Engagement ring for the girl who doesn't wear jewellery.

Caporegime
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So I'm at that point, cleared it with her parents and got everything planned except for the ring

Half of me wants to just buy something I think it's appropriate
Half of me wants to let us both decide on the day I ask her (actually her parents did this)

Option 1 is more traditional and if i was confident of getting it right I would definitely do this. But I am not! Option 2 could also be quite nice being a joint decision but may devalue the actual proposal

Also any good jewelers around central London that are appropriate should I choose option 2?

Hope some here can help
 
Soldato
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Get her the biggest, most shiny ring you can get and is appropriate to her tastes. Just because she doesn't wear jewellery doesn't mean she won't want an engagement ring!

Only you can decide on what she would like. Frankly, you can always ask her what her tastes are, and ask her to point a few out (IF she knows you are intending to get married etc). If you don't want to be obvious you can always just joke about marriage etc when going past a shop etc. Also.. you are gonna need her ring size anyway!
 
Associate
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Go with option 2

Just happen to stumble across a jewelers when you are out and start looking at rings through the window. Admit you are not sure what sort of engagement ring you would get and go in for a better look. When you find one she likes and in your price range get her to try it on, tell her it looks perfect and would be a shame to take it off then drop to one knee and propose.
 
Soldato
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I recently proposed to my now Fiancee. You have to propose with a ring! I picked the ring but got it too big, was a shame but better than getting it too small. When we went in to get her measured and the ring resized I gave her the option of a different ring I was undecided on but she wanted to keep the one I picked.

So in answer, buy the ring, propose to her with it. Don't propose in the jewellers, make a day of it. Women love that sort of thing.
 
Soldato
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Go with option 2

Just happen to stumble across a jewelers when you are out and start looking at rings through the window. Admit you are not sure what sort of engagement ring you would get and go in for a better look. When you find one she likes and in your price range get her to try it on, tell her it looks perfect and would be a shame to take it off then drop to one knee and propose.

...and then what... only buy the ring if she says yes? lol. Stumbling across part is good... but part of the showing your commitment is having bought the ring in the first place. (Please don't think I am being disrespectful).
 
Soldato
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Go with option 2

Just happen to stumble across a jewelers when you are out and start looking at rings through the window. Admit you are not sure what sort of engagement ring you would get and go in for a better look. When you find one she likes and in your price range get her to try it on, tell her it looks perfect and would be a shame to take it off then drop to one knee and propose.

I think that could go wrong in many ways, so i wouldn't...

It sounds like a simple stylish ring would suit her, he could always wear it on a necklace if she didn't want it on her hand..

Just make sure she doesn't go Golem...:)
 
Caporegime
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Some sort of comedy ring did cross my mind (and straight to jeweller afterwards!

This is it. How can I get a ring size.. Chloroform and measure? I can't think of anything that wouldn't give it away.

She doesn't know it's imminent but (hopefully) thinks it will happen

The proposal won't be in a jewelers lol.

She will know immediately if something is up if i even look in a jewellers. This is the sort of girl who doesn't like flowers
 
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Soldato
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You'll just have to guess the size, I tried to compare my finger with hers when holding hands. Still got it pretty wrong though. Like I said it's best to get it bigger as not being able to fit it on the finger might dampen the mood a little.
 
Soldato
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Don't do comedy. Be sincere. You want her to consider your proposal seriously.

EDIT: Have a look around for rings with the jewellers, and discuss what options they have for changing a ring after purchase.
 
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Associate
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Just happen to stumble across a jewelers when you are out and start looking at rings through the window. Admit you are not sure what sort of engagement ring you would get and go in for a better look. When you find one she likes and in your price range get her to try it on, tell her it looks perfect and would be a shame to take it off then drop to one knee and propose.

Don't do this. It's beyond cringeworthy. Not to mention the fact that women aren't stupid (or at least not all of them), if you 'randomly' start looking at engagement rings, especially if she doesn't wear rings, it pretty much screams that you're going to propose and there's nothing special about that.

Why doesn't she wear rings? Is it because she doesn't like them, or is it more of a practical reason?
 
Associate
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So in answer, buy the ring, propose to her with it. Don't propose in the jewellers, make a day of it. Women love that sort of thing.

This :)

I think the majority of girls would prefer if you had taken the time/effort to choose a ring.

If you’re proposing, you should know her pretty well and what kind of ring she may like. If you’re unsure, I’d get her best friend involved. One of my closest friends was proposed to last year, and her now fiancé got me to subtly ask what ring size she was, and sent me pictures of potential rings, etc. Worked well :D
 
Man of Honour
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I didn't buy the ring because she's very fussy.

I used her Nan's wedding ring and used that for the proposal and we chose a ring together afterwards (we actually bought a diamond separately and had it set into her Nan's wedding ring).
 
Caporegime
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OK so option 2 is a bad idea. I would have rather done option 1 anyway

She doesn't wear rings etc for both practical and that she just isn'ta jjewellery girl. I know she wouldn't want something big or extravagant.

Sizing will be impossible to know as far as I can see. I know her better than any friends, she's moved about a lot
 
Man of Honour
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This is it. How can I get a ring size.. Chloroform and measure? I can't think of anything that wouldn't give it away.

Tell her you want to experiment, get her to put her finger in your you know what. Carefully mentally document how that feels. Head to a jeweller and have him try various sizes etc. etc.


I knew my wife had very specific and slightly unfathomable views on what kind of ring she would like so I bought a place holder (just a simple but nice silver ring) and then we had something made afterwards.
 
Associate
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I don't own/wear rings so I understand how hard it was for my fiance. I do however LOVE sparkly things (I'm like a freakin parrot..), but I just can't justify the cost to buy nice jewellery. He did try before he proposed, he went to jewellers, looked at different styles/settings, but just got even more confused.. He ended up proposing without a ring and we designed a simple custom setting, made in New York by a coloured diamond specialist for 1/4 the price of a similar ring in the UK. All done via email/phone and photos, it was all very professional and I wasn't worried about the distance/not inspecting in person given the company's history.

I never thought I would go for a diamond as things like sapphires are very pretty and quite inexpensive, but once I saw the shininess and sparkliness of yellow diamonds I couldn't resist.. I hesitated a lot though because it was still a chunk of cash that could have gone on the mortgage.

I still find myself just staring at my ring, in awe of its sparkle.. So on the basis of my story, my opinion is don't underestimate what she wants, she may not wear much jewellery, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't like a nice rock!
 
Caporegime
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Can see myself doing exactly that. Going into shop and getting confused. I'm very fussy with anything I buy that is one off. I spent ages last night looking at an electric blender!

It seems an even split on what to do! Torn between getting something but it not being right vs getting something after but devaluing the event

I know the colour, i know a diamond. Not sure about a raised single rock vs more flat look
 
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