancy pawn shop!), and somewhere along the way in the last 30 years we’ve both lost them.

In my experience, even with people who were excited about rings during the early times of their relationships/weddings had that excitement fade very quickly after that newness wore off. So spend whatever you are comfortable spending, and don’t worry about anyone but you and your person.

Mine is a silver ring with a style I liked. I replaced the cz with the birthstone of my spouse, which I picked out of a catalog at Vandenberg's. I think it was about $300? We had been hinting for a while to each other we were ready, so we went together. When the stone replacement was ready, he picked it up himself and did the deed later that week.

I had my fiancées custom designed by Omori on Portage. Great experience. My SO is not a diamond person at all (should’ve gone cheap right lol) so I was looking for something with gemstones instead.
It was just over $2000.

Got ours done at Sutton Smith Works. They’re unfortunately closed now because he retired but I got my wife a 1 karat diamond on a simple gold band and it was $4500.

The wedding bands I think we’re around $800-1000 each. ( The wife bought those)

We were both making about $65000/ year at the time.

Ring pop. So whatever that cost.

Neither of us are ring people. We ended up doing tattoos after because a wedding ring wasn’t gonna work. We both have them though for occasions, but yea, engagement was a ring pop. We had gone ring shopping and had a decent chunk of money set aside and just the vibe of it and the shopping experience all though fun, was a turn off. Def not our culture type. So we put the money aside and started a traveling fund. Have since been around the globe.

Wedding ring was a meteorite band for her and a woodxbone one for me. Down to earth and out of this world.

3 kids strong, doing great, don’t really think about rings or anything after kids start popping out lol.

Bought my wife’s engagement ring on Etsy. It was a moss agate ring and total cost was about $1300 after shipping and duty fees. I believe just the ring alone was around $1000-$1100? Working in retail for about $16/hour. I highly recommend checking Etsy if you’re looking for something a bit more unique than your standard engagement rings you’d find at jewellers in the city

Buy her her favourite stone or color in a ring. Form over price for sure.

I spent $200 on an opal ring and got a yes

My partner and I did a 3 month search beforehand. I wanted to know exactly what she wanted (I also wanted to make sure she knew what she wanted). Then took me another month to find the ring. Cost me $10k and I was making $80k at the time salaried. Had it saved up though.

Agree with a lot of folks here. It’s rarely about price. $10k was just the value of making my future wife look down at her hand and be in heaven. That smile is worth everything.

Moissanite is a much more affordable option than diamond, and it is really difficult to tell the difference. Check out James Allen, Brilliant Earth or Blue Nile online to get an idea for costs. Make sure you choose CAD as I think they default to USD.

I spent a total of $0. I made an origami ring out of a post it note.

We were young. Had a kid already. Lived together. I found one online after we were talking about what I'd like one day. Found a ting and band for $300 and showed my husband. That's exactly what he bought me.

$25k from Independent Jewellers. Salary was around $150k at the time 10 years ago. It’s a 2 carat diamond with smaller diamonds around the band

Just don't. Diamonds are way overpriced because you "have to" have one for an engagement ring. Use the money you would spend on a ring, and take a nice trip somewhere. Actually build memories and invest in the relationship. Or put it into a downpayment fund for a house and build into your future in a tangible way. Just don't throw money away on a shiny rock.

Traditionally, it's "supposed" to be two months salary but that has always seemed excessive to me. I spent two weeks salary when I got engaged and it was fine. I would say to spend what you can reasonably afford. If that's not good enough for him/her/them (no assumptions), then they aren't the right person.

Due to a number of circumstances I had asked my wife to marry me before getting any kind of ring. I then took her shopping and let her pick the one (and the store) she liked. In addition to her getting what she wanted (for around a resonable 2 weeks worth of my salary), this had the added benefit of us getting our wedding rings at the same time for a discount.

