A testimony from Sandi
I had been dating Nathan for awhile when talk turned to marriage. We both highly approved of the idea, but I could tell something was making him hesitant about proposing. I had waited for this moment all my life, but it didn’t look like he was going to get around to it anytime soon. It was driving me crazy!
When we finally talked about it, I found out that the hold-up was money: he couldn’t afford a ring. A long-time bachelor, Nathan had gotten used to living exactly within his means; while he didn’t rack up credit card debt, he didn’t save very much either. I wasn’t about to let something so unimportant keep me away from the man of my dreams, so I came up with a plan.
The Background
Feeling a little embarrassed, I talked with a local non-chain jeweler about getting a wedding ring with a cubic zirconia instead of a diamond. I quickly added that we would upgrade to a diamond in a few years when we could afford it.
The jeweler surprised me by taking it all in stride. He confided that my idea was not new; a lot of couples buy a CZ first and then get the diamond later. I was elated! I picked out the ring I liked and went to Nathan with the plan.
How We Did It
He was dumbfounded when I told him. He was so happy and so relieved that I didn’t care about having the most expensive rock out there.
I told him I would rather have him, and would rather not start our marriage making monthly payments on a $4000 ring like a lot of my friends did. Dutifully, he went to the store and found the ring I had picked out.
He spent $300 cash on the CZ and the white gold setting, which has four tiny real diamonds in the band. (Admittedly, the price of gold has gone up a lot since we got our rings.) As a bonus, we got his simple white gold ring for $25 since we’d purchased both rings there, and the jeweler even engraved the inside of both rings with our favorite Scripture references for free. I used my ring as my engagement ring as well, so there was no added expense.
My ring is just what I want, and I love it. No one has ever guessed that the large “diamond” isn’t real! Now we are saving for that big rock replacement (on which I may not be so frugal! :)) and hope to get it next summer.
Sandi is a stay-at-home mom of 1.5 children who loves cloth diapers and coupons. Nathan is a few months away from graduating (debt-free) as a Registered Nurse. They’re favorite date is a Dr. Mario tournament on High speed (with Oreos) after their daughter is in bed.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
Great story! My wedding ring is also a CZ & I couldn’t be happier. This was a second marriage for both my husband and I, and we had our son before we got married (I know, cart before the horse). While he could have cashed in some of his retirement to buy me an actual diamond, I told him that I had found a website that had very realistic looking CZ wedding sets. He jumped at the idea that I was willing to wear a $60 set instead of a $4000 one. I told him that I liked the idea of being able to get something different every couple of years. Eventually I might want to get a real set – maybe for our 10th anniversary – but, for now, I’m completely happy with my CZ set, and unless I tell them, no one is the wiser.
My sister-in-law said that when her husband proposed to her and presented the ring she said “Yes! But this isn’t big enough, take it back.” and they proceeded to exchange the ring for something bigger FOUR TIMES!!! My husband picked out my ring all on his own. He sold all his “toys” (PS3, paintball gear, baseball cards, etc.) to pay cash for it… how sweet is that?! I don’t know what the ring cost, but it is absolutely priceless to me.
Thank you all for your great comments. Now I am reconsidering my diamond upgrade! I like the idea of using colored birthstones or just sticking with the CZ. Truthfully, I love me ring the way it is and don’t mind that it’s not a diamond. Thanks again!
My engagement ring and wedding band (real) are long gone. My hubby gave me an engagement ring that he paid for about $600 (too expensive for me when you don’t have the money); our wedding bands – beautiful gold simple bands given to us as a gift by my sister in law. I loved my set – my band had my husband’s name and date of our wedding…. my little two year old got a hold of them and lost them somewhere in the house about 4 years ago. My new set – that I totally love – cost me $1.50 at Kohl’s – I absolutely love them… I refuse to buy anything expensive until my little ones grow up. But even though I replace them – It will never be the same – the sentiment that that first set had – can never be replaced…. just my thoughts.
When I got engaged I insisted that I did not want a REAL diamond, I was way to afraid of wearing something that expensive. I actually found what I wanted at QVC – it’s Diamonique. We loved it so much I got my wedding band (with more Diamonique) from there too. 16 years later, both still look great, no one has ever questioned if they were real.
