Do Newbie Engagement ring shoppers YOU help look for a diamond or ring style first?

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Lots of you lovely helpful expert folk assist newbies, mostly male, select a diamond engagement ring.
I have often wondered which comes first. The choice of ring / style, and then the diamonds to suit.
Or the diamond(s) selection and then the ring style?

 

[Pomelo]

For the friends I’ve helped, it’s usually the diamond first as that’s the biggest component of the budget. Usually they go for solitaires, or one friend has gone for a three-stone but the side stones are much smaller than the centre stone.

One friend got an engagement band first rather than buying the “big” ring, so that he had something nice to propose with but could go ring shopping together once she said yes!

 

[MissGotRocks]

If they have a setting in mind, we usually always encourage them to hold up and select the diamond first. Sometimes people want to buy the setting because they know it is the one she wants, but much easier and better to get the diamond first and then worry about the setting that will accomodate the diamond.

 

[tyty333]

Depends what you mean by "choose". It seems like they always have an idea of what kind of setting they want but most*
dont actually go to a site and have the setting picked out before the diamond. Some do, but I think its more of an idea or
a picture of a setting that they want something like. Diamond selection and purchase seem to usually happen before the
actual setting is selected.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

If they have a setting in mind, we usually always encourage them to hold up and select the diamond first. Sometimes people want to buy the setting because they know it is the one she wants, but much easier and better to get the diamond first and then worry about the setting that will accomodate the diamond.

So we may change the process

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Depends what you mean by "choose". It seems like they always have an idea of what kind of setting they want but most*
dont actually go to a site and have the setting picked out before the diamond. Some do, but I think its more of an idea or
a picture of a setting that they want something like. Diamond selection and purchase seem to usually happen before the
actual setting is selected.

So, as MissGotRocks mentioned - it may be that we influence the process TyTy

 

[maryjane04]

I just asked my husband this and he said diamond haha

 

[DejaWiz]

Setting...most of the time they are very hung up on the setting because they are scrambling to remember all the little design details about some various settings that were narrowed down on. They'll usually have a strong idea about diamond shape and carat weight that their SO wants, but...

What I usually end up advising is to focus on the diamond: that's usually the most expensive component of the ring *and* the hardest to get right (in regards to material quality, cut precision, optics, etc)...My initial advice to those that ask me for help is to dump as much of the overall budget into the diamond because that is the component that is going to get the attention of others first, get a very basic starter/presentation setting, then shop together for the permanent setting at a later time: the setting is the easier and far more cost effective component of the whole ring to swap out, plus it gives direct involvement to their SO in the choosing/design process for a final outcome.

 

[vintageinjune]

In my experience helping my friend's SOs and my brothers in the past, they usually know what ring style their intended wants, so then we pick the diamond/center stone and then finish designing the setting to suit.

The very first ring I helped pick out was a pre-set one and we sifted through all the 1/4 carat marquise looking for one with minimal light leakage - although I didn't know that is what it was called at the time.

 

[Brigid]

My husband bought me a some lovely diamonds/jewellery while we were courting (boyfriend/girlfriend, dating) when he proposed he asked me if I wanted him to organise my engagement ring or if I wanted to do it myself.
I said I would do it as I had a dream diamond in mind and had started to source Australian diamond merchants before he proposed, in my circumstance the diamond
came first!

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

in my experience always diamond. I’ve helped out a few friends before. Some of them come into it with some idea of partner preferences, others their partners are indifferent.