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Did you "settle" with your engagement ring?

Nashville

Nashville

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
837
For example...

You see a 3 carat diamond that absolutely makes your heart skip a beat. It's *the* perfect stone that you always dreamed of. You feel like now that you've seen it, nothing else could ever come close.

But your budget only allows for a half carat diamond, so that's what you get. And you like it fine, but it doesn't make your heart sing like the stone you could never afford.

Did you settle with your e-ring at all? Or had a similar experience? Or maybe learned to love your stone despite it not being exactly what you wanted?

This isn't the case with me as I don't have a ring yet (well, of course a 6 carat diamond would be nice :cheeky: ) but I'm curious if more people feel this way and just don't want to admit it!
 
I really, REALLY wanted my grandmother's ring as my engagement ring. It is a small natural pearl set with two small OMCs (around 20 pts each) and it's gorgeous. We had a special relationship, and I used to dream about her giving it to my future husband as a family ring. That didn't happen, although though she did leave the ring to me when she died last May.

Anyway, that was my real dream ring. Since it wasn't a possibility, DH and I designed my engagement ring together and he gave me a gorgeous 2 ct cushion set on a shared prong eternity band. I LOVE my engagement ring and don't feel like I settled at all. Now I wear my engagement ring alone on my left hand, and my grandmother's ring with my wedding band on my right hand.
 
Hmmm tough question. I definitely don't think I settled with my e-ring. My husband got me the best and nicest diamond he could afford, and I love it and would never trade it for anything! I think the size of my e-ring is the most practical for my day to day life. But that doesn't mean I don't love the look of larger diamonds, even though I doubt I would ever feel comfortable sporting them on my finger. I am obsessed with some of the rings on the JBEG website. One day I may get one for a right hand ring.
 
I found PS while researching diamonds and settings, so I knew exactly what I wanted after going through the learning process. I got exactly what I wanted at the time, but shortly afterwards, I began to wish that I had gotten larger side stones for my three stone engagement ring. It's something I think about often, actually. I've been told by a few PSers that it looks great, so maybe I'm just being overly picky (or maybe they're just being kind :)) ). I love my ring and I don't think I settled at all, but if I had to do it again, I'd do it just a little differently.

I will say that I think I settled somewhat when it came to my wedding band. I knew what I wanted but the vendor that we worked with said that because my engagement ring is in a trellis setting, I had to have a small notch in my wedding band to allow the rings to sit flush. I wasn't crazy about the idea but I went with it. I did want the rings to sit flush with each other, but I hated the idea of a notch in one of them. I'd never wear the wedding band on its own but they do look good together. I hate how it looks thought when one ring spins and I can see the notch.
 
Well, I think many of us do, no matter what the budget is!

I've always dreamed of a 1+ carat stone, but it wasn't in the cards, and it won't be for a long time. But someday I'll have one. DH knows it, too. :devil:
 
Yes and no? It just wasn't that important to me when we were getting married. We had a very short engagement, only 3 months before wedding. We were very young and didn't have a lot of money. By our 15th anniversary I had decided I wanted at least something "more" so I got a 5 stone ring. For our 25th, I got a much bigger solitaire because I thought that size was what I wanted. It turns out that I would have actually preferred an upgraded 5 stone ring that was more wearable than the soitaire style. But what's done is done all the way around. I think that when too much emphasis is put on the engagement ring alone, then there is something lacking in the relationship. I just wanted to be married to my guy. I really didn't care about the material parts at all.
 
I sort of settled with my ring, but my husband is totally not up for any changes to it for sentimental reasons :(( At the time of us getting engaged three years ago I was very keen for the whole budget to go on the stone. I got a really beautiful RB, just over one carat and very sparkly. It is fabulous and certainly very big by British standards where I live. However, the compromise was the setting and I went for a very basic white gold, which was very cheap at about £100, but it really bothers me now as I feel it doesn't do the stone justice. I would love to reset the stone in a more fitting setting but negotiations are not going very well sadly. However, I will always be grateful for the stone ..........
 
