Stone vs. Setting; what''s your spending ratio?

[lotsofsparkle]

Hi everyone, I was just curious, how much do you all spend on your e-ring settings in relation to the amount you spend on your center stone? I know some people would want to have most of their budget (85-90%) dedicated to the main stone and prefer a simpler setting while others want more elaborate settings (ie, 3 stone, pave, halo, engravings, etc.) and are willing to sacrifice some of the size of the center stone. I guess ideally you wouldn''t have to sacrifice either but for those with a set budget, it could potentially be an issue.

As for me, my setting was approximately 55% the cost of my diamond. My fiance says with the amount of $$$ he spent on my setting, he would have just gotten me a bigger diamond. And while I obviously wouldn''t mind getting a bigger rock (hmmm, I''m guessing a lot of us here on PS wouldn''t mind that

) I still believe in the end, the setting is what makes the ring, at least for me anyway. Of course, if you like simple settings, I guess it''s more of a win-win situation. Anyways, obviously it comes down to a matter of personal preference.

So.... I''m curious... what''s your preference?

 

[elle_chris]

I think it''s a complete package. I wouldn''t skimp on the setting regardless of what I wanted.
For my budget, I could have got a bigger stone but color and clairty were an issue for me.
As I already had it narrowed down to what settings I wanted, I just subtracted that from my budget then went looking for the stone.

Everyone does it differently, but "i" i believe that no matter how amazing the stone is, the setting really needs to compliment it so don''t skimp!!!

 

[ImpatientOne]

My setting was around 25% of the budget and the center stone 75%...

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I am a setting girl all the way. If I remember correctly the setting was around 25%-30% of what we spent.

 

[MikeRato1]

lotsofsparkly - same here almost... 50/50

 

[Sparkalicious]

My setting was about 20% and the diamond 80%.
It just happened to work out this way. If I found a setting that I loved that was more expensive, I would have sacrificed more on the diamond w/in reason, of course ... Good thing I didn''t find that Michael B pave petite princessw/diamond prong tip setting prior to this purchase b/c then it would have been the other way around ... 20% on the diamond and 80% on the setting! This would have been non good at all.

 

[jackk]

13% setting

 

[MoonWater]

Well I''m going the custom route and I wanted a halo so the setting was pretty pricey. Add in the rising cost of platinum, and it''s only about $1000 less than the stone. But I''m not sacrificing size at all so it worked out well. In fact, I''ve actually been worried that it may be too large because of the halo. But I''m sure all the ladies here would convince me otherwise

 

[gastro]

Buying my e-ring now, setting will be custom made, ~33%. Platinum has been going way up lately, I think if my purchase was one year ago the setting would have been ~25%.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

for me every ring has been different. my er was about 35% setting and 65% diamond, i have another ring that was 33% diamond and 67% setting, and yet another that will be 55% setting and 45% diamond. i think it all depends on what ya love...

 

[Allison D.]

It really does boil down to personal preference.

In general, most gals would rather start with more stone and then upgrade the setting down the line. I took this route, and I found that wearing my diamond for a while by itself helped me to make choices on what I wanted for a setting.

It''s all personal, though....there have been several gals who feel the setting reflects the wearer.

 

[beaujolais]

Oh, great question.

I''m a solitaire lover, so that makes it $$$ easier. I can appreciate a fancier setting but it is not me. Also, I detest the idea of sending back my ring to get pave replaced. I also don''t want a setting I can''t put in the ultrasound. So, my taste is, pretty much, keeping my money alllocated to setting less than what it might be for others.

 

[gwendolyn]

I don''t want to upgrade, and I am madly in love with Mark Morrell settings, so basically my plan is to get whatever the best diamond is that I can afford after the cost of the setting is taken into place (which is $2K now but who knows how much it will be by the time we get it since platinum prices are insaaaane

). If we get the budget I hope we get, the stone would be 2-3 times more expensive than the setting. But we will see--it will depend on lots of things, most notably the price of platinum and whether we''ve also got money saved to do all our immigration paperwork too...

 

[Ellen]

I put the bulk of my upgrade budget in the stone, setting was about 5%. I knew this wasn't my "forever" setting. But I still made sure I got a well made setting that was "me". As someone else said, I prefer simpler, and like to let the stone shine, so that helped. Since I also prefer WG, even when I do get a new setting, it's not likely to cost a ton.

Unless all you bling hounds corrupt me between now and then and I end up with some diamond encrusted setting with a huge eternity band to go with.

