How Much Do You Think is Too Much for an Engagement Ring?

KRN726 · June 2010

We are considering a 1.5 Tiffany ring. But - 17K? OMG!

loop0406 · June 2010

If you can afford it and not be in debt, go for it, sounds lovely.

I personally wouldn't want my fiance to put my ring on credit card or owe anything on it.

My ring was $7,000 and I love it, I thought the price was reasonable.

smokyhills · June 2010

Rather than have an expensive ring, I told my fiance long before we were engaged that I wanted a cheap ring and an expensive lens. I got what I wanted.

bethsmiles · June 2010

It all depends on your budget. Personally I don't want anything over $1,000 but I don't want a diamond so that makes that price point easier. If you love it and you and your FI decide that its doable then you should get it. But don't buy something if u are uncomfortable with the price or will go into debt. There are so many beautiful rings out there in every price range

frenchy730 · June 2010

I think too much for a ring is what is over your affordability. Personally, I think you can get a ring that will be just as gorgeous for half that price. Just ditch the tiffany name. Anyone who does their research and shops around a bit can find something amazing within their means.

nda_roxybabe · June 2010

Anything you can't afford or that makes you go into debt or have to put it on payments is "too much"
17K is totally reasonable for some.

JesskaLynnLove · June 2010

I personally don`t wear diamonds, so that brings the cost down considerably... As a general rule, if my response to the price tag is any of the following: AACK! HA! No, really... Yeah, nooo... Call the ambulance, I think my heart just stopped from shock... Anything along those lines, it`s too pricey for me.

LoveBugBaby · June 2010

Whatever your FI's personal budget can handle.

I think $17k is absolutely ridiculous to spend on a ring... but if your FI has the money to do it, then why not?

FI bought my whole set, engagement ring and wedding band, for $3k. It's a beautiful set and I'm so glad he didn't go out of his budget for it. I'd HATE the thought of him spending anything over that for a ring. We have SO many more important things to use money towards - like our house, wedding, and traveling! He did put it on credit but set up a monthly payment to stick to and he has it paid off almost already (it's been less than a year since purchase). He got 0% interest for a year.

darkling_glory · June 2010

This is such a personal question! It's really hard to answer without knowing your financial history. I'd guess, it's however much you feel comfortable spending -- WITHOUT going into dept.

I know folks who have paid $500 for their ring. I also know folks who have paid over $5000. Is either one of them bad or wrong? Nope. It is what it is.

Only you can decide how much is to much.

SmallSails · June 2010

Okay so I went on a vacation to Europe for 1.5 months, all expenses and flights included and it was $10,000 (also got engaged too!). When considering the cost of a ring, that little fact always gives me good perspective. Imagine the insane honeymoon you could have with that money!!! But I'm all about traveling so that's how I equate things.

janedoe1113a · June 2010

I think as long as the couple can afford, they should spend what they feel comfortable on a ring. I personally would never have wanted my DH to spend over $1000 on my ring because I would rather spend the money on something else.

banana468 · June 2010

If you have to ask, it's too expensive.

The amount is what your FI (and you depending) are comfortable spending.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't buy any expensive jewelry at Tiffany's. I love the stuff, but for a diamond ring, you're paying about $7000 at least for the blue box.

kdalessandro · June 2010

For what it's worth, my FI spent 11K on my ring - it's a verragio setting with .45 TW of diamonds in the shank and a round brilliant center stone that is 1.3 cts. The center stone is GIA certified as excellent cut, polish, and symmetry, G in color, and SI1. Please don't take this to mean I'm bragging about my own ring, but I'm just using it as an example of how you can get something of high quality and good size without the tiffany name and save a LOT of money, which other people on this post have pointed out already. We probably could've made it even cheaper if I had chosen a non-designer setting, which was 2900 just by itself, but I loved that particular setting so much

I also agree with other posters that "too much" is really based on how you personally manage your money and what you prefer to spend it on. Some people prefer big rocks to traveling, and vice versa. I think a good rule of thumb is that as long as you don't need to finance the ring and can pay out of pocket (without wiping yourself/your FI out!) then go for it! Or, sometimes it's fun to charge it to a credit card if you have a 0% interest rate - you never pay a dime of interest if you stick to your payments and you can earn awesome points/cash back or whatever! Just make sure to have the money to pay it all in full at any given moment if you need to, like if your credit card company randomly raises your interest rate.

JMN2010 · June 2010

I agree with PPs. What your FI spends on a ring all depends on what he can afford. Keep in mind that 17K would be a decent down payment on a house. But if he can afford it and it's what you want, so be it.
When my H and I first started looking at rings, I told him that I didn't want him to spend a lot. We are big travelers and all I could think about when I saw prices 3K and up were the amazing places we could visit with that money. I think it all depends on priorities.

nanderson09 · June 2010

Go to Blue Nile! The diamonds are just as nice as Tiffany's but much more reasonably priced. My FI got my engagement ring for about $2k. It's .75 carat but because of the quality/cut/clarity, it looks larger than it really is. By buying from somewhere other than Tiff, you can get the same diamond for MUCH less.

www.bluenile.com

harbor_girl · June 2010

I agree with everyone who said to go with BlueNile or an equivalent instead of Tiffany. Buying a Tiffany ring just for the blue box is ridiculous, IMO. We also looked at 1.5 carat rings at Tiffany just for fun, but found one on BlueNile for about 6k less. Same quality (carat, cut, clarity, color).