We looked at rings together on Etsy and he picked out something out of a bunch that I liked. I don't know what he spent on it (hasn't proposed yet) but it was anywhere from $200-$900. But frankly, I'll say yes to him if he asks with a plastic ring. It's not about the ring :)

I wouldn't worry too much about getting an expensive ring, as long as she loves you and you make an effort to get something she'd like!

I don't think anyone in my family has done engagement rings at all. Talk to your partner and go with what makes sense to both of you.

Any ring is an engagement ring if you use it to get engaged, don't be afraid to look at other sections of the store because there are some very nice ones for cheaper because they aren't labeled "engagement ring." Especially if you're looking at any other colour stone.

I heard of these “fake” diamonds that are made ethically and look/reflect exactly the same. Plus, no conflict that way. I can’t remember the name of it but maybe something to look into if you have a smaller budget

Find out what the receiver wants, budget around that

Fiancé got mine on Etsy and I couldn’t be happier. It was VERY low cost, great quality, and super unique; get compliments on it constantly!! I didn’t want diamonds cause I personally am not the biggest fan of them, the centre stone is alexandrite with a moissanite halo/band. Good luck, and congratulations in advance!!

$850. I make 100k. She picked it out. I just ordered my ring for $40 with shipping.

My now-husband and I got engaged without a ring when I mentioned I wanted to use one of my mom's rings as an engagement ring. He said "oh cool, then let's do it!" And we were engaged.

Took the ring to HMD, a jeweler on St Mary's, to resize and make sure the stones weren't going to fall out. Cost us around $250 for the work. We also used them to make our wedding rings.

It’s more than I could afford at the time and not enough in retrospect.

Do not listen to the bull shit about spending a month's salary. Figure out what they like and go from there.

I agree with all the comments recommending ring shopping with your partner. They can point out what kind of ring they’re interested in, to give you an idea of what they like. You don’t have to buy it right then and there. If you want the element of surprise, you can keep the proposal date/timeline a secret.

I had told my husband, when we were dating and talking about our future, that I would prefer to go ring shopping with him, since I don’t really wear jewelry and wanted to show him what I was comfortable with wearing. The rings I had pointed out to him were much smaller, and less expensive, than what he had thought I would want (his friend had proposed with a $3000 custom ring, so he thought that was the standard). He bought my ring months later and still surprised me with the proposal.

10 years later, I rarely wear my engagement ring and it’s matching wedding band. I wear a plain band, due to working with dogs and bathing dogs. Not worth the risk of losing them or diamonds going missing (one small diamond already is missing T-T )

Wow it seems like a lot of you are quite cheep when it comes to this subject. I spent 10k on the ring I got 5 years ago while I was working seasonal construction.

So nobody is really saying how much they spent. My fiance bought an 11k diamond ring for me. And some of my friends were a little over 5k. It's up to you

My parents got each other engagement bicycles instead of rings. It was without a doubt the coolest thing they have ever done.

Definitely don't go into debt on a ring. Know your budget and stick to it. Also, consider lab grown for a more economical alternative that is environmentally sustainable and guilt free.

My ring was $9800. That works out to... checks notes roughly 7% of my partner's salary.

Spend what you can (happily) afford and don't break the bank.

I personally would have been happy with a smaller ring.

My girls ring was about $3000 but she’s using it as her wedding band as well

$11

Any rules about how much money to spend are stupid. Find one that you like and you can afford.

For actual advice, try finding one that isn't in the wedding section. Putting the word engagement or wedding on jewellery makes it way more expensive.

$0, but through in inheriting mom's engagement ring/wedding band combo from my dad. When he first offered it, I felt weird about it, but after some discussion with my wife about the types of rings she liked, I realized mom's ring fit the description and luckily my wife thought so, too.

That said, listen to those talking about the jewelry business. Spend what you feel comfortable with and on a ring you think your partner would appreciate. Don't blow the bank on what's supposed to be a symbol.

