Engagement Rings

casijean · January 2011

Where did you get yours? I'm a little hesitant to suggest mall stores and radio commercials.

corissaa24 · January 2011

Wedding Day Diamonds in Maple Grove was awesome! We went to Jarred first and they did not want to work with our budget. At WDD, they were willing to work with our budget, showed us around 200 different bands, they teach you about diamonds and how they're rated. We ended up being there for like 3 hours designing and learning. When we walked out, I knew we were getting our moneys worth.

FutureMrsSheeler · January 2011

I got mine from Kay. I wanted a certain setting, which was only at Kay. The woman FI worked with is great, and even got a diamond from Jared's that we had picked out!

sbreuer · January 2011

We purchased ours online from Blue Nile. My FI was extremely hesitant with online sales, but he did a ton of research and they had great reviews. All the diamonds are GIA certified at a fraction of the cost of "mall jewelers". They also come with an appraisal for insurance use. He compared what he chose for me and tried to get it in store, but all of the stores came in around $2,000 above Blue Nile's pricing, with no GIA certification. Basically, with Blue Nile you pick your diamond based on your criteria and then they set it in the setting you choose.

Otherwise, our go to for all of our other jewelery has been Jared's. Good luck!

FutureMrsS13 · January 2011

Id stay from malls at all possible.. they bump the prices way higher...

Shop around

I like wedding day diamonds also!!!

acw016 · January 2011

We went to Wedding Day in Eden Prairie and they've been great, they don't pressure you and they're reallly knowledgeable. When we went to pick out bands the guy we worked with (Jason I think?) was actually suggesting the less expensive brand to go with my Ritani e-ring! I ended up getting the matching Ritani band but it was really nice not to have that high-pressure sales pitch in my ear while I'm trying to make a decision. And I LOOOOOVE my rings!!!

tegdirb2001 · January 2011

We went to Shane Co in Woodbury and loved our experience there. We had planned on going to 2 other shops that day but had such a great experience at Shane Co that we decided to not go anywhere else. They had what we wanted and h taught us so much stuff about diamonds. They also have a location in Minnetonka.

julesrachele6 · January 2011

I went to Know Jewelers in Uptown. They have a ring that looked exactly like the RItani ring I wanted, but for cheaper.

jenn920 · January 2011

I second Blue Nile - FI bought my engagement ring there and we couldn't be happier. The pricing was the same as Sbruer said - ended up just over $2000 cheaper than anything we could find at a store for a comparable diamond.

EmilyCMN · January 2011

We went to Wedding Day Diamonds in Maple Grove also. Each time we have been back has been a great experience. I would highly recommend them also.

graysquirrel · January 2011

We went to every mall store (and a few others) before driving out to the Shane in Woodbury. We loved it there! The other places all seemed to have the same boring stuff, but Shane had exactly what I wanted. Their prices were really reasonable as well. Plus, their people don't work on commission so they wont be trying to up-sell you all the time.

bellaxanthe · January 2011

Hated Shane. They didn't wan to bother with helping me at all since I went in without FI to look and I'm not in my 20s. They were RUDE. Not willing at all to customize. Wedding Day was so so for what I wanted. The people were nice but nothing really caught me eye. Kay was helpful but again, NMS. Knox was lovely but had just been cleaned out for xmas and they had very little on the shelves to try on. However they were the best about the custom idea I wanted and drew up ring after ring for me and got me exact diamonds to look at. I thought their pricing was fair.
Finally though I found a vintage ring in Stillwater. Absolutely perfect. An amazing deal and when I had it appraised the person was stunned at the quality of my stones. I will have to service the ring elsewhere though which stinks.
For FI we went to Arthers and I thought they were pretty darn great. They were beyond helpful and seemed to have great pricing too. I prefer to shop locally or family owned though so I wasn't really interested in the bigger stores TBH.

shan87 · January 2011

For my ring we went with Shane Co. For SO's ring we went with DJ Bitizan (St. Cloud). We know the Bitizans and SO would have gone there for mine but since we will be moving all over the country he wanted a national chain in case problems/changes were needed later on.

SO was very pleased with the online purchase process with Shane Co. He mentioned he talked via chat with a sales person and thought it was very user friendly. BEWARE their online system and in-store are not very compatible and they struggled on a couple occasions finding our acct, promised my ring would be ready in 3 days I went back 3 wks later and it still wasn't ready. (Minnetonka location)

colstj · January 2011

My FI got mine from Kay. It was a toss up between Kay and Zales, but when he tried working with both he realized that Kay was a little friendlier and they were willing to work with his budget. I've heard great things from Kay and the women my FI worked with has been great to work with since for finding mine and his wedding band.

