I need help with a ring for my girl friend - first time buyer and not much knowledge. 3-4K budget

[SAK]

I'm in my late 20's and i'm getting ready to make a proposal.

For now, I want something nice that will be a gesture as we are probably to just get married in a courthouse and get our paperwork done and get on with our married lives for a bit - no real honeymoon or wedding ceremony or anything right now because we simply cannot afford all that. We work full time, just bought a house, i'm working on my Masters - we want to have a baby, buy a pool, start small businesses, travel, etc.

I dont have a whole bunch of money right now, but i make pretty good money, and eventually - in 3-5 years - I expect to have a much bigger budget and plan to do both a nice formal wedding ceremony and a nice rings.

For now - what i'm looking for:

Cartier Love Wedding Band - White Gold

I have a diamond that my mom is going to give me. It's basically an old diamond ring, that she no longer uses and is essentially passing down to me I guess. I'm happy with it. My parents have been married 25+ years so nothing bad about it. She has a much bigger nice ring now.

Question: Can I go to a jeweler - say in the Downtown LA jewelry district and get them to custom create a setting on this Cartier wedding band?

Is that the opposite of how weddings bands are supposed to be traditional?

I really want the Cartier brand, box, etc. -- but cant afford the cartier diamonds.

Thank you for any recommendations you can provide!

SK

 

[PintoBean]

The first thing I'd do is go to a Cartier store and figure out what size ring you'd need.

http://www.cartier.com/en-us/collec...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLrEl4iEoNoCFQMONwodjLIONQ

It looks like a new Cartier love ring is within budget.

 

[Snowdrop13]

Can you tell us more about the diamond, such as size, colour, etc?

I personally would not buy a branded ring like the Cartier then have someone alter it like that. You might be better just buying a simple setting for the diamond instead.

Why not move the to the RockyTalky part of the forum? You might get more replies. (Hit the “report” button to let the mods know).

 

[madelise]

Yeah, that's not how it works. You can't just glue a head/diamond on a Cartier band, and call it a Cartier ring. But mostly, you can't just glue a head on.

Keep the band for a wedding band or another gift. Use mom's old diamond ring to make something.

 

[partgypsy]

Dittoing Madelise. Use the cartier band as the wedding band, don't alter it. Get a different setting for the diamond, hopefully one that looks nice/can stack with the cartier band. For example something with same metal color, maybe a bezel with flat band (but small/thinner).
just an example. Will need to buy from jeweler so they can set stone.
http://www.uniquesettings.com/products/show/1964

 

[arkieb1]

You would be better with your diamond in a nice classic classy looking solitaire and a separate band bought and not altered from Cartier, to be worn as a band. The thing is if she walks into Cartier or anywhere really with a diamond that has a head welded onto a real Cartier ring the staff in any of those shops is going to say OMG what happened to the ring. And basically you will be devaluing and ruining the original band actually worth something.

You can't make a pretend Cartier ring by joining stuff onto a real ring, that would look weird, wrong and very noticeable even if a good bench person attempted to do it.