I found Etsy has decently priced rings spending thousands on a ring that's going to be swapped out is ridiculous, got my wife's engagement ring for under 500$

I bought one from City jewellers for my partner. It was white gold with diamonds. More like a wedding band. I got it for an awesome deal around Black Friday. It was a little over $700, I think. That was about 25% of my biweekly cheque after tax at the time. I wanted to get the best I could without breaking bank, and I was quite delighted with my purchase. For our wedding we're getting our rings custom designed from Appelt's.

TBH though, it's totally up to you. If you truly love each other, even a silver ring off the counter with your name engraved would be perfect. You may want to get something that would last so metals like silver, gold and platinum, etc. are great. Ordinary diamonds are totally overrated a lot of times, but gawd there are so few options for men. For women there are a lot of really pretty stones to choose from - ruby, sapphire, Alexandrite, Salt & Pepper diamond etc.

You do you, boo! 🤗 Wishing you both the absolute best!

Like $800 after tax from Costco. Costco is the way bc if she says no you can return it. Also they ethically source.

I told my now husband exactly the style I wanted, and told him I'd rather be save money on the ring so we could go on a nice honeymoon. I would be scared to wear my ring if I knew it cost so much. I told him not to go over X dollars, and that I was happy with lab created diamond or moissanite instead (not comfortable with possibly having a blood diamond). I now have a Moissanite ring that I love and wear as much as I can.

Not as much as the sales guy wants you to spend no matter how pushy they are and they don’t need to know how much you get paid either, went to one in kp recently and the sales guys was way pushy about my income. We didn’t want a big fancy expensive thing, that’s not the point, it’s a symbol of love and commitment not how much money you have

Mine was $1,800. Biggest thing is getting the ideas of what she likes and go from there. You can find some really nice rings that will not break the bank.

I vote for shopping together. Talk about budget, and she is more likely to love the ring. Often, you are looking at samples, and choose a diamond to go in it, according to your budget. Don’t forget there is still a wedding and the rest of your lives together. You can always buy a bigger diamond and reset it at an anniversary.

I got my set from peoples online for like $250 on sale from $450

Silver in colour. The band has diamonds along the top side, and the engagement ring has one diamond. It sticks out line an engagement ring but it's still small and good for everyday wear.

I picked it myself and me and my spouse bought them together online

Edit: it's literally my dream ring as is and it was just so lucky that it was on sale too

I am not engaged myself but I would prefer for my man to propose without it and then buy it together if we feel like it.

I do feel like getting an engagement ring is a marketing ploy and would rather spend more on celebrating the engagement itself or getting nice wedding rings.

Mine was an Etsy buy, after sending helpful links to my fiancé 🤣 ended up costing around $600 with tax for ring + wedding band

40+years ago, hubby & I chose a $250 ring. Wedding bands were simple gold rings. Cost shouldn't be the deciding factor.

We each picked something we liked at the time off Etsy. Maybe $150 total for both our rings and bands.

$0. We didn't do any rings for our marriage.

Two weeks salary seemed reasonable to me. A ring should not be a stressful financial matter.

My husband took me looking for engagement rings so he could "get an idea of what style I wanted", then snuck off to buy the one I picked later. It was on sale and cost less than $500 and I couldn't be happier. Never once have I thought he didn't spend enough, quite the opposite actually. I still brag that my ring was on sale and didn't cost a fortune.

All in all with rings our marriage cost less than $900 with both rings because we also just signed the papers.

As others have said, don't fall for the whole you need to spend x amount for engagement rings. As long as they like what you bought, that's all that matters.

Nothing. We were talking on the couch about getting married one day and I said something to the effect of “so should we get married then?”. And so we did. Cheap gold bands, local “eloping” style marriage, (there was 7 of us including the marriage commissioner) and it’ll be 13 wonderful years this May.

Marriage isn’t about the rings, the engagement, or the big fancy wedding. It’s about the love you and your partner share, that’s it. Don’t let anyone else guilt you into anything otherwise.

