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How long did it take you to find your engagement ring?

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Loverlover85

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
16
My long term boyfriend and I are looking for engagement rings. We want to be engaged by the end of 2010... but my gosh!! Finding a ring is so hard!!

I discovered I like a vintage look, I like a lot of fine detail-- I like a lot to look at. We have found a jeweler that has rings in his pricerange that has the detail and craftsmanship that I really appreciate and for a better price than name brands. But he doesnt have "the one." He has one that is so close to being it but isn't quite.

I don't know where else to look. Other small jewelers don't have rings as nice as his. His jewelry store has flawless reviews, he himself was great. I love the crafstamanship, his work is so gorgeous... I worry doing something too custom will be far over budget though. He sounds like he's one of a kind in our area but I won't give up on finding another great jeweler.

Anyway! That is my story behind us already reaching 1 month of searching. We do not wish to upgrade later on and so this ring is going to be expensive and we would both like it to be on my finger forever after. I am just afraid I'll never find one that will make my heart sing and then-- we'll never be engaged! Haha, of course, we could just say we are now but we would like the ring first :-)

I want to know-- how long did it take YOU to find your ring? How did you find "the one," did you think you had found it only to discover it wasn't meant to be? Why? Tell me how your experience was! I would like to learn from other's experiences!
 
You'll definitely find the ring. Keep looking! Maybe there are some name brands you could LOOK at for some inspiration and if you find one you LOVE, get some quotes about custom designing it.

SO and I were on the Tacori website one day and I showed him a ring that I thought would look absolutely beautiful. Then, a few weeks later he told me he was in a jewelry store and saw an even nicer Tacori ring than the one I liked. I told him, not possible. We went into a store that carries Tacori and both rings happened to be there and when I saw the one he liked, I instantly fell in love with it that moment. When we were leaving I told him that was *the ring* and a few months later, he purchased it :)
 
I thought, no I KNEW, that I wanted a verragio ring. We went and looked at a ton but they didn't have the one I had fallen in love with online. It's something like the insignia 7030RD or something like that, I can't even remember now.

Then the wonderful man at IDC showed me Tacori, which obviously I had heard or but never tried one on and then the rest was history. : )

Opps: edited because I forgot to actually mention how long. It took me a couple months atleast.
 
I have been casually looking for rings for more than a year. (Keep in mind, we are still not ready to make the purchase...so it has all been "just looking") I started at B&M "maul" stores. Then I started looking more at online vendors. I have been learning what part of the ring is the most important to me and what styles I like. I have finally found a Brian Gavin design that is absolutely perfect in every way and I can't wait until the time is right to buy.

Look all you want and enjoy the process! The end result will be well-worth the sometimes frustrating shopping. I wish you the best of luck in finding the perfect ring (and the perfect man!)
 
I saw it after about a month of browsing online and knew. I was actually compiling a list of potentials, but after seeing it I didnt want anything else. Sent it to BF months ago, and in the meantime I am pretty sure he has made the transaction though not for sure. Its the whiteflash Legacy Repro. I like it more than the original tiffany version!

On a side note: I hate the fact that you can't browse at B&M stores without your friends getting slightly irritated and/or feeling like your pressuring your SO.
 
We've been talking about getting engaged for about 6 months or so, and looked seriously only for a few weeks before making a decision on the centre stone. My FI wanted to design the setting himself so he is going through that process at the moment.

:D
 
Honestly, about three months. It took some additional time to find where to buy a lab-grown diamond, as that was what we both wanted. To narrow down the style, I went into a place called Spence Diamonds with a girlfriend, and tried on everything in the store. I have a larger size hand, so couldn't try anything on my ring finger. Then, we got busy, into summer holidays and family visits, we didn't end up ordering it until September. At the last minute I changed the style I wanted slightly (and agonized over it), and I love it! Much more than I would have liked the original choice.

I got totally overwhelmed at one point and my partner said, forget about what an engagement ring should look like and just think about something that you want. Which is how I ended up with a blue diamond!

And we shopped online, which has it's drawbacks, (couldn't see how it would look on my hand, and my partner was less than comfortable with the idea of buying something expensive sight unseen). But it was the only way to get a lab-created diamond up here in Canada. And since I couldn't try something on my ring finger anyway, I decided it wouldn't make much difference.

Oh, and my last minute change was to get a setting a with a plain band, rather than pave. I was worried about the durability of all the little prongs , as I'm a gardener and a little hard on my rings. But I love my halo! And the setting just seems to float above the band.
 
Way too long I think. I suppoose it's something you'll wear for a long time so it's natural to take a long time to pick it out... but I'm very driven and often gets things done quickly - so this process was frustrating.

