Alright guys, the time has come to make the jump. I've begun shopping around for engagement rings

Tell her you're putting the extra money toward the honeymoon, the actually important thing

actually she shouldn't know shit about how much you're paying for it, you can find a sexy lab made diamond ring for a good price and there is literally no difference

Does she even like rings or diamonds?

>Using a loan to get the ring
Use cash.
>Don't have the cash
Save it then. Find a place that's personal, preferably a family owned jewelry store. They will be much better for you.

Then buy your diamond online from a website that lets you return the diamond if you don't like it. Take it in and examine it with all the right tools and make sure the diamond is perfect and you like it, or if not try again. But buying online will still be infinitely better for this but make sure all the certifications are right and get everything checked out. Some online diamond retailers have deals with family owned stores and some are far, far better than others for the same product.

Never EVER buy jewelry from the mall. It's a downright scam. Stick to family owned stores.

Once you get the diamond you want, take it into the store and have them design the ring with it in it, if they can (mine could and I got to specify how I wanted the ring designed and everything.

Haha, hard to find anything but solitaire rings at pawn shops. She's specifically in love with edwardian/art deco styles, so I'm going for those (like pic related).

So the engagement ring for 3k avg, then a wedding ring? You have to be smart. If you are in debt already, save the big expense for the wedding and ring. The wedding ring will only be a fraction of that. I know you want to spoil her, but when she marries you, she marries your debt too.

Your price range of 2-4k is the same as mine was, by the way. I went to over 10 shops talking with them and trying to find the place that works best.

Remember to get the best diamond you can from online retailers and the ring itself in store. It's much cheaper that way.

I know an amazing place in northern California though. Where are you located OP?

user you MUST use bluenile.com, and learn the 4 C's. I REPEAT, DONT BUY ANYWHERE BUT BLUENILE YOU WILL GET JEWED.

Our honeymoon is all sorted. Travel is a non-issue for me, made friends with the right people in uni + connections in the service industry so that's nice.

Yes and yes. Girl has a whole pinterest board devoted to a very specific type of ring. If not diamond as the center stone, morganite might be doable, but they're hard to find in the right style.

Yeah, stainless and zircon - women are fucking idiots if they want useless sparkly shit don't waste useful money it.

>diamonds
>financed
>2017

I'm not OP but I checked out bluenile as well as some other online retailers at first too. There are better online retailers out there. I will look again and try to remember and come back with them.

Bluenile is ok OP but from my understanding their quality, despite certifications, really isn't consistent. There are BETTER options than bluenile out there online. Hold on.

The notion that people pay thousands just for a shiny stone is so barbaric to me, I can't comprehend it

Oh. She's just shit, then.

What is her ring size? I bet she's a fat fuck

double Jewry lmao

She comes from money, user. I don't (no family). The wedding itself is 100% taken care of, and the honeymoon I've already got sorted. This is really the best opportunity to spoil her a bit, and so I'd like to figure out the best way to do so.

Will look into that. Thank you.

Chicago, and unfortunately I can't get a reliable vintage setting of the type she wants and then retrofit a diamond. If it was solitaire, that'd be fine, but it's 1920's styles. Thank you though.

You are literally throwing your money in a garbage disposal unit. Go ask your mom for the diamond from her wedding ring and have it set in to a ring. Dont pay for literal worthless carbon.

>Go ask your mom for the diamond from her wedding ring and have it set in to a ring
damn that's way more meaningful than some stupid ass debt financed piece of shit, what a nice ring that would be.

Don't have any family. Not possible.

the point is that almost anything with sentimental value makes a better gift to loved ones than showing that you are willing to ruin your finances for them

I see. Well if you're certain you're unable to retrofit the diamond or have the ring designed just for you (a lot of family owned shops do this for relatively cheap prices), then at the very least make sure you check out a lot of locations.

Some family owned stores are shit, don't misunderstand that. But corporate joints like Helzberg are downright scams ("You should pay us triple the price of other places because of our warranty" and other shit). Just make sure to go to a lot of stores at least.

In my case I knew what features we wanted the ring to have so I would tell jewelers what I'm looking for until eventually, after 10+ stores, I found one that seemed really perfect with only small modifications needed. So I paid them to craft a similar ring with the small modifications I wanted and retrofited the diamond, all for around $3500 like you said.

But if you just want the vintage style and all that, then go to every jewelry store you can til you find it. But seriously pay in cash. Don't eat much for a while or whatever, but set aside the money and pay it out in cash.

>need to spend thousands on an engagement ring
>then need to spend more thousands on a wedding ring
>and thousands on the actual wedding
>and thousands on a honeymoon

This level of gains guzzling is disgusting.