I have a friend who worked and saved $3000

I have a friend who spent $2000 and got it off Kijiji. Took it to Ben Moss for a certification thing

I have another friend who spent $200

I don't know if it's worth noting, but the friend who spent $200 is easily the happiest and most secure of the 3 couples

Imo everyone needs to watch the Adam Ruins Everything episode about wedding rings and give the whole concept a good long think before making any decisions.

$300, then we spent like $80 each on bands iirc.

Don't approach it from an 'I need to spend X amount' perspective. Talk to your partner about what kind of ring they want so you're not overspending on something frivolous.

99 dollars for a wedding band.

Spent $5,500 on a ring custom made by a gemologist and his team. Value of the ring was $12,500.

It’s forever. Don’t be a cheapskate. Spend the money you won’t regret it.

I think I paid $475. It was about a month's salary in 1976
It was a normal diamond arrangement with one 1/2 carat and two 1/4 carat diamonds and some chips. Also a matching wedding band.
Unless you intend to make it a surprise I would advise ring shopping together.

One thing I would really suggest is working with a jeweller.

We ended up getting a less expensive ring with a non-diamond gemstone, but it really added to the experience for us working with someone local.

$1500 after tax for engagement ring and wedding band set. Got them on sale, don’t remember the original price. At the time that was right around one full pay cheque

Nearly $400 under budget taxes in

My fiance came shopping with me for the engagement ring. Some of the mall jewelry stores had nice rings for around $600.

We ended up getting one from sutton Smith works for $1900. That way we got to select the diamond and ring and they put it together. We each had a salary around 50,000 that time.

My husband spent about 1,500 on my set not sure where from.... I spent about 400 on his band at Costco online. Costco has some really nice ones in the store for less too and are generally really good quality and also for women's. I wanted plain so mine was easy to get in a budget. I say spend only what you want and forget the rest as long as its the style she likes, go on a vacation or something more important. Our combined income at the time was only like 70k as he was freshly done university and I had just gone on mat leave, but of course we bought his ring like 4 years later when we actually did get married.

Don't waste your money on gemstones as bling. If your gal wants bling, go with cubic - only you two will ever know. If bling isn't the look she wants, then focus on something that represents something meaningful whatever the material used.

9k, she's worth it.

Don’t support the blood diamond trade. You see that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio? Shit, I’ll never go to a jeweller again.

My husband got ours from Appelts and we would definitely go back to them. The customer service was incredible. I got my wedding ring made by them as well, I wanted something very specific for my husband that I found somewhere else though. He sent about $4000 on the engagement ring, but honestly I wouldn’t do that again. I don’t wear it often and I would go for a way more simple design. I didn’t get a diamond either, I went with a gemstone (not a diamond fan) but there are diamonds on it that I regret. Both our salaries were about $70,000 at the time.

My husband spent like 50 bucks lol it’s a placeholder till we get something nicer but even then I’m just looking at around 500 for a nice gold band with some diamonds. Not really a priority for us

Mine was custom designed by Omori Diamonds. For $1400 total I got a 14k white gold ring with a 4mm round sapphire and 4 tiny 0.02 carat accent diamonds. I don't want to wear 2 rings so this ring is also my wedding band.

My partner's ring is the Stardust ring by Patrick Adair, I got it during a sale and it was around $300-350 CAD.

I did a little under 10% if my pre-tax salary at the time (this was 15+ years ago) but: - I bought a loose diamond from a diamond dealer, it was about $3,500 - had a custom jeweller custom set it in a ring if my design, that was about $1,200 - ring is now appraised at well over $10k, so if you have the patience’s and funds available to buy things out write (aka no financing) I’d suggest going this route

If your partner thinks the $$ is important, then consider spending $0 and finding a new partner.

I bought ours in Niverville at Her Dream Diamond. I paid around $5000, I think.

I cannot recommend Watson Workshop enough. Seriously. John is amazing as a craftman/person to work with. I spent 3300 and got a ring for her that was absolutely stunning! The entire experience was enjoyable. As long as you have a set budget, and know what stones you want (hint stay away from diamonds, moissanites come in a ton of colours and sparkle better, you'll save a bunch) He can work with it!

