engagement ring (questions from a clueless lad)

postcynical

Hello. I had a good read of the sticky thread on top and it's very useful. I've seen a few of these threads in the past though so wanted to add my own. Basically I'm looking to buy a ring, reasonably quickly now. I've gone around a few jewellery shops pricing them and then had a look online. Clearly the stones are much cheaper online but I don't think the hassle would be worth it. Also I want to just buy a ring and she can bring it back in and get it sized properly so it'll have to be bricks and mortar. A few recession questions!

1. Can you haggle in a jewellers? Most of them immediately dropped prices by 10% So I'm guessing they're marked up to be knocked down. Problem is I wouldn't want to offend somebody by haggling but then again I don't know the value of the rings at all and don't want to be ripped off...

2. Seriously what's a normal price? First time looking before Xmas I was wondering how many digits (2-5). Now it seems it'll definitely be 4 digits. I have cash and am happy to spend it but am thinking that anything over 1200 euro is a bit dangerous to be walking around with on your finger? Also a good TV is about 1200 euro so I suppose that price range shows some sacrifice.

3. Does anyone just buy a fairly cheap (symbolic) ring and then in the future if my fiancée to be likes stones she (or we) can buy them just independently of the wedding?

4. Is there any religious significance to the ring/rings (we're both Catholics if that makes any difference)?

5. Should I negotiate a discount on the wedding rings when getting the engagement ring? How much should these cost (am estimating about 300 euro each for these)?

6. The rings I've been looking at look super upstairs in the shops but I've never ever ever noticed a ring any woman's ever worn before in the real world (except that if she's wearing one she's off limits:P). Is that just due to special shop lighting or am I looking at very good rings (about 2000 euro price range there)?


Obviously I'm a rereg for a decent reason, but surely she's not reading this forum.... Any help would really be appreciated. Also is there a good time to buy these rings? I know Valentines is coming up - do shops up their prices for this? (If so I'd wait for a postValentines bargain). Thanks.

(PS Fey if you still frequent this place, please feel free to PM me)

aoibhebree

Hiya,
Not sure if I'll be much help but here goes!

1. When I was shopping for my ring, we didn't haggle as such, but several assistants told us they'd "knock a couple of hundred off" without us asking, I'm sure if you were in any way skilled in those sort of negotiations In the place we eventually got the ring, we were getting a discount of 300euro, but the assistant doubled that when my OH said he was paying in cash - definitely something to consider!!

2. I think the traditional is a months wages? But there's no such thing as normal! Having said that ... well, I know some girls say its the thought that counts whether it costs 50euro or 50000 ... but I know I wouldn't have been happy with anything less than, say 2000ish ... but personally, I'm actually quite into jewellery anyways, plus me and my fella don't have a mortgage or kids etc to worry about yet. And he's got a good, well-paid job so he'd no excuse!! So really it depends on your girlfriends tasted and your lifestyle.

3. I'm not sure what you mean by that? Do you mean get a cheap symbolic ring and then go shopping with your fiancee for the real thing (which I think is a nice idea), or do you mean buy a ring and get stones fitted in it at a later date? If you're not sure what style your girlfriend would like you should definitely go shopping for it together!!

4. Not that I know of

5. Some jewellers (e.g. fields) will give you a loyalty card etc which will give you a discount on future purchases including the wedding rings, mightn't be any harm to ask them about this. I'm not sure how much they cost (haven't got that far yet!), I'm guessing 300-500 though.

6. I know what you mean, applebys have something amazing going on with the lights that makes them look super-sparkly!! When you say €2000 for those rings, what metal is that? And how many diamonds? For example, you'd get a few high-quality diamonds in a yellow or white gold band, for the same price as you'd pay for just one not-as-high-quality diamond in a platinum band. If that makes sense!

Oh and good luck

Aoibhe

postcynical

aoibhebree wrote: »

Hiya,
Not sure if I'll be much help but here goes!

Thanks aoibhebree that's great. Afraid I've no thanks button - must have too few posts:pac:

3. I'm not sure what you mean by that? Do you mean get a cheap symbolic ring and then go shopping with your fiancee for the real thing (which I think is a nice idea), or do you mean buy a ring and get stones fitted in it at a later date? If you're not sure what style your girlfriend would like you should definitely go shopping for it together!!

No, I really meant a cheaper ring. She doesn't wear any jewellery at all so I don't know if she'd even be into a ring (I think/hope she'd be okay for marriage though!). I was thikning that I could get her a nice ring in the future for her birthday or something if she got to like the idea of wearing a ring.

6. I know what you mean, applebys have something amazing going on with the lights that makes them look super-sparkly!! When you say €2000 for those rings, what metal is that? And how many diamonds? For example, you'd get a few high-quality diamonds in a yellow or white gold band, for the same price as you'd pay for just one not-as-high-quality diamond in a platinum band. If that makes sense!