Oh and hubbies ring – with this tri color etched design, that we bought at the fancy local jeweler, now looks awful, and is on oval instead of a circle
Got married at 18 and could only afford (and only wanted) a gold band. 19 years later we still have the same bands and laugh at all the people who drop a chunk of change on rings. I think a lot of people are more interested in the whole idea of a wedding and the trappings than in the actual marriage. Many couples I know treat each other terribly, but the bride is proud to show you her $7000 diamond. I think I’ll keep my happy marriage and my $50 wedding band!
I work in a very small, family owned jewelry store, and we do things like this for our customers all the time! Definitely check into purchasing from an independent jeweler. They are often more flexible with pricing, being able to create what you want, etc.
When my husband proposed to me, he presented me with a large “rock” set in a simple band. He was very proud of himself – said he got a great deal on it and the simple band would allow me to pick out a ring that I liked. So I did – I picked out a ring that I loved and his ring too. When we asked the jeweler to set the stone from my simple band into the ring, we got a surprise. It was a CZ and not a real diamond. My husband was stunned and terribly embarrassed. He immediately told the jeweler to bring out “real” stones the same size to look at and he’d just make payments on them. I wouldn’t let him do that. I had the CZ set in the wedding band that I picked out. I told my husband that the CZ was the stone that he gave me when he proposed and that was the stone that I wanted. (and yes, we were dead broke so I didn’t want payments!) We just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary – with the CZ still in my ring. I get compliments in it all the time. 🙂
What a great idea! My husband shopped around because he knew what he wanted to get me, but all the big stores were so pricey! So he went to a family-recommended smaller jewelry guy, who had just what he wanted, and much cheaper too! The diamonds are lower quality, and the biggest one has a black mark (occlusion?) in it, but we rotated it so the prongs hide it. I get tons of compliments on my ring! It’s gorgeous and sparkly and perfect for me. Nobody has to know it’s cheaper!
Now I just need to go find that bottle of jewelry cleaner….
I am wearing my husband’s great grandma and grandma’s diamonds. My husband added a small diamond to be his own. We only had to pay for the small diamond and the setting. It means more to me to be wearing family diamonds. I got a really small gold band that was less than fifty dollars.
wonderful story! My engagement ring is also a birthstone ring. My hubby was unemployed when he purposed- but I could not have asked for a better ring. It is a sapphire (which is my and his birthstone) with 3 small diamonds on each side. he paid cash for it and purposed on my birthday. now I wear my engagement ring on my right hand and my wedding ring on my left. we also didn’t get a huge rock for my wedding ring, as diamonds under 1/2 ct are alot better priced we went for one close to that but not over.
My husband paid cash for my engagement ring and wedding band and I cashed in a savings bond to pay for my hubby’s wedding band. Debt free is the way to go! 🙂
Wow, I just read this entire post with that crazy “Dr. Mario” music beating in my head. Great stories everyone. Thanks for sharing.
@Terry, lol, we love that insane Dr. Mario music!
My engagement ring was only about $200 and it’s technically a promise ring. I’m not one for solitaires and I got to pick the one I wanted. It does have a few very small diamonds in it, but it has some connected hearts around the top. One of the stones has been lost so I’m currently not wearing it. Our wedding bands were just gold bands with a bit of engraving around them that were very inexpensive and came from a regular jewelry store in the UK where we got married. I am like most of the other people here and don’t really see the point in a super expensive ring, although I wouldn’t mind a new ring (don’t care if it’s diamond or CZ) sometime in the near future–we’ve been married 13 yrs!
I love this! I have a CZ ring in a gold band and I get so many compliments on it. I smile to myself because my husband didn’t pay nearly as much as people think. You can’t tell at all that it isn’t a real diamond. I’ve even had some friends that work in jewelry not notice 🙂 We were already getting ready to have a baby when we were purchasing our rings and I would have rather put the money towards the baby and we were able to.
LOVE this post!!!