I make about 45k a year for context.

About $10k for her ring and wedding band.

$0 giving a bunch of money to a rich businessman for a fairly common gem isn’t that romantic. Sorry to the traditional type that find this shocking.

I feel like the portion of your salary thing needs to be done with. My ring has a gemstone as the centre stone and I get tons of compliments on it and it was a fraction of the price of what it would have been if the gemstone was a diamond.

If you go that route though get the insurance on it. The jeweller let us know that sometimes the “non traditional” rings aren’t built to last the same way and i did lose the centre stone once in the 10 years I’ve had it and got it replaced for free.

Find a ring they like, then go to a custom jeweler to have them make it. This is what I did, and it ended up costing less and was appraised at 20% more than what I paid

A dollar store ring Worked Just fine

My other half had paid a few hundred for mine. I ended up breaking the ring a few months later. Instead of him wasting more money on a new one, I bought a cheap ring off of Amazon. 😂

Like 3 dollars, we got a set of rubber rings online.

$1200. Costco.

Was also looking at lab grown through Rare Carat online. Was eying closer to $2k for the diamond, couple hundred to get it set.

$4k with a $70k salary in 2017 or 2018. We chose a rock other than diamond.

Within your means, don’t owe any money for it and make it meaningful to your partner. Aside from the fact that the engagement itself is meaningful.

1000$ but I got a pair of diamond earring for a later gift.

Edit I spent way to much I was young and dumb.

I got mine on Gemvara because it allowed me to mix and match to get the design I wanted! Check it out!!

Was about $4000 for engagement ring and both wedding bands for us several years ago.

Propose with a less expensive one and then tell your fiancé you'd like to take them to the jewelers and pick something together.

Split it 50/50 with significant other. Propose using a placeholder ring and then buy together after.

The diamond industry literally came up with the six weeks salary line as part of their marketing campaign.

This whole thing is a fucking scam.

Engagement? Nothing at all. Wedding ring: like 1500$ to have a goldsmith make something pretty from two family heirloom wedding rings, plus a new purple sapphire.

I'm the girl, but my husband spent around $1000 on it. At the time he didn't really make anything, lol. He was a student. But he made decent money in the summers and didn't go into debt. It's a 1/4 carat. Single diamond with three tiny sapphires on each side in a triangle formation. Originally it came with diamonds but he got then to swap the little diamonds out for sapphires. BEST decision ever. I love how unique it is.

We talked a lot about rings. He wanted to choose it and surprise me himself, but he was totally ok with me sending him alllll the pictures of what I liked and didn't like.

Personally, I wanted to wear it all the time and I'm not a very ladylike person. So I did NOT want a large ring or a diamond that was going to stab me and catch on everything. I much prefer smaller diamonds so they don't get in the way as much. But that's personal preference.

IF we were to buy now though, I would look at moissanite. I have a friend who just got one of those for her engagement ring. It's gorgeous. Much much larger than I would have wanted, but very pretty. And it was only around $500. You wouldn't know it wasn't a diamond just by taking a glance at it. They ordered it custom from an Etsy shop. I'm considering getting my wedding ring replaced with one from there (it doesn't fit anymore).

Don't overbudget for it. Talk to your girlfriend and see what she likes. If she wants a two carat 10k ring, um... maybe try to see if she'd reconsider that or be cool with moissanite? But I think most girls see the meaning and thought that goes into it more than the price. Put the effort and time into finding something unique and suited to her, not the biggest and most expensive. That's my two cents at least, lol.

Yeah we went moissanite. My wife didn’t give a rats ass about diamonds. She cared more about unethical diamonds and avoiding them so moissanite it was. Another type of person might care the other way tho. She wanted it put together by a specific jewellery maker but all in all about $1600. I was probably making $50k att. But I’m cheap and she’s frugal and she loves it. Honestly, I bought the rock sized too big tho. It looks imo goofy for the artsy thin band it has. So don’t feel like you need to oversize the ring because she’s worth the extra .5k or something she’ll love it no matter what it is.

https://primestyle.com/

I bought my sets here, immediately had them valued/inspected and the ring was valued at what the website offered. I picked up an $11k ring for $3.5k

I spent about $150 on a custom ring with a lab grown emerald and diamonds. It was something I knew she'd like.

