Engagement ring

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lucasade1 said:
Not that i'm getting engaged anytime soon. But out of interest to all these people saying "Don't buy on the highstreet!!!111" Where exactly do you buy one from then? And how can all these custom made places be found?
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There are warehouses for them or you can buy the diamond online from somewhere like Bluenile.co.uk and get them set elsewhere. Small diamonds that go on the shoulders of the rings cost diddly - like about £30-£40 so the setting and shoulder diamonds can cost significantly less than if you were to get them completed with the ring. Check it out online and then read site reviews.

A setting in platinum will set you back about £500-£900 depending on the weight of the metal and the extra diamonds set.
 
LordSplodge said:
It's called marketing and as you can see it works.
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Yup, can't remember how long ago it was but historically I believe diamonds had no special significance with regards to engagement jewellery.

Only after De Beers did some marketing in the 30s and now it's the done thing to go for a diamond.

They also came up with the x months salary.

So a pretty successful marketing campaign by them, they first tell you what you need to buy, which they happen to sell, then later on tell you how much to spend on it :)
 
MiNxYyY said:
How much did you spend?
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£900 - that was ~1/2 months wage back then (rose and white gold)

Dont see any logic in spending 3 months + myself.

Worked with a senior investment manager years ago and he bought his missus a £3k engagement ring, as he was walking out the shop a watch caught his eye (he collects them)....... £15k later!!! Legend! :D (She didn't know either!)
 
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eatcustard said:
My wedding cost less than £90
only fools pay ££££
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How on earth did it cost less than £90, unless you made every guest pay for their own...everything? You couldnt even provide a single course basic meal and a single glass of bubbly to each guest for £90 :/
 
Jez said:
How on earth did it cost less than £90, unless you made every guest pay for their own...everything? You couldnt even provide a meal and a single glass of bubbly to each guest for £90 :/
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No guests, trip to Gretna?
 
Clipsey said:
Had one custom made without any input from the g/f, think it's just under 1.5ct with platinum ring and 'similar' to the classic Tiffany setting. Gorgeous ring if I do say myself :)
Dread to think how much it would have cost on the high street. But worth every penny seeing as the wife loves it to absolute pieces and always gets compliments on it.
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That is very cool, I like that idea a lot!
 
Think the engagement ring was 80 quid, which was a lot of money to us at the time. The wedding bands were from some weird "hole in the wall" place in Stoke and cost 10 quid each I think :) We planned on replacing them once we got some money together, but 8 years later we're still wearing them....and probably always will because they have "history".
 
Gilly said:
No guests, trip to Gretna?
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Direct.gov lists the costs of the simple notice/registration/cert to be £77. I do not believe he managed to get an approved premesis for £13.

Thats before we even get to the cost of dressing themselves for it, travel, guest expenses, and the fact that most people would celebrate the marriage with some form of party.
 
vonhelmet said:
A friend of mine used to work in a jewellers and said that the mark up is typically 70%+.
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Is that on raw materials -> finished product? As I wouldn't really view that as a mark up or do you mean on rings they buy made by someone else to resell.
 
My brother is spending thousands on his wedding. Luckily my GF thinks its a huge waste of money to spend that much :D
I agree, the 10k+ that some people spend is sooo much better spent elsewhere.

I think my wedding will probably be a small affair, family and a few close friends. Might not even bother with a meal/party afterwards!
 
Ev0 said:
Yup, can't remember how long ago it was but historically I believe diamonds had no special significance with regards to engagement jewellery.

Only after De Beers did some marketing in the 30s and now it's the done thing to go for a diamond.

They also came up with the x months salary.

So a pretty successful marketing campaign by them, they first tell you what you need to buy, which they happen to sell, then later on tell you how much to spend on it :)
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They also limit the amount of diamonds on the market and successfully promote that only natural diamonds are worth having (which can only be mined in the mines they own).
They are ridiculously enterprising and it works.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
I think my wedding will probably be a small affair, family and a few close friends. Might not even bother with a meal/party afterwards!
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We hired a freaking steam train and had our wedding on it (well the actual ceremony took place in the Victorian train station) and even that didn't cost the earth.

Mostly because we limited the guests and mostly because we had a budget and stuck to it. There was enough left over to get a V12 Buick limo to take us to the station.

Spending megabucks on a wedding is just daft.
 
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