Yellow gold, single solitaire ring. Can't remember the exact colour and clarity but really nice looking under the lights. Yep that makes perfect sense. I really figure she'd like something simple and I like the single stone ring myself.

Oh and good luck

Aoibhe

Thanks, had forgotten about that bit:o

Glowing

Think carefully about whether she'd prefer white gold/platinum versus yellow gold. Most women would wear either one or the other ...

I personally prefer white gold/platinum .... and I think it shows off diamonds much better than the yellow. Does she tend to wear silver earings or anything?

tobinj6

ok mate as i work in a jewellers i know wat to expect the answer on haggling question is of course you can your the customer and u are always right we will always meet you half way on that, now i know you may wanna surprise your good lady wit a ring but your very best option would be to bring here with u and let her pick her own ring out as you will find it very hard to please a womans taste in her jewellery plus the fact that she will be wearing it for the rest of her life, now u can get very good rings for the 1200 euro range but also when you go to the big named jewellers be careful as they tend to charge a lot more due to the names

postcynical

Glowing wrote: »

Think carefully about whether she'd prefer white gold/platinum versus yellow gold. Most women would wear either one or the other ...

I personally prefer white gold/platinum .... and I think it shows off diamonds much better than the yellow.

Food for thought there. Most shops said I could always bring the ring back and change the colour if necessary. The platinum is an extra grand in price though. At first I thought it was a choice of gold or silver so that's why I've gotten the gold ring into my head (yellow gold):o

Does she tend to wear silver earings or anything?

Nice one, she has earrings. I'll check what colour they are next time. I'm guessing if she wears silver earrings then it should be a white gold ring? Thanks for the help.

postcynical

tobinj6 wrote: »

ok mate as i work in a jewellers i know wat to expect the answer on haggling question is of course you can your the customer and u are always right we will always meet you half way on that, now i know you may wanna surprise your good lady wit a ring but your very best option would be to bring here with u and let her pick her own ring out as you will find it very hard to please a womans taste in her jewellery plus the fact that she will be wearing it for the rest of her life, now u can get very good rings for the 1200 euro range but also when you go to the big named jewellers be careful as they tend to charge a lot more due to the names

Brilliant. How much is stuff usually upmarked. I'd like to have the shop look after the ring afterwards with resizing etc. so don't want any tough bargaining. No go with the shopping together thing - the surprise part of it is where all the fun is for me. Will probably bottle it and just ask her locked in the pub but I've notions in my head of doing it perfect... will only do it once in a lifetime, unless it goes wrong that is...!

bigbadcon

If you have an idea what sort of ring she would like then have a look on www.bluenile.co.uk

I got my other half an engagement ring there just before xmas and I spent €3100 on it. I had a look at prices in dublin and I would have been paying over 4k for it here.

With the exchange rate with sterling at the moment its a great time to buy there too and the ring was amazing and she has strangers commenting on it all the time.

BTW I had a fair idea of what I was looking for... but the size and price was up to me

Im encouraging my fiancee to wear it whenever she wants. Theres no point in spending a lot of money on something and not getting the use out of it.

When you do decide on one you should put the ring on your house insurance policy if you have one so you dont need to be worrying about losing it all the time.

tomcollins97

postcynical wrote: »

1. Can you haggle in a jewellers? Most of them immediately dropped prices by 10% So I'm guessing they're marked up to be knocked down. Problem is I wouldn't want to offend somebody by haggling but then again I don't know the value of the rings at all and don't want to be ripped off...

Definately - its a recession. Try Goldfiners on South Anne St - doesn'y look like much but he's a goldsmith by trade with minimal overheads to cheaper than some of the big players

postcynical wrote: »

2. Seriously what's a normal price? .

What you can comofrtably afford.

postcynical wrote: »

3. Does anyone just buy a fairly cheap (symbolic) ring and then in the future if my fiancée to be likes stones she (or we) can buy them just independently of the wedding?

Great idea - let the girl pick

postcynical wrote: »

5. Should I negotiate a discount on the wedding rings when getting the engagement ring? How much should these cost (am estimating about 300 euro each for these)??

Goldfinger does these two - my sis got lovely platinum ones

postcynical

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Definately - its a recession.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I mentioned the 'r' word in a shop yesterday and was told that the price of gold and diamonds actually goes up during a 'r' word season. Was even told I should put down a deposit straight away. Didn't like the hard sell and I've similar rings in 2 other shops I'm looking at. Is this true though that gold goes up in price when people have less money?

Do jewellers mark their prices up just to knock them down? And by how much usually?

the-lad

No 1 definitely haggle as everyone is pointing out we are in the middle(begining) of a R! Therefore cash is King!

No 2 my better half always said she would like to pick the ring even though I had i good idea what she would like, we had a great day doing this together. A pair of earrings, a bracelet or a cheaper ring can be used for the proposal as she'll probably be so shocked anyway, plus you end up with a family heirloom which can be passed on to your kids if/when their turn arrives.

Thats my 2 pence worth.
Best of luck