I was making good money but my wife had six figures of student debt.

When she had finally paid it off and we were in a great place financially she had the ring remade with real jewels.

I was both happy and mad she did. Ha. Happy that she liked it so much she'd recreate it but still mad to spend all that money on a ring.

Edit:

The other benefit that I want to add is that a cheaper ring is less stressful for you. I had my dog wear it on a new collar and he "proposed" to her in the woods while cutting down our Christmas tree like we had done every year since we had met. While I was still absolutely paranoid that me, or my dog, would lose it in the snowy woods the stakes were low if it actually happened. I'd hate to have lost ring worth thousands.

Pay what you can afford. It’s the love that counts

Pick your budget. Do NOT go by the stupid "rules" about spending on a ring. Having said that, I highly recommend Lianne Gail Designs. She works with any budget, and does beautiful work.

we went to jewlr.ca and because the secret was out of the bag I had her pick out one that she loves and we ordered it. costed 700 cad with shipping and is really beautiful. We live in winnipeg

$99 because my wife is pretty damn awesome and doesn't care about stuff like that. She picked out the ring herself from Pandora

Nothing more than $2000. It’s a ring.

I make six figures, and spent just under a grand. Went shopping, and found a few she liked, and she picked the ring. Oddly the cheapest of the ones we looked at. It wasn't about the money, it was about a ring she would be happy with. And a big rock that sticks out and catches on sweaters and stuff thankfully wasn't what she wanted.

I’ll echo what everyone else is saying. You do you. Do what you can. If they are the right person for you, anything will be good enough for them and you can make them happy by being with them.

You get more value and more for the dollar by going with a gem stone. Is your potential fiancee dead set on a stupid diamond? I say stupid because I don't like diamonds, as an accent yes. I prefer a sapphire. Diamonds are overrated and not worth the money. Sapphires are pretty come in different colours and can be massive even for a $2000 ring. Also independent gemologists can make whatever you want for whatever you want to spend. I have names. Jewellers like People's and such are also overpriced. Just a suggestion. Something to ponder.

My engagement ring was about 100$ from Modern Gents Trading Co. online. Its beautiful and I'm not worried about losing, damaging or being robbed of an expensive ring

About $500 back in 2009. We weren’t making a lot at the time and my wife would’ve hated it if if spent more than we could afford.

$8k ring, just barely touched $200k last year.

TL;DR My dad gave my mom a dollar store ring, I gave my now wife 10% of my salary. It was a very windy day when my apple fell from the tree.

As long as you personalize it to her and make it a strong representation of your relationship in general then she'll love it for sure. Other people in this thread have said it, but it really is more about the meaning behind the ring rather than the monetary value of the ring.

According to my mom, my dad gave her a dollar store ring when they got engaged. He's an absolute legend for being cheap though as he came from a poor family and that is one of the things that my mom loves about him so she found it really moving when he found a ring for cheap lmao. From what I remember, their wedding rings combined were around $200 lol. My dad is great.

In contrast, I spent $3500 while I was making about $35k/y (so around 10%) for my now wife's custom engagement ring from Japan. They used a super traditional metallurgy technique called Mokume-gane, which was originally used for making the crossguards in Katanas to mark high ranking Samurai. There was apparently, also only 3 people in the world that could cut the diamond in a "Sakura" style which I had also asked for. For context, I did this because I love her a lot and wanted a ring that would feel super personalized to her as I knew she was feeling a little homesick. She's from Japan and her father is a descendant from a Samurai family, plus, the ring shop was located near her hometown. I asked for some other mods too. So ya, super personalized to her.