 

[butterfly 17]

Interesting thread, my setting was about 8% of my total cost. But, it was also my third setting, so if you had to fact in the cost of the three rings combined, it would actually be something like 17.5%, not to mention that I also got a new wedding band with each new setting.

I had the Vatche Royal Crown, then a Leon Mege solitaire and finally my Ritani endless love.

HEY, we should do another thread entitled: e-ring vs. wedding ring, what''s your spending ratio.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

The stone took up the bulk of the funds in both my e-ring and my anniversary ring. My e-ring is a simple YG knife edge solitaire, so that was about 90% stone / 10% setting. My aaniversary ring is a three stone, but it is very basic and WG (I prefer it to platinum, so it was not an issue with cost). That one was about 85% stones and 15% setting.

 

[dani13]

90% on center stone, 10% on setting. We wanted to pour most of the $$$ into the biggest, best stone we could get.

Im a solitaire girl too...

 

[gardnerranch]

I say get both if you can! I went for a very elaborate setting with LOTS of pave diamonds. So I found a good jeweler who could make the designer piece at a deep discount while still getting great quality. In the end, my diamond was 73% of the total cost of the engagement ring, 27% setting. To put this in perspective however, my custom ring overall was about 32% of the cost the comparable ring would have been in the blue box!

Of course, my first ring (before I lost it and had to replace it) was an heirloom diamond (ie: "priceless" but "free" to us) and the setting was very simple and probably ran us about $1200 at the time. It was a stunner too and I was very happy with the ring. Always got compliments on it.

Ultimately, do your research and get what you want. Where there is a will, there's a way!

 

[vespergirl]

I wanted the nicest stone we could possibly get, and the only requirement I had for the setting was that it be plat, so we spent our whole budget ont he stone, and then just got a simple plat solitaire setting. I did know that I would be upgrading the setting to something with sidestones a few years down the road, though.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

My setting was custom made, and it was pricier than I expected it would be.

I think diamond/setting percentage was 65%/35%.

 

[Circe]

"Bling hound" may be my new favorite phrase.

And, as for me, the ratio worked out to a nice 10% of the total budget, more through luck than anything else when we saw the *perfect* setting.

 

[coatimundi_org]

For me it depends on the shape of the stone. My oval''s setting was about 35% of the cost of my center stone. I like ovals with side stones. My oval is set with kites in platinum.

My round solitaire is in a temporary 6 prong setting, so I chose white gold, and it was about 5% of the cost of the diamond. Now, the permanent setting I have my eye on?(

heh heh)is a another story!

 

[kcoursolle]

It really depends what you want. If you want an elaborate ring than the setting is going to be a higher percentage of the total package. In general, I think it''s best to put more into the stone than the setting, but other than that it boils down to preferences.

 

[fabcrab]

My setting is about 38% of the total cost. I preferred simple solitaires before but I just fell head over heels over Tacori!

 

[Sparkles22]

Right now it is 13% setting (not including matching anniversary band otherwise 20%). But I picked the setting I loved first and upgraded the diamond later. So actually it would have been 52% setting (with anniversary band 66%). I am probably backwards from most people, but I think a beautiful setting is what makes the ring (and yes a beautiful diamond).

I do like the look of solitares too, I just wanted a little more bling on the sides and the band. Also solitares with plain wbands are super common around here (meaning where I live). I do love the look of a solitare with an anniversary band, but I am so OCD matchy matchy

, that I wanted them to both have diamonds and be a "set" so that they would 1) sit flush 2) be the same height and thickness 3) the same width. (My very first ering was a solitare and the metal on the sides would scratch and drive me nuts, having diamonds there I no longer see the scratches.

 

[sera]

We had set the budget for the diamond (and went a bit over). Then we set the budget for the setting, and again went over which brings the ratio to around 50/50. I hadn't intended it to go that way (maybe 70/30 or 60/40), but... I found the diamond I loved and after months of searching I decided on a custom setting. I just fell in love with the look of Leon Mege and Maytal Hannah (I'm going with Maytal) and couldn't settle on a plain setting (please understand I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a "plain" setting- they can be timeless, classy, beautiful and uncommon as with Leon or MWM etc. and even my temp freebie white gold setting would look stunning with a killer band---- it's just a solitaire is not for me at this time with this diamond).

I could have dropped in color or gotten a RB to max out the size but chose not to. My priority isn't to get the biggest center stone I can; I like the whole package. I know I'm in the minority here but I love my blingy, unique setting that is going to be started in a week or so.

I would not sacrifice on the quality of the stone for a "better" setting. Though my stone isn't BIG, it is very nice; quality came first, so I went with the nicest stone I could though not the biggest.