How Many Months of Salary Did You (or He) Spend on an E-Ring

[LaurenThePartier]

Re: How Many Months of Salary Did You (or He) Spend on an E-

When we were engaged, my ring was less than 2 weeks gross. Our engagement was a bit rushed, so he has told me that he would have spent more had he had a bit more lead time, but if I really think about it, going from a .71 to a ~1.00 ct. diamond would have only netted .5mm or less, so given I have a bezel setting, I don't know that I feel the cost justifies the gains, IMO.

I would have never let my husband spend more than he could afford to just throw away in cash, and because we had a very low-key wedding in Las Vegas, we only paid in cash what we wouldn't miss.

That being said, every woman has her own opinions on this. I have an asscher so my priorities were ultimately clarity and colour over size. Many woman favour size, size, size! You should give her what she wants, within reason.

 

[february2003bride]

Re: How Many Months of Salary Did You (or He) Spend on an E-

A. Less than one month salary - DH spent less than 1 month's post tax salary- a 1.06, F, VS2 princess cut in a platinum cathedral setting from Blue Nile.

Did anyone take out loans to pay for the e-ring? No, DH paid cash.

Did anyone take out loans to pay for the wedding and/or honeymoon? No. DH was very anti-debt. My dad paid for almost all of our wedding, DH paid for some of it and DH paid for the whole honeymoon.

Did anyone regret spending too much money on the e-ring, wedding, and/or honeymoon? I would have purchased a less expensive dress and gotten the wedding band I really wanted (which cost more than the one I chose). Our wedding was very frugal compared to what others pid for their weddings. Ours was $10K, almost everyone elses was $20K-$45K.

 

[LGK]

Re: How Many Months of Salary Did You (or He) Spend on an E-

A. Less than one month salary (the first e-ring) and
B. One month's salary on my current one.

When we were first married, we were totally broke just-out-of-college students. We spent $400 on my wedding set- it was a pretty 1940s .20 cttw set, very modest obviously. That was about a half month's salary back then, paid in cash of course. We spent, oh, maybe $500 on the wedding including my dress and his tux rental. We didn't need to rent a venue- we just got married on his dad's private beach and they let us use their lovely home for the reception, and my mom and my stepmother in law made finger food. We had about 20 people over, which was about 15 more than we'd planned. Reaaaalllly low key! Never regretted it. We spent a month in Europe afterwards as a honeymoon, and spent a LOT more on that than either the wedding or my ring combined.

When my ring finally fell apart and we replaced it, it was with a 3.55 carat Old European Cut, last year (we've been married since 2001, and are in our early 30s right now, and way more financially secure than when we got married). That was about one month's salary (er, I think- maybe 2 weeks more like), now. Cash again. Frankly we have a lot of our $$ diversified and hedged in various places, and we felt like since I have a lot of connections to people who sell antique jewelry (as well as getting a ridiculously great deal on the stone), it was worth putting some money in a diamond, since I am in a fairly unique position to actually be able to sell it for, bare minimum, what I paid for it but likely for a profit, if we ever need to. So it was more about having yet another place to put our cash rather than just for decorating my finger.

Did anyone take out loans to pay for the e-ring?

Nope, neither one.

Did anyone take out loans to pay for the wedding and/or honeymoon?

Nope. We probably spent a couple thousand on the honeymoon, and a lot less on everything else, which was exactly as planned and reflects our values pretty well. No loans, just cash.

Did anyone regret spending too much money on the e-ring, wedding, and/or honeymoon?

Definitely not. I have *never* wished we did a more elaborate wedding, either. Obviously we upgraded the ring (er, quite a bit) but even the current ring was still less than most other couples we know spent on 1 carat diamonds.

FWIW, we didn't do a surprise engagement thing. We picked out the ring together and (as a picky picky girl with a very offbeat sense of style) that was a great idea. I don't think an engagement needs to be a huge freaking thing or a surprise to be really romantic and perfect.