I lived in Thailand as a missionary when my husband and I were engaged, and I had a “garage sale” to sell off all of the stuff I didn’t need to haul back. I made the equivalent of 80 dollars U.S. and that was just enough to pay for his ring, which I designed, and then I waited in the factory while it was made.
It’s so much more fun to have a story to go along with your ring, instead of a payment!
Hubby bought my engagement ring — small diamond on a very thin, white gold ring — for under $200 so he could pay cash. We had known each other for several years when he proposed, but we’d never dated each other, and I didn’t even know he was interested in me until he pulled out the ring and proposed … in front of a large group of people. It’s a wild story in its entirety, but it very definitely was God’s special story for us. For my wedding band, he wanted to use his mom’s white gold wedding band, which he had been wearing on his pinky for a few years (he had it cleaned & shined at the jewelry store where he bought the engagement ring). I love it. The rings are not a matched set, obviously, but they go together very nicely. We’ve talked about “upgrading” a time or two over the last 12 years, but, like someone else said on here, these are the rings from our wedding, and I can’t just put these in a box somewhere.
This is a great story! When my husband and I got married I did not have an engagement ring and didn’t have one for a while. Now that we have been married for almost 16 years I have upgraded to a beautiful diamond set but we saved for it and it helped that I was the manager of the jewelry store we got it from so we saved tons of money on it. I know when we first got married I was so happy to find my soul mate I didn’t care about the ring I just wanted to be his wife. In the years since we got married he has bought me an anniversary band and other things to make up for not having an engagement ring. In the end I have my wonderful husband and three beautiful children that I will never outgrow!
My engagement ring was my grandmother’s–platinum, from the 1920s. Husband spend about $30 on it — to get it resized and to get one of the tiny diamond chips on the side replaced. It is not large at all, but is in an authentic unique setting and it was just “hidden” in my parent’s basement. We did buy a band to go with it because her band was super skinny and we wanted something slightly different and we did buy platinum so that they would go together (and I have a tendency to be rough on my hands). That was $1,000, but we paid cash. My husband went with white gold because it matches mine and was not nearly as expensive as the platinum.
@Christy,
We did the exact same thing. I wasn’t interested in a fancy ring, but I have my great-grandmother’s from the 20’s as well. LOVE it!
You all are wise women! My husband used a student loan to pay for my engagement ring. I love the ring, but not the debt.
My engagement ring is only a 1/3 carat, but it is flawless. My husband didn’t pay a ton for it and the band we got was also very affordable. I wanted a ring we could afford and couldn’t fathom trading the ring I was married with for an upgrade.
Love this! My hubby and I got married right out of high school (I know, not a great idea!) so buying rings on credit wasn’t even an option- we didn’t have any! We paid cash for a modest set from Service Merchandise with little “chips”. 6 years later, we were planning to start a family, so he bought me a diamond anniversary band that cost about 5 times the original set (knowing after babies came, that wouldn’t be a priority- boy, was he right!). We payed cash again. He hadn’t worn a ring in many years since he outgrew his, but after he was hired at a church, someone told me a few of the single ladies had though he wasn’t married because he didn’t wear a ring. I bought him a new band that week for $30. at Walmart. We celebrated our 20th anniversary this August- and I still get compliments on my anniversary band, which means as much to me as my engagement and wedding ring did.
I am so glad to see others feel the same way I do! I think carrying around a lot of money on your finger is ridiculous! When my husband proposed, he offered to buy me a ring for $5,000. I said “No way! Let’s put it towards a down payment for a home.” He was thrilled I felt that way (he’s from another country and was worried that, as an American, I would insist on something huge), and we did just that. I got a cz ring that’s beautiful and I absolutely love for about $100. I don’t care that it didn’t cost a lot; it’s still gorgeous and no one has to know. However, I don’t hide the fact that it’s cz, because I can also tell them that we own our home free and clear because of our willingness to “think outside the lines.”
I wished I had a larger CZ instead of a small diamond. Shampoo, soap and lotion make the rings dirty anyway.. who cares if it’s real or not?
My diamond is a .9 carat round diamond set in yellow gold. My husband bought it for $400 on eBay. It appraised for a couple thousand dollars so he did well. The stone isn’t flawless and I think that bothers my husband a little bit. But like others have said, it represents who we were back then. It may not be perfect, but its perfect for me. Plus It’s sentimental value is priceless.