I was engaged and married in 2000/2001 and it was so quick and easy. We went to a diamond wholesaler from south africa who lived in Dallas (where we lived then) and we picked the stone he recommended - about a carat, RB, not independently certified (I wouldn't do this now that I know better). Then I had a custom setting in platinum made from the jeweler who worked with that wholesaler. It was super easy and low stress. The stone is gorgeous (I get comments from jewelers all the time) - I recently reset it into a right hand ring (since I got divorced a couple years ago).

This time I wanted an oval in a halo with a thin band - but couldn't decide whether I wanted stones on the band or not. I thought finding an oval would be easy and it's really been hard to find a good one. There just aren't as many to chose from - and I wanted a minimal bowtie and great light return - both hard to find in a oval. I think I was looking for a stone for 2-3 mos. Once I found the stone I wanted - I turned all my info over to my future fiance and thought I'd just wait to be surprised. Unfortunately, the jeweler (online vendor), set the oval E-W - so my bf showed it to me, and we sent it back. Once it went back, I changed my mind about the setting to add stones to the band. The whole process feels like it's been going on for months and months... but I tend to be impatient.
 
I think it took about 4 months to really figure out what I wanted. I am divorced (and now engaged to someone else), and my old ring was a 3-stone with a 1 carat center and .30ctw sides-- all RBs. I did like the ring, I picked it, but I always thought that the side stones made the center stone look small. Literally within a day of getting it, the diamond shrinkage syndrome set in.

This time I wanted a solitaire. I wanted something modern and not the traditional 4 or 6 prong look. And I wanted a wider band. For 3 months I was obsessed with the Tiffany Etoile solitaire. Then I actually tried it on with a 1 carat center. It was TOO wide. It looked unfeminine and clunky. So then back to the drawing board. I eventually decided to go with Brian Gavin Diamonds' bezel solitaire and I really couldn't be happier. It's very modern, sleek, classic and the diamond isn't overshadowed by the design. It is seriously PERFECT for me. I think the band is about 4.5mm wide, which feels substantial in platinum without being too thick and like a giant lugnut ;)
 
Well, I looked for a LONG time on-line etc. but I never had a clear idea of what I wanted. Just sort of. A round stone, 1.5 - 2 ct. and some "interest" in the setting.

While on vacation in St. Maarten last year, we pulled the trigger. It took us only 2 days. I honestly tried to not overly-obsess about it and I love the decision we made. It took a few hours to decide on the stone, and the setting - maybe an hour or two.

I think you can make this as worry-free if you want to. Its al in the mind set. Sometimes perfection is NOT achievable, really, unless you know EXACTLY what you want!

Have fun shopping and looking!!!
 
Once I saw the Tiffany Lucida ring I was sold. I showed my DH about 2 years before we got engaged and he adored it too and that was the only one that we went and tried on when the time came.
 
Sometimes searching, planning and deliberating is half the fun!
 
My husband is a graphic artist and designed the setting way before we were seriously talking about getting engaged. So he already had the design ready to go once we decided we were ready. I want to say that he showed me the final design about 4 months before getting engaged became imperative.
 
I had an idea in my head of what I wanted - I hadn't really seen it before (even though it is super super simple) but it was just the vision I had. Then we went and looked in lots of B&M stores to try on things - people kept telling me that I wouldn't really know what was right until I tried on lots of different styles, and that I'd be surprised by what I ended up with.

Well, I didn't - after exhaustive looking and trying-on, I ended up with 100% what I thought I wanted and we had it custom made with a stone that we bought online. Process of working out what we wanted (well, coming back to what we originally wanted!) took about a month or so.

My style is really minimalist though - I can imagine that if I were an "antiquey" girl it could take months and months trawling through all the different possible details, sidestones, design features and finishes!
 
<---Had no idea, total surprise.

I never looked for a ring!!! I know, I'm nuts.

It turned out very well, though, I was pleasantly surprised wihh what he had chosen for me!
 
That is what I have been told often also- that I should try every single thing on and I may like something else better! I think I still like what I've originally sought after... Vintage style, I do like a simple skinny band with a big diamond though. Bigger than the 1 ct we are decided on. I wonder if I'd still like that skinny simple maybe diamond band with the 1 ct?

I decided to give up looking. The plan was to only give him an idea and we both like the same kind so now it is up to him. I was planning on finding THE one until now... Just too frustrating :-( I simply can't decide on anything.
 
I didn't pick mine out, but DH told me it took him about two months to figure out what he wanted to get me.
 
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