A 4k ring isn't going to ruin my finances, user. Hell, if I do it correctly it might even be a solid credit building opportunity, which is why I'm asking for advice. Not like I'm trying to finance a 50k ring or something.

Gayest thread Ive ever seen
go ask your mommy OP

That's the only way 2bh. She definitely isn't in for money at least

Hrm, yeah I've been looking into estate jewelry in hopes of finding truly vintage pieces. I'll have to research mom and pop stores near me, but would maybe want to get any gems certified by somewhere larger?

Also this. I got married as a broke 21 year old college student.

Now I'm 2 years into my marriage with 100k in side cash earned mostly through crypto and a decent job with plenty to save. My wife and I argue a ton but at least I know she didn't marry me for my money.

Antique jewelry store? I would't pay a premium for a ring and finance it when you could just pay cash for something pre owned.

buy CZ and pretend its a diamond

Fuck meme rocks my man. Get her something that's actually rare and not pumped with artificial value by (((yours truly)))

how did you go about asking her what type of ring she liked? i wanna surprise the shit outta my girl so zero hints at preference. is that a bad thing? was thinking a 1-1.5 karat solitare just cuz i do know she likes big rocks

Yeah, I'm totally not against pre-owned/antique pieces. Prefer them in this case, actually. They still end up costing around 4k for the type I want, though

I creeped on her pinterest page. Didn't ask her up front. Plus it's just kind of her style.

All the diamonds will be certified and have certificates when you buy it. If you did end up buying the diamond online, you get all the certifications with it. I think personally that bluenile, although it is the cheapest, is not consistent with their diamonds. But there are other online diamond retailers in the same range.

I know you don't want to retrofit the diamond but if you find the ring you really want in a store, at least ask them "is it possible that you could retrofit a stand-alone diamond into this" and see what they say. Don't be afraid to say "I like everything about this ring...except I want a higher bridge" or "I want only 3 diamonds on the side" or whatever. The family owned stores will be happy to oblige you. But make sure you aren't getting a store that only has a few diamonds for display and all the rest in catalogues because that's useless too.

You don't get the gems certified after you buy them or anything. The people selling them to you will have all the certificates and certifications and should hand you the magnifying glass thing to examine it for imperfections yourself. And any online retailer you use needs to allow you to return it too. Don't buy anything if any of this is not true.

But honestly to just get started make a list of 10 or so stores near you and go to them individually and tell the clerks exactly what you had in mind and they'll guide you through the process. Take pictures, ask questions, and decide which one is closest and if you can make any modifications or design one to be perfect for you. It'll work out.

damn, that's easy enough! best of luck in your search user

Give her a simple gold band. If she's happy with that, your marriage will work. Giant diamonds are for cunts that destroy families.

Thanks man. Good luck with your own. Solitaires can be a pretty penny.

The thing is most edwardian/1920s designs don't use just one large stone, they use a medium stone and a LOAD of slightly smaller stones set in a pattern. So it just isn't as easy as getting a single solitaire cut refit. That's my conundrum.

> I'd like to get her the ring she deserves
cockring would suit, faggot OP

Women, user, women. There's nothing to comprehend because there is no logic.

Buy stone(s) separately from the ring and then find a jeweler who will mount it properly. That is literally the only way to make sure you don't lose money on the proposition.

This. Pedestalizing women is fucking retarded.

hm, might want to be able to afford more than one ring
discord.gg/zjMhT2W

Not pedestalizing "women". I've done enough disgusting shit to "women" in my life to make even you sick, user. I'm seeing this particular woman for what's she worth, and I'm trying to be good to her.

>inb4 faggot

you're such a fucking cuck. god you disgust me.

Ignore the children that have never had their peepee touched by a girl.

>I have student debt, and am currently building credit
You will never buy anything good and expensive fucking retard.

Hey man, I let that woman slip through my fingers.

Dont listen to these guys, they're not the same race as you and dont want what is best for you.

Do what you know is right.

Buy the stones separately and befriend a Jewler.

Keep in mind Jew-lers cannot be trusted.

Make sure they dont switch the rocks.

>I'm seeing this particular woman for what's she worth

D E L U D E D
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When I make it I'm gonna get a license plate on the back of my lambo that says PREENUP.

Ha, thanks. I think I'll look into what can be done about fitting a gem into vintage settings. Hopefully it's more possible than I think.

if you have to pay $4000 to get your pee pee touched you should probably kill yourself

>Personal loan? I have student debt, and am currently building credit
>so would like to know what you all think the best route would be.

Don't buy shit you can't afford
Don't get married to a gold digger cunt, shiny stones are seriously a forced meme

>getting married at all

Class A cucks

I paid 11k for my missos engagement ring, put down half and paid the other half with zero percent interest. However I was charged a 2 dollar admin fee for each transaction once a fortnight until the ring was paid off