Great for you! Love to hear how a couple has used cash to pay for their rings. When I was working with other ladies it would disturb me to hear the way they would talk about their engagements/rings. Some women were actually so shallow they wouldn’t have married a guy unless he gave them a ring worth a certain amount. I was appalled. What were they get married for, the ring or the guy? I told my future husband I didn’t care if he gave me a ring worth $20, as long as it didn’t turn my finger green. 🙂 He paid cash for my ring, yes it was worth more than $20, and cash for our wedding rings. The only reason I wear my rings is to remind me daily of the love I have for my husband. Nothing more. Glad I’m not the only one who feels that way.
@Jennifer, I agree, the attitude some women have is appalling! I know 2 women like that, and one’s marriage ended soon after the wedding, while the other’s marriage is in trouble due to her outrageous spending. I’ve met a number of men who are bitter about women who are so materialistic, and I can see why!
When I met my husband I knew he was the one. I grew up in Texas where everything is big, including diamond rings. I knew I loved him when i let go of my girlhood fantasy of my “when I get married” ring. I knew we would not be able to afford an expensive ring. I went so far as to look for diamond bands in the $1000 range and found one I loved. Turns out my grandmother offered me her Texas sized diamond – her 30th anniversary present. I was shocked. I had always assumed she’d give it to my aunt, her only daughter. It was a set that came with a band and a solitaire but was never designed to be worn seperately. I had decided I wanted to get a band of my own. We ended up buying our wedding bands from the home shopping network for $30 each!
I have been married for 9 and a half years. My set is white gold and CZ and I would not have it any other way. I see no point in paying so much money for a diamond. I have gotten may compliments on my rings and no one guesses that the stones are not real. I think we paid just over $200 for the set. Hubby has 3 different rings because we bought them off of Ebay and we couldn’t pick which one we wanted out of the 3. We paid between $30-40 for all three of them. They are titanium which is supposed to be best for those with metal allergies as hubby seems to have probs with metals. Works for me!
I love this post and comments! I got engaged right after college, and my diamond, while nice, was not nearly as big as those that many college friends had received. I actually felt self-conscious about it when certain people would ask to see it. My then-fiance had promised that he would upgrade it for our 5th anniversary. But by the time 5 years had come and gone, spending $1000 on a diamond seemed riduculous to me! And now it’s been 10 years, and I still think this ring is beautiful and I love that it represents where we were at that time. And I also know that many of those girls from college who had big diamonds no longer have their marriages….. so I am happy that I choose a better man than a better ring.
I chose a sapphire instead of a diamond. If I remember correctly, my husband paid around $200 for the ring (which has a few small sapphires and diamonds along the sides) and around $300 for the actual stone (I think it was a little over 1/2 carot). I love that ring, and still have people comment on it occasionally. They ask if it’s my birth stone, but I say, “No. I just like blue.” Diamonds are so overpriced. Get something with a little color and get a lot more stone for the money.
My husband’s wedding band was his grandfather’s, then passed on to his dad. His dad had “upgraded” that ring several years before we got engaged, and offered it to us. I spent $20 to have it sized, and now it’s a family heirloom!
People ask me if my gemstone ring (emerald) is my birthstone too. It’s just my favorite color. And I definitely prefer it to a diamond.
My Grandma is one of my very friends in the whole world. We talk multiples a day. My husband and I got married on what would have been her and my Grandpa’s 50th anniversary. My Grandma gave me her wedding ring set that she only wore about 7 years before my Grandpa bought her a new ring. I love the rings! Not only do they make me think of my Husband and my commitment to him, but they also remind me of my grandparents and the great relationship they had. Although I do hope to get a new ring some day, I also hope to be able to pass this set down to someone who can use it.
I always feel so in my element reading posts and comments here! My wedding ring came from a pawn shop- it is a plain band with 5 diamonds- marginally bigger than chips- and cost less than $100. My band was the first ring my husband bought me on our 5 yr dating anniversary and cost $15 at Mervyn’s when they went out of business here in WA. My husbands first band and second (to replace the first one he lost) were also both from pawn shops, are 18K yellow gold and cost less than $50/each.