 

[Akalahab]

Less than a week of DH's gross salary. I grew up in an environment that didn't value such things! Looking to upgrade my setting though...a larger vs smaller diamond doesn't have a lot of appeal to me so I'd like to keep mine since it looks balanced on my hand and is more my asthetic. Still less than DH's week's gross salary for a nice handforged setting but still having trouble wrapping my head around spending that much thinking about future college tuitions etc. (don't have kids yet, but soon) and how I can invest in violins and those will actually appreciate in value.

 

[Austina]

Nothing, zip, zilch, nada. I didn't have an engagement ring.

 

[partgypsy]

I ditto, to see if you can get more of a sense of the size of diamond, style she would like. though if she has no preferences a high quality diamond solitaire is a safe bet.
I totally ditto getting a super ideal cut diamond. I'm a bit picky about clarity so prefer going down to VS2 only, and down to H or I in color. As far as how many weeks, months, that is really so variable because of savings, other goals, etc, though I think anything less than a week salary=cheap, and an amount where have to borrow, or adversely impacts other financial priorities=too much. All of us on this board would love to help you find a beautiful diamond when you know your budget.
Oh, and I am definitely in the camp, of being the kind of woman where I would rather be involved in the ring buying purchase than having it sprung on me. Possibly something to find out from her friends, family.

 

[tyty333]

This thread is from 2010...may still be fun to answer the question but I doubt the OP needs help any more! If he does, heaven help his
GF if she has been waiting for 7 years!

 

[Dancing Fire]

This thread is from 2010...may still be fun to answer the question but I doubt the OP needs help any more! If he does, heaven help his
GF if she has been waiting for 7 years!

But now he can afford a much bigger diamond...

 

[autumngems]

Hubby was just a Cpl in the USMC so my ring was $200 .25 carat and it is very white and sparkly. However I upgraded at 5 yrs to 1 ct, then at 20 years to 2.00ct and at 25 years to 3.00 carat. I have since sold all the upgrades for one reason or another and still have the .25 carat ring

 

[KaeKae]

Less than one month.
DH had a stone from his grandmother, so it cost whatever it cost in 1987 to set a stone in a simple yellow gold solitaire. Probably less $150.

 

[Bluegemz]

My first one was about 1/10 of a month's salary. Current engagement ring (not including the band), which was a 4th anniversary upgrade, was about one month of my husband's salary.

 

[BlingDreams]

It's interesting to read through these and see that most spend a month or less. The diamond industry sure tried hard to make people feel "cheap" if they spent less than two month's salary. Looks like it didn't work

As for us, it looks like we're with the norm. We spent less than a month pre-tax for the center stone, setting, and bands.

 

[t-c]

I ditto, to see if you can get more of a sense of the size of diamond, style she would like. though if she has no preferences a high quality diamond solitaire is a safe bet.
I totally ditto getting a super ideal cut diamond. I'm a bit picky about clarity so prefer going down to VS2 only, and down to H or I in color. As far as how many weeks, months, that is really so variable because of savings, other goals, etc, though I think anything less than a week salary=cheap, and an amount where have to borrow, or adversely impacts other financial priorities=too much. All of us on this board would love to help you find a beautiful diamond when you know your budget.
Oh, and I am definitely in the camp, of being the kind of woman where I would rather be involved in the ring buying purchase than having it sprung on me. Possibly something to find out from her friends, family.

I'll tell my husband this. Maybe I'll guilt him into an upgrade

 

[GliderPoss]

Mine spent none as he proposed without one! We chose one together later and it was very cheap as we were young & poor at the time. I certainly wouldn't get a loan for a ring!

I think you should not think of it so much as X% of your salary, look at her style and what she likes then get an idea of what might fit & the cost of that... Maybe she would prefer a gemstone ring? I would certainly be very hurt if my fiancé could easily afford the ring I wanted but refused because he was too cheap.... This is (usually) a ring for life!