And, like everyone else has said, it completely depends on the couple. My sister's FI got her a 3 carat ring...I don't know exactly what it cost, but I'm guessing it was prettttty expensive. That never would have been possible for my FI, but it was definitely possible for them (6 years older, both have been very successful financially in their jobs, etc). I don't judge what people can spend on a ring as long as they can afford it without going into debt. People should spend what they can afford and what they are comfortable with, whether that number is $500 or $50k. (Or in the millions if you're a Hollywood celebrity, haha).

megk8oz · June 2010

Ditto the PPs: when buying Tiffany, you're essentially paying a ton of money for a little blue box. Now, it's very pretty blue box, but it's a box.

My entire wedding and honeymoon in Disneyworld grand total came in at a little under $15K. If you threw in my E-ring into that total, we still paid less than what you'd be paying for just the ring. So I'm not going to lie, a $17K price tag seems like way too much to me.

On that same note, I work in Personal Insurance for a living, and on more than one occasion, I've heard of people buying Jewelry Floaters for rings that cost $30-$50K. So to those people, $17k probably seems like chump change. So a lot of it is all in perspective.

Basically, if it's something that you will not go into debt over, and you love it, go for it. Otherwise, you can probably find a very similar ring for at least half the price (Possibly cheaper) if you just do a little research on the matter. Good luck!

luckyme502 · June 2010

Tiffany diamonds are overpriced. You can get an engagement ring for less money somewhere else. Or, buy a better/bigger ring for the same money. Try pricescope.com.

mstar284 · June 2010

My ring costed about $8,000, but FI got it for $1200...long story. Anyway, no way would I expect him to pay over 10K for a RING. It's the sentimental value and the symbolism, not a price tag. Oh well, I guess I'm just jealous we don't have that much money! Lucky ladies who get their Tiffany's...

The FI hand picked the diamonds from a vault in the back. So my diamond is IF and it has diamonds all around the sides, front, and back. I LOVE IT!

Alauren4 · June 2010

I wouldn't allow my fiance to pay for my ring on credit, he payed cash. So in other words I would buy a ring that you an afford to pay for in cash or can pay off in 3 months. Anything other than that is too much. Think about your new life together you can use the money to help purchase a home or a car, start your new life together debt free. When you think about how happy you are with him, the ring isn't going to make anything better, a diamond is a diamond and no matter the size it will last forever. Good Luck.

Rlmyers · July 2010

The only way it is too much is if you go around bragging to people about how much your ring was, in my opinion. I know how much my ring was and that he put it on the store credit card with no interest. And he makes more then the minimum payment. I think that is fine to do if you know you can still pay all your other bills at the same time. But like others have said, it is really up to you how much is too much for a ring!

HKD817 · July 2010

I think it all depends on your financial situation. Do not go broke or put yourself into debt over ring. I told my FI that I didnt even want a ring, i'd rather have a house instead..i can't live in a ring...getting engaged wasn't a concern of mine. Surprise surprise though, he bought a ring. I'm very proud of him though. He got an $8k ring for $2720 when Fortunoff's went out of business. My good sense rubbed off a little!

and my wedding band we got from Macy's when they had one of their huge fine jewelry sales. It was originally 3300 and came down to 1500

michica · July 2010

If you love Tiffany and knowing that the ring is from Tiffany, and it's affordable, then go for it. I, would never want a ring that much because I would think about how fabulous a honeymoon could be with that money.....I'm just saying - Tiffany - is just a name.

vegasgroom · July 2010

To the original poster, if you like the Tiffany's ring for the look, James Allen has a nearly identical setting in platinum and you can pick and choose the diamond you want for it and it will be dramatically less expensive, plus GIA certified.

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_just-engaged-proposals_much-think-much-engagement-ring?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:683Discussion:3893cba9-24c2-411b-beaa-f94641476b17Post:d0c6054d-9999-4041-b18c-dd35121e7030">Re: How Much Do You Think is Too Much for an Engagement Ring?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think the poster means a tiffany "style" ring with a prong mounting, not a ring from Tiffany's in NYC. If he can afford it and has no debts, go for it. If he's still making payments on a car, I'd get something less expensive.
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

Pretty sure they meant the actual Tiffany's (they have stores all over the place not just NYC) since she said $17k for 1.5ct which would be about right for them, i.e. about $7k more than that size diamond should go for knowing that their diamonds are typically not even GIA rated but are often self-rated in the vs2/si1, H-color, vg/vg/vg range.

keithandjamie2010 · July 2010

I think 17k is tooooo much!!!!! I would be terrified of someone stealing that ring. or if I lost it. It is just a lot of money. That's what some people make in a years wages. You can get a beautiful ring for less.

num1kj · July 2010

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How Much Do You Think is Too Much for an Engagement Ring?

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