@Jaime, Also we opted to get married in Vegas while we were there on a planned trip for my husband’s aunt wedding. We figured since we were going to be there already we may as well get married- cost us an extra $140 on top of what we’d already paid for the trip . I wore shorts and a tank and dh wore shorts and a t-shirt- we had extra value meals at McD’s for our wedding dinner. We already knew we were committed so the actual “wedding” was merely a formality for us- we’d “dated” for 9 years, 7 of which we lived together, before we were married. For our 1st anniversary we hosted a reception for our families (some of whom were still bent out of shape over our “elopement”).
Congratulations on your frugal choices!
We didn’t like ‘modern’ rings but had a friend in the jewelry business that gave us a good deal on a custom designed set. We chose star sapphire for the main stone, not diamond, and they are much larger than any diamond we could have afforded. The set of 5 rings – two ‘engagement’ rings (yes he wore one, too, it has a sapphire in it, mine has sapphire and two small diamonds), and three bands (two for me – one for each side of my engagement ring – and one for his) cost us $2K. That sounds like a lot but we did it with cash and planned a debt free wedding so it was worth the splurge.
Since I sewed all the attire for the wedding party (including the guys, it was medieval so no tuxes) and we went for an informal ceremony in a lovely garden, we got it all done – wedding, reception, rings, 1 night honeymoon, license and fees – for about 5K. Loved not starting out in debt for sure.
Being from another country it’s very disturbing to see how much people carry on their fingers. I don’t mean do offend anyone, this is a cultural difference. Where I am from the couple gets wedding bands – yes, men and women wear them on their right hand while engaged and on the left hand after married (the man proposes just like here). They are usually plain but if you are “lucky” their might have a few diamonds in them.
One time I heard a girl saying she was wearing a “honda civic” on her finger and I was shocked. I am not opposed to that as long as you have plenty, but as we all know that’s not always the case. People go in debt over the rule of “the guy has to spend this many month’s salaries on a ring or you shouldn’t marry him”. Marriage should be about love and not the size of a rock. In the US the first thing a girl hears after she gets engaged is “let me see your ring!”
As for me, I am married to an american so I do have an engagement ring that I know the diamond is less than 1ct, don’t ask me the exact size!! It’s in a piece of paper somewhere! I told my then boyfriend I didn’t want him spending money he didn’t have and that my hand and fingers are so small it didn’t really matter. Besides I can’t even wear it at work so I only get to wear it on my weekends!
Like Dave Ramsey says “live like no one else so LATER you can live like no one else”. People can save for a better ring later and be/ get out of debt in the process. It can even cost more than a honda!
@Cris, I am an American and I don’t understand the importance of diamonds, either.
My engagement ring, from my very like-minded husband, was a plain white gold wedding band.
@Cris, You are not alone. I don’t get it either. I never looked at or tried on rings and honestly didn’t care if i was given one. It is much more important to focus on the relationship than all the “sybolic/traditional” stuff. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but I think it can be, when your focus is shifted to the temporal. Maybe it’s the minimalist in me, but I don’t have to have an expensive or impressive piece of jewelry to remind or show me of my husband’s commitment and love to me.
We did the exact same thing! We were poor college students and I didn’t care if it was real or not and always knew I could upgrade it later if I wanted. I still have the CZ, and no one knows the difference!
I can’t imagine going into debt for a wedding, but that being said my husband and I carry unfortuinatly a good amount of student loan debt we are trying hard to get rid of. When we met each other my husband (the saver) had a good amount of money saved up. We had known each other just a few weeks when we got engaged. he asked me without a ring and then we picked it out together. He paid cash for it, it was really liberating to do that! Our wedding was paid for either by us or gifts. My parents paid for my dress as a gift, my mother in law paid for the food, my father in law the reception hall, and my dad and grandfather married us outside in our favorite park. Everything else we paid for with our own money. We were in college and my husband had just been in a life changing (and nearly fatal) accident.