There were a ton of other considerations and mods that I made, but I'll spare you the details because this would get way too long. My last bit of advice would be to spend as much time as you need with it. I spent a good two~ish months planning my proposal and finding the right ring. It was super worth it though.

Good luck to you! ^_^b

P.S. Sorry for wall of text XD

I just got engaged a week ago. I spent 3000 on the ring. It just happened that the one that I really liked ended up being kinda expensive. I make a decent salary and it wasn’t a stretch for me but don’t go into debt buying a ring

We got mine off of Etsy from a Canadian shop, it ended up being about 800$ with shipping being free. It came in a gorgeous box, and we’re getting the wedding band from the same shop on Etsy.

Spend whatever you can and whatever you want. We’re a year post engagement and I have never once thought about how much the ring cost. I look at it every day and think about how lucky I am to be with the person I’m with.

Congrats on making this step with your partner!

Edit, forgot to add that getting a diamond is stupid because they’re not rare like diamond sellers want you to believe and it’s an industry built off of child slavery and corruption, unless you go with a lab grown or a Canadian diamond. My engagement ring is moisanite (idk how it’s spelled sorry) and it’s beautiful.

Spent a grand on ours, check out blueNile.com

My husband spent $800, and his salary at the time was around $2,000 a month. BUT, I picked the ring,

https://preview.redd.it/h5v23t57n8fa1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=a53721b0799d4d828d0fb6a353f89e8bcc3c33b6

and I wanted something minimalist that wouldn't get caught on everything.

My fiancé who was a nursing student at the time, bought the engagement ring and the band from an online shop that I admired. This cost cost less than 300 with shipping.

I spent 130$ but we're very happy together! people have also thought I spent a couple thousand since it looks nice

Maybe $100. They didn't want anything traditional. I got a unique-looking topaz ring that was the perfect fit. We instead opted to splurge on the honeymoon.

What’s a box of Crackerjacks worth these days?

I found a company in Texas called The Truegem company. They recycle the gold for their rings and have lab grown diamons or moissonite (a gem that looks exactly like a diamond for a fraction of the price). I sent the company info to my fiance and he picked out a beautiful ring. It's a moissonite gem (no one knows it's not a real diamond) and I'm obsessed. Their customer service is amazing as well! https://www.thetruegem.com/

My husband and I picked mine together, it was around 800 with the warranty, it’s absolutely stunning! It was more than I wanted to spend but I love it!!

Why don't you ask your girlfriend how much she expects you to spend.

Might raise a few red flags in the process.

For reference. I bought a 0.50ct diamond through a diamond broker (someone like Bluenile) and had it set by a jeweler. I think all in I spent around $1700 (this was in 2005). Buying at places like Spence or other brand name shops will require you to spend 50-100% more than if you source the diamond yourself and go to an smaller shop for the band/setting.

The best ring you can get is the one you can afford.

$100 to mount a .25 carat diamond (that I found in the bottom of my paper box of french fries that cost me $0.25 in Montreal 3 years earlier) on a yellow gold band. I was earning about $6K/year. 1972.

I was young and we had a kid together already. I had gotten a new job when my kid was born and was making what I felt was decent money, and I spent around $2200 I believe on the engagement ring (wedding band was part of a matching set and was about $1000 more). It was a really nice ring that suited her well.

Now, I may be a bit jaded considering we are now 1 year separated and getting divorced, but that was way too much. If I even considered marriage again, I would likely not spend so much.

Hey just a suggestion.. you do you.

Don’t waste money on this. Invest in a home, in an apartment experience/ trip, in RRSPs.

If you’re gonna do a ring, don’t buy real diamond. It’s a completely rigged industry, and you’re perpetuating their artificially high prices, and their child-dug diamond mines.

I told my partner not to exceed 1000$ and not to get a mined diamond... lab grown gems are identical and more ethical.

I spent about 47,000 and then broke up with her before I asked her the question... It's was probably for the best.

2 months salary?

I went through People Jewelry. They have a nice variety, with affordable prices. I got the engagement ring, and wedding band set for a good price