Did you help pick out your engagement ring?

[Meenah]

We picked ours out together.

[Tenacious_D]

We talked about what I liked and didn't like in a ring and DH found a jeweler who put together the perfect ring. The engagement itself was a complete surprise . I am glad that he picked it out, I don't think I could have found one more perfect.

[Flynn]

DH had mine designed and it was a HUGE surprise.

I LOVE it and I totally love that it was a surprise.

[alison]

I don't have a big, delicious engagement rings.
We were poor students when we got engaged and couldn't afford to buy any kind of jewelry. We spent all our money on trips to visit each other. I have an engagement ring in mind that we'll get when we're done with residency, but for now I wear a band. The holiday party was quite embarrassing because you could feel the eyes looking for a big ring...

I pointed out a few styles that I liked but the actual ring was a surprise (and he gave me the one I didn't think he would pick). The question was a complete surprise.

Hopefully he pays very close attention to the style of jewelry your sister prefers. Let us know what happens.

[Flynn]

So what does everyone have? Shape? Setting????

Tell tell -- Alison, I want to hear about your "perfect" engagement ring for the future!

Ladybug, you started this....what did you guys design together??

I have a tension set band and I love the how it looks and that it doesn't stick up and catch on anything. The downside, as I discovered, is that the setting isn't quite as strong as I thought. The jewelry store where we bought it said it should be fine -- stronger than a 4 prong setting but not quite as strong as a 6. It made it 8 years until I hit my hand on a doorknob and the diamond went flying. Luckily I found it and had it re-set. The solution to give the ring more stability was to weld it to the wedding band. It works but traps water under the ring and sometimes gives me a rash. But, really, I still love it and can't bring myself to have a new setting! :---

[alison]

So, I wasn't optimistic enough for you?! Now you need to know the ring I want?!

Well, if you go to the link below (turn down your speakers!), the ring that comes up on the welcome page is the one I like. It's leaves and flowers and not traditional, which are all things I like. Solitaires are just not my style, even though I don't think I'd exactly refuse a diamond...

http://www.jackkelege.com/

[alison]

Thank you! Tara, yours carries a lot of sentimental value, which I think is so wonderful!

What are rounds? By now you're probably all thinking, "get this girl some jewelry!"

i totally picked mine out. i worked in jewelry for several years, so had VERY specific tastes. Plus, I had the connections to save lots of $, so he couldn't do it behind my back. that's okay though.

We picked mine out together and the whole process was a lot of fun. The engagement was still a surprise.

OMG...6 months salary???

[poky]

Jeez, SIX MONTHS?! The mind boggles.

My ring's been redesigned a couple times already; shortly after we got engaged, we took my wedding ring from my first marriage to the jeweller, and put the center stone in a different setting. I liked it, but the stone and prongs kept *catching* on things, so shortly before we actually got married, we had all the stones reset into a lower-profile setting. That one didn't actually turn out quite as I'd imagined it, and it was heavy, too, and in the last year I've lost almost 40 pounds and stopped wearing it because I was afraid it was going to fall off...so I did a bunch of looking online, and for our 5th anniversary, we took it in and re-used the side triangular sapphires (my birthstone), and upgraded the center stone, and completely redesigned it again. This one, I absolutely love, and don't forsee redoing again, ever. It's an original design of the jeweller's, but it's pretty similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000Z7DM8 (just imagine triangular sapphires instead of round diamonds on the sides).

[PrincessFiona]

I don't have a big, delicious engagement rings.
We were poor students when we got engaged and couldn't afford to buy any kind of jewelry.

Same here...at my wedding, many of our US guests were pretty surprised...but...it is where we were in our lives then and I wouldn't want a diff. engagement ring.

We picked them together too.

kris

I picked out my ring completely on my own and when I found the perfect one, then DH and I went together to buy it (he paid for it but I was there).

I wanted something very specific and complicated, and I figured DH probably wouldn't be able to come up with what I wanted (it's not just a simple solitaire). I figured since it was something I'd be looking at each day, it was more important to me that it be exactly what I wanted rather than a surprise. He was relieved, I think, because it took me 6 months of searching to find the right one. Since he was an intern that year, I don't think he had the time or the inclination to do the kind of comparison shopping I was doing.

Anyhow, I love my ring and am glad we did things the way we did.

[Flynn]

Wow Alison, pretty!

All of your rings sound very beautiful.

Mine is just under a carat oval diamond with two tear drop diamonds on either side (about a .4 size) with the widest part of the pear next to the oval -- not the point. The setting is white gold (couldn't afford platinum ) I love it. The band was a "moonlighting" treat DH gave me with ten tiny diamonds on the band which faces up with the bottom being an antique beading and subtle design. It's platinum.

I have to get my white gold ring "treated" once a year so it stays as white as possible. Otherwise it gets a little tarnished/gold. Platinum doesn't have that problem but is more expensive.

I LOVE "good" jewlery and like Annie, my female relatives before me had great taste. On my wedding day I wore a rectangular 6.5 carrat diamond pendant that was my grandmother's aunt. She was a "flora dora" girl in the 20s and had a "sugar daddy." The guy gave her a ring that had the diamond AND a matching saphire set TOGETHER -- same size! My grandmother made each into a pendant. I asked her if she ever felt nervous wearing them and she said no because "nobody believes they are real!!!" Now that she's passed away they are in a save deposit box and only come out on special occasions. I loved wearing it on my wedding day because it was so beautiful but more importantly because of the family tradition.