My husband and I had just gotten out of school and waiting for bar exam results. The night we found out (actually an hour before we did), he told me that he wanted me to know he loved me and didn’t matter who passed the bar, if one, other or both, but he wanted to marry me. I said yes and we had double happy news to tell our parents – we both passed and we were getting married. Husband didn’t have a ring yet so we went and looked together. I’m not big on jewelry so we bought a small diamond engagement and wedding ring set for $400! I think it’s insane to spend thousands on jewelry! Since then, my husband has tried to upgrade me for the past 12 years but I refuse. I’m still not a huge jewelry fan and this is the ring that was blessed and with us on our wedding day.
We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on rings, either. My mom no longer wore her wedding or engagement ring because of her job and it no longer fit. I LOVED it and she offered it to my (then) boyfriend. They had it cleaned and sized for $30. Those rings mean more to me than anyone could imagine! (My dad bought them for my mom when they got engaged and married. They knew each other for 2 weeks, got engaged 2 weeks later, then married 2 WEEKS after that! That was 47 years ago and they’re still goin’ strong!)
That is a wonderful idea! Besides, it’s not the size of the stone, it’s the love behind it!
My husband and I met in college and knew almost immediately that we wanted to get married, but wanted to wait until he graduated and got a full time job before we got married. We looked at rings a few months after we started dating so he would know what I liked and he would have plenty of time to save money for the ring. He was so relieved when I decided I didn’t want a huge rock! Not long after we went looking for rings, he picked out a ring (and I had no idea!), put it on lay away and began slowly paying for it (we were college students, remember). Luckily he had a couple of brass instruments that he didn’t play anymore and was able to sell them. His senior year of college, he worked at a small church close to school and got paid 60 dollars a week! Let me tell you, almost every dollar he made went toward the ring- we didn’t have many dates that year. The whole time this was going on, I had no idea that he had picked out the ring and was paying for it. He finally officially bought it and brought it home and proposed about a week later. I love it so much and am so glad that we aren’t still paying for it 3 years later! That mindset of waiting and saving has continued to serve us well in our young marriage
My husband picked out my ring, so I don’t know how much it cost, but when it came time to pick out a wedding band for him, we looked for something that would be durable and inexpensive. He was worried he would lose or damage an expensive ring. We found a stainless steel band at a department store. It was under $100, looks great, and it’s practically indestructible! lol He gets lots of compliments on it, and everyone is surprised that it isn’t a silver band.
@Catherine, We did something similar. My husband’s tungsten steel ring only cost $30 on ebay and he gets tons of compliments on it!
@Megan,
We also went with Tungsten for my husband’s ring. He wanted something durable, and we were looking to pay cash, so we had a spending limit, and that fit the bill perfectly!
@Catherine, Until I read this, I didn’t realize that some people go into debt to buy rings. Doesn’t seem that difficult to find rings for a decent price. We also have steel rings. My husband’s wedding band, my wedding band, and my engagement ring together totaled $150. They’re all lovely and still look great 10 years later without needing to “upgrade” anything.
When my husband proposed he was young and broke. 🙂 He bought my engagement ring at a big box store for $99. It had a real diamond. Or a diamond-ette as we call it! (lol!) My aunt bought me a $49 band as my wedding gift.
About five years into our marriage we were on our feet and had the money to buy a bigger set, so we did. My husband would still like for the diamond to be bigger but I am content (The whole set is just about a carat). I absolutely still feel like this is my wedding ring. He bought it for me out of love. It is a daily symbol of our commitment, and that’s what it is really all about anyway, right?
I have the original set in a shadow box with my wedding bouquet. When our daughters (we have 2) turn 16, they will each be given a piece of the set. I love that we get to share that symbol of commitment with them, too!
I love this story! We were young and broke also! My husband has NEVER been a shopper. He honestly had no where to begin. His proposal was,”so when are we setting a wedding date”. It wouldn’t work for everyone, but for us it did! He told me he didn’t have a ring for me, but I could go and pick out whatever I wanted. I chose a ring my grandmother had purchased from my uncle. It is a beautiful marquis diamond. She gave him $300 for it, I asked if we could purchase it from her, since she only bought it to help him out and it sat in a jewelry box. She told us it would be their gift to us! It worked out great. We then bought inexpensive bands. He told me he would upgrade one day, but you know what, I love my rings and what they represent. I wouldn’t trade them for anything!
