Not another guide on the 4cs of a Diamond Ring.
There is nothing more overwhelming for a guy than to picture walking into a Jewellery store and to go through the process of getting an engagement ring. For the majority it would be one of the most expensive, intimidating, psychologically daunting tasks they would have completed in their life once they are through. Many men consider this harder than having decided to pop the question, which really doesn’t have to be the case.
Sure, if you have been buying jewellery before, for your mum, your sister, or your partner you should be comfortable enough with the setting; so you should have some advantage. What most men fear is the change in scenery. The dim/ mood lighting, salespeople dressed in suits and one of the biggest is the uncertainty in price.
We all know what we expect to see at a hardware store or the supermarket or at an electronics retailer, but a jewellery store could have silver charms for $20( yes, you didn’t know that did you?) to a large solitaire engagement ring that could run into hundreds of thousands, although the range at an average store typically would end at around 20,000 for say a 1 or a 1.5ct stone ring.
Having worked as a jewellery sales person for years, I can assure you, it only comes down to mastering a few things to succeed. They have been elaborated below.
1)Have an understanding of what she would like:
There is no way I can help you here, you really have to do the probing yourself. Being a jeweller myself and having asked all the ( what I thought to be adequate) questions, I got my wife to be(now wife) a white gold ring as I always noticed her wearing white gold, but she surprised me by saying she preferred a gold ring for her engagement ring. Yes I would have found out if I asked her best friend as she found out which ring, which metal, years ago but I wanted to do it all on my own and I am still glad I did it this way. By the way that ring got swapped for another one in case you wanted to know. It could happen to you but dont consider it the end of the world. So back to probing – this video from Thismoney.co.uk does include a few helpful tips.
2) Know what to spend.
It is all well and good to stun her with something amazing, but you have been warned that the Yes leads to a wedding ring, another one for the man, the catering, the venue and all the essential incidentals that follow. If you really are naïve to walk into a jewellery store without getting on google first, and ask the salesperson what should I spend on the engagement ring, we do have a text book answer, that we rehearse really well as this is what sets the expectation and us closer to our weekly sales target. It goes like this:
Typically your engagement ring should come in line after your house and your car, and definitely more than what you spend on your TV or Surround. As a general guide a good indicator is to spend two months’ worth of salary on the engagement ring. Don’t listen to it- as I told you this is our script to our weekly sales target and to lure you there is always interest free. This script however has seen many men come in with a budget end up spending 5 times more.
Please don’t fall for this. Only spend this amount if you really are comfortable doing so. It does not have to be the 3rd most expensive thing you’ve ever bought. I never had a house when I was going to pop the question so I had the reason and the sense to worry about saving after paying off the wedding, although it was much easier to buy a house back then and there was no interest free, it was interest only which was enough to put us all off, but now the term has a fancy twist to it- Interest free- you only end up paying more on average for the item but its reworded as Interest free- that’s a honey trap something that defies Finance 101.
3) Don’t resize until you have to.
Some style such as a solitaire band can be easily resized however styles with settings on the channel or other details can be harder to resize and quite often would have to be made to order. You really cant guess the ring size and it is always best to get her professionally sized once you have created the magic moment. Whilst this is not something I have seen done in New Zealand, an old friend from Europe says they almost always resize to a medium from a large or small, so the sale is firm and you cant exchange, even when the retailer has an exchange or refund policy( fine lines). But its generally advisable to go larger than smaller so that she does get to fit the ring for those selfies to follow and most retailers offer sizing in the price especially on engagement rings.
I am not going to detail another article on the 4 or 5 cs of a Diamond as the internet is flooded with them, but please do read one before you head out hunting for that ring and keep in mind this simple tip if you are buying a diamond ring- Think of what you believe would be the most important C for your partner. Example if all she wants is a big rock the Carat is the most important C, and so on.
Again once you have popped the question, things could go faster than you imagined, so make sure you come back to check out our the best range of mens wedding bands.
Image Credit: Dailymail