I Want Cake · January 2011

We went to Shane Co in Minnetonka. The rep who helped us was very friendly and helpful, and the lady who showed us diamonds was really good, too. It was the first place we went to, but we went back there to buy. Nobody else had anything like the ring I got.

We also went to WWD in Bloomington, and their selection was dismal. The people were nice enough, but they just didn't have anything that was my style.

The Jared store in Burnsville was terrible. The selection was good, but the lady helping us was so irritating, I can still remember her 11 months later and how screechy her voice was. They were very high pressure and kept asking me "is this the one?" I felt like I was on "Say Yes To The Ring." I hate when salespeople go for the emotional jugular. We weren't looking there seriously, since I was already pretty set on the ring at Shane Co., but wanted to make sure they didn't have anything better. Based on their commercials alone, I coudln't let FI spend his money there, and the sales rep sealed that for me.

shan87 · January 2011

Cake - You mean he DIDN"T got to Jared? ahahah hate that line - FFIL said that when I showed him a necklace SO got me years ago and when I showed my E-Ring... he now says it whenever anyone gets jewelry and I just wanna smack him haha

Enchanted616 · January 2011

Jeff would actually KILL me if he knew I was saying this, and wont let me tell anyone at all.. but I suppose telling here won't hurt. Jeff proposed at a jewelry store, I couldn't find anything I liked within our budget (under $3000, call me spoiled.) We looked around and I eventually "settled" on one. Well, it was like $3200, so Jeff was going to pawn an old playstation 2 or xbox or something he was planning on selling anyways. While he was doing that, I was wondering through the jewelry (I'd never been in a pawn shop before) and found the ring of my dreams. Seriously, I couldn't love it more. It was priced at $950, and they took another $50 off, and sized it and replated it for free. I took it to a jeweler to get it appraised for insurance purposes, and they valued it at $5900.

Pretty freaking awesome deal, right? I love the ring ten million times more than the one at the mall store, and we saved so much money. The only downside is Jeff won't let me tell anyone cause he thinks its embarrassing. But I'm a girl, and I love to brag about a good deal.

olivehim · January 2011

If you want a one of a kind...
My ring was custom designed by FI and made by jeweler Mark William. You can see his work on Facebook and contact him there if you're interested - just search for "Mark William fine art jeweler" on Facebook to see his work - stunning! If you click on "photos" my ring is the second from the left. He works with all metals/stones and in all price ranges so very flexible!

I Want Cake · January 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_engagement-rings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:7c5579e8-bde7-4674-bc15-2d673b38875dPost:65d3d242-d786-4397-a5b0-203f2a5dad4e">Re: Engagement Rings</a>:
[QUOTE]Cake - You mean he DIDN"T got to Jared? ahahah hate that line - FFIL said that when I showed him a necklace SO got me years ago and when I showed my E-Ring... he now says it whenever anyone gets jewelry and I just wanna smack him haha
Posted by shan87[/QUOTE]

No, he most certainly did NOT go to Jared. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" /> Maybe if they changed their ad campaign, they wouldn't suck so much.

casijean · February 2011

Now here is the important question, how much did these rings cost (price range) My boyfriend and I have been talking a lot about marriage, but we are cheap. He really dislikes the idea of an engagement ring and likes the idea of just exchanging wedding bands. I love jewerly and rings and thing having a fancy ring to show off would be nice.

I've gone as far as suggesting pawn shops

jeepbaby54 · February 2011

FI got mine at Wedding Day in Bloomington also. He ended up going with them because he designed my ring from scratch and was able to do a Bezel (sp?) setting with a heart shaped diamond and green sapphires dropped into the band. They even shipped the diamond in from New York because they didn't have any in MN that fit his criteria. He worked with Andy, Natalie & Erin and they were all absolutely wonderful!!

We have since gone back to them as we search for FI's wedding ring. We love working with them because, although they don't have a huge selection in store, they are willing to ship in items for you to view if you have something specific in mind. Everyone that works there has been fabulous and very helpful.

Also, I had nothing to do with the design nor do I know the cost of my ring. So, I can't tell you how they compare in cost to other locations.

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