My engagement ring is actually a birthstone ring (though not my birthstone), with a large, square amethyst in the center and 3 small diamonds on either side of it. I’ve never been a huge fan of diamonds and have always loved amethysts, and I wanted something different. My (then bf) took me along shopping and let me pick it out myself. I think it was just under $150. Then when we were getting ready for our wedding we found a simple band with 5 small round diamonds (same shape as the ones on my engagement ring) for under $250. After the wedding I had the 2 rings joined so they don’t slip. I love my “set” and still get a lot of compliments on it’s uniqueness.
@Rebecca, sounds gorgeous!! Love this idea!!
@Rebecca, I think this is a great idea! Marketing is the only reason so many people think that engagement rings must feature diamonds. My ring is tanzanite and I think it’s just lovely 🙂
@Rebecca, I did something like that too. I wanted my hubby’s birthstone as well as mine on it. I looked at dozens of rings before I found a setting that would work with what I was looking for. Robins brothers wanted $4,200 for that ring and with a flawed yellow diamond. So we went to my mother’s jeweler who made me a ring with a bigger amazing diamond and stones than the other one and he also made us matching 2-tone gold wedding bands. 3 rings for just over $3,000. He told us that if we had waited just 1 day later to order the rings that the cost would have gone up about 40% because the price of gold skyrocketed. This is still a large expense compared to the other stories on this page, but we both had jobs, savings, and I didn’t have to go through the trouble of switching out my stone.
@Rebecca, The center stone of my ring is a Tsavorite garnet — a beautiful green highly sparkly stone. I love it and it definitely saved some $$.
When I got engaged I was living in Nevada. There are quite a few pawn shops there. That’s where my ring was purchased. At significant discount (I assume.)
@Brook, I got my husband’s ring at a pawn shop while living in Vegas 🙂
I actually gave my husband a limit on how much I wanted him to spend on my ring. He came in about $100 under. I told him I’d rather spend those thousands of dollars on something else–getting rid of the car payment, a down payment on a home, adoption–than spend it on a ring.
When my husband and I got married we were on a extremely tight budget so I searched and searched and found a .50 center stone, .75 total carat weight 14k white gold diamond ring on ebay for $400 shipped. I even took it to a jeweler to verify it was real. It was! Still when people comment on it, it is nice, but its really the deal that gets me excited.
For my ring I got a stone that is called mosinite (spelling?)it is much less expensive than diamonds and that way I could have a bigger stone (like my husband wanted) without spending a fortune. We only spent $900 on my ring and I am pretty sure that included the engagement ring and the wedding band, which we were also able to pay out of pocket.
@Lindsey, I did the same thing 🙂 Moisanite (I think that is how it is spelled) is ALMOST ad durable as a diamond. And believe me, we WON’T be replacing it 🙂 I’d rather spend money on our kids than on a silly stone! Love this post, so inspiring!
@Lindsey, I also did that. It sparkles like a VERY expensive diamond as well. people always comment on how much that stone must have cost. 😉
A great story, and I can relate! I paid cash for my OWN engagement ring! My then fiance also did not have any cash saved up to pay for an engagement ring, but I did! We figured it would be smarter for me to pay cash than to finance and go in to our new marriage with debt. I bought myself a beautiful half carat princess cut diamond in a wide white gold setting. I love it like crazy, but wish I would have bought myself a bigger diamond! Ha!
I love this, because I’ve never been a fan of replacing an engagement ring later. For me, it just wouldn’t ever feel the same or as significant as the ring my husband actually proposed with. This combines the options – a setting to wear forever with a stone that can be upgraded! Obviously – since I mentioned my husband – I’m not in need of this kind of advice, but it’s something we could pass along to younger couples we mentor.
This is a very encouraging post! My fiance bought my engagement rather inexpensively because we didn’t have the money for it either. We are now in the process of finding pretty, inexpensive wedding rings with the intent of ‘upgrading’ for an anniversary 🙂