I do not think it is possible to "settle" for anything that is a gift. The appropriate emotion is always gratitude.

This of course leaves room for further gratitude later on when the upgrade comes into play. :bigsmile:
 
I dont think I settled at all. I absolutely love my ring, my husband designed it himself, and I couldn't be happier!!

Yeah someday I'd like an antique cut for my right hand tho! lol
 
I don't think I settled, at all ... but I don't think I'm finished yet, either. :rodent:

When we got engaged, I actually proposed to my husband, spur of the moment. And once we finished laughing and hugging and celebrating, I asked him if he wanted a diamond to mark the occasion. He said no ... but he did want to get one for me. I knew I wanted something between a carat and a carat and a half, and in VS, near-colorless territory. We wound up going a little over budget, including setting, but three years later, I still adore my 1.46 J VS2 in its fishtail prongs.

Does that mean that I'd be averse to, say, a 2.5 G SI1 with strong fluorescence for a ten-year anniversary? Oh, come on. Guess. :Up_to_something:
 
Yes, but only in the setting. I really wanted a split shank ring. I just couldn't find what I wanted within our budget, and going custom would have placed us over the budget. Do I love my current ring? Of course! But someday, down the road, I have been told I can have my dream setting. So now I have something to look forward to!
 
To be clear, I don't believe it's ungrateful to have big jewelry dreams. Just because something is a gift doesn't mean you don't have pre-determined thoughts about what you'd like it to be. There's a 6.5 carat padparadscha sapphire on Wildfish that I visit daily. I love it, everything about it. The color, the light play, the silk. I would look at that stone every day and love it, it's the most beautiful amazing thing to me. It will never happen, but it's still fun to have those "If I won the lottery..." dreams.

But I have no ring yet, so I'm still holding out hope :bigsmile:
 
nashville do you have a link?
 
No. I picked out a few settings that I liked and DH picked which one to get and the stone. I don't care about size, I just told him to be sure it was a well cut, beautiful stone. (Which he did) :bigsmile:
 
No, not really. I wanted a 2 carat diamond, but when I was shopping for ring styles, I tried on a 1.5 carat diamond in the setting style I LOVED and it fit my finger perfectly. Even the salesperson told me it looked perfect and a 2 carat wouldn't look as good. (I'm sure I could have learned to love a 2 carat diamond, though! :cheeky:)

I really wanted the setting and diamond at the same time (instead of springing for a larger diamond in a simple setting), and the 1.5 carat and the setting fit my budget, whereas a 2 carat diamond and the setting did not. So I think it worked out perfectly!

When we got engaged my husband said I could upgrade to a 2 carat diamond later on, but I actually don't think I'll ever change my e-ring. I might have to get another diamond at a later date, though! :devil:
 
I don't have the ring on my finge yet, but nope. I know I am going to love it forever. And most importantly, how could I not love something that my ff lovingly picked out and designed with so much thought. I will never upgrade (although I'll probably get another diamond ring at some point ) and my ring will hopefully be something that stays in my family forever! Most importantly, I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with my ff and he could give me a plastic ring from a vending machine and I still would say yes of course!
 
thing2of2 said:
No, not really. I wanted a 2 carat diamond, but when I was shopping for ring styles, I tried on a 1.5 carat diamond in the setting style I LOVED and it fit my finger perfectly. Even the salesperson told me it looked perfect and a 2 carat wouldn't look as good. (I'm sure I could have learned to love a 2 carat diamond, though! :cheeky:)

I really wanted the setting and diamond at the same time (instead of springing for a larger diamond in a simple setting), and the 1.5 carat and the setting fit my budget, whereas a 2 carat diamond and the setting did not. So I think it worked out perfectly!

When we got engaged my husband said I could upgrade to a 2 carat diamond later on, but I actually don't think I'll ever change my e-ring. I might have to get another diamond at a later date, though! :devil:
Click to expand...

Great example! You got the right diamond for you, even though you originally had something else in mind.
 
