Rings and other Jewelry

[Brazilophile]

List,

I need some advice from the guys who are engaged or married.  When you proposed and bought the ring, how did you balance between a ring she would like very much and a ring that would not attract the attention of robbers and thereby put her in danger of being robbed or assaulted?

Did she help you in the regard?  Did you or both of you decide to
replace a modest ring with a more expensive one after she arrived here in the US?

About how much did you spend on an engagement ring destined for LA?

Thanks very much for your help.

[Chris F]

... in response to Rings and other Jewelry, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 30, 2005

A great question!!!

Since I knew I am going to have to support her here. I had an amount that I was comfortable with...for me...that was under 2k.....so I went to Costco first since I knew nothing about diamonds and I wrote down their prices including size clarity, and cut. I took this same info and shop around and everyone else wanted over 3k for the same ring that Costco had for 1800 dollars. I bought it at Costco and she LOVES IT!!!  She does not wear it in Lima at all...and will probably not until she arrives here...its just way too dangerous.

She did not help me at all pick it out. I just picked something I felt was nice.

Hope this helps.

[elcolombiano]

... in response to Rings and other Jewelry, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 30, 2005

I bought my wife an emerald ring as an engagment ring that cost $95 in Colombia. I had her buy the wedding rings in Colombia since the gold is of a higher quality (18 karats vs 14 karats)and the workmanship is better and cheaper. I cost about $250 for 2 rings.

[OkieMan]

... in response to Re: Rings and other Jewelry, posted by elcolombiano on Jan 30, 2005

So, it sounds like it would be smarter to buy rings in Colombia, rather than try to buy something here in the States?  I am not at this stage yet, but I do have a lady that I am getting closer with.  Time will tell.

                              OkieMan

[doombug]

... in response to Rings and other Jewelry, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 30, 2005

I and my wife went to a small jewlery store in Miraflores (in Lima), the owner is from Spain, his wife/novia/co-owner is a Peruana.  He had a cd catalogue of rings on his computer for us to peruse.  We selected the one engagement ring she liked the most (platinum solitaire, with the purest, whitest 1/4 carat diamond we could get to mount it).  He supplied us a certificate of it's dimensions, purity, etc., had it sized and engraved.  The cost was around US$1,800.

For the wedding rings, I had to get the cheapest I could find.  It was a temporary solution for the civil ceremoney; we'll splurge on better rings later, when we hold another ceremony in the States.  They were a matching set, white gold, inset diamonds.

Before our marriage, we browsed the internet together (her from Lima, me here), looking at an array of sites.

Blue Nile has a very nice site.  They'll even send you a free "ring sizer."  I needed this when I was shopping for the wedding rings, as measurments are different in Peru than in the U.S.  I sent it to her, she told me the number in a follow up chat, then off I went.

Blue Nile:

http://www.bluenile.com/default.asp?track=49

The page where you can order their ring sizer:

http://www.bluenile.com/ring_findsize.asp?track=c2m5&elem=text&mod=basic

Epinions is a cool starting place, too.  You can read reviews and compare shop.  Just type engagment ring or wedding ring in the "Search" box:

http://www.epinions.com/

Also, these sites:

Ask Jeeves:  http://ask2.pricegrabber.com/home_catpage.php/catzero=230

(Often, Jeeves "Sponsored sites," at the bottom of the page, have some cool jewler links, too.  Like this one:  http://game.swarovski.com/)

http://www.billbarnes.com/

Mondera, another site similar to Blue Nile:
http://www.mondera.com/

http://www.wedding-band-ring.com/

And, of course, Amazon.com's "Wedding and Engagement Jewelry" page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/002-4819313-2382410?node=3890311

[valuedcustomer]

... in response to Rings and other Jewelry, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 30, 2005

I had my novia buy both rings in Colombia.  I sent her the money, it was $150 a piece for matching 24 carrot gold rings with our names enscribed.  In Colombia they only use 24 carrot gold for jewlery unlike america where they use 14 carrot gold.  So, that price is for a higher quality gold.

[valleydude]

... in response to Rings and other Jewelry, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 30, 2005

Nice Question!

I was thinking the same things.

One of my thoughts was to get a band for there and another ring for here. The idea of a copy ring for there originally seemed good to me, but one really doesn't want his girl to be a target, especially over a CZ ring.

I'm also thinking if the girl was the type that just wanted a simple ring, and it set me back little then it could be disposable and she could wear it anywhere. Again though, you don't want a target, so I'm also beginning to trash that idea. Even if I got off pretty easy on costs, there would still be the sentimental part to deal with if something happened to it.

I don't know what I'll do when the time comes. I'm glad you threw this out there though.

V-Dude