RhubarbPie said:
I don't have the ring on my finge yet, but nope. I know I am going to love it forever. And most importantly, how could I not love something that my ff lovingly picked out and designed with so much thought. I will never upgrade (although I'll probably get another diamond ring at some point ) and my ring will hopefully be something that stays in my family forever! Most importantly, I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with my ff and he could give me a plastic ring from a vending machine and I still would say yes of course!
Click to expand...

Well of course, I never meant to imply that anyone would base accepting a proposal on whether or not the ring was what they wanted.

I've been married for years and we have a child, so clearly the whole no ring thing wasn't a deal breaker for me :bigsmile:
 
I wanted to reach the magical 1ct mark, but we were going to pay for the wedding ourselves, so I told my husband anything above 3/4 carats would look close enough to a carat for me. He ended up getting a 0.81ct RB, with tapered baguettes of around 0.2ct, so we "technically" did hit the 1 carat mark on my e-ring. :cheeky:
 
No, I was fine with it. When we first got engaged, I didn't think about the ring at all! We got it after the actual engagement and I was very happy and giddy and didn't focus on it much. It was a nice stone, 1.3ct. After some years both of us got the idea to get a larger one. Turns out my husband thought my ring was too small when he bought it, but it was what he could comfortably afford at the time. Now my stone is double the size and I love it.

Sometimes I eyeball getting a still bigger one, but probably won't. It seems outlandish...
 
No, I got exactly what I wanted: size of stone, type of stone, ring design, etc. I didn't want anything larger than 1.5 carat and I wouldn't upgrade for quite a few years, even if I had the choice now.
 
I think I settled on the setting but not on the stone. The stone I wanted was already mounted in a setting and priced that
way. I didnt think enough to ask if I could have that stone but in another setting. Now I want another setting. Have to
see what DH says.
 
No I didn't settle for my engagement ring. We saved for the stone and the setting I wanted. I didn't want to "settle" for oh, say a sim like an asha just so I could have a ring on my finger. I wanted my forever ring with my forever guy and so we both waited until we could afford it.
 
Dreams are nice, but I am VERY happy with reality. I was "surprised" with an absolutely gorgeous stone in a setting that S designed himself that complements the stone and fits both our taste, and he did everything on his own. S put soooo much effort and time into finding the perfect components and assembler for my ring that there is NO way in hell I could ever look at it and thought "boy, I really settled." NO way.
 
monarch64 said:
Dreams are nice, but I am VERY happy with reality. I was "surprised" with an absolutely gorgeous stone in a setting that S designed himself that complements the stone and fits both our taste, and he did everything on his own. S put soooo much effort and time into finding the perfect components and assembler for my ring that there is NO way in hell I could ever look at it and thought "boy, I really settled." NO way.
Click to expand...

I've seen your ring, he did a great job.
 
Well, I didn't really have a say in my e-ring, because DH picked it out all on his own and surprised me. I do love it and it's a good size (a carat) but shrinkage set in. I/we bought a 1.80 carat as a one year upgrade because that was what I was willing to spend. I guess I sort of settled, because nothing less than 2.5 - 2.75 carats would make me 100% satisfied!
 
I love my soon to be e-ring. I don't want to upgrade ever necessarily, but maybe have a second choice of what to wear on a daily basis at some point... and I see a GOG AVC in my future hehe.
 
Yes and no.

I wear a 1 ct cushion to work, a larger size I feel would be ostentatious due to nature of my work (with patients). It was also the ring he surprised me with so will forever be special.

But now I am very lucky to be searching for my second e ring in the 2.5-3 ct range, which is definitely NOT a compromise! I consider both rings to be my e rings as they will both be bought by him. I love my fiancé I do.
 
rosetta said:
Yes and no.

I wear a 1 ct cushion to work, a larger size I feel would be ostentatious due to nature of my work (with patients). It was also the ring he surprised me with so will forever be special.

But now I am very lucky to be searching for my second e ring in the 2.5-3 ct range, which is definitely NOT a compromise! I consider both rings to be my e rings as they will both be bought by him. I love my fiancé I do.
Click to expand...

3 carat? Woohoo, you go!
 
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