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I got him an engagement and wedding ring: total cost $220 at robandlean's shop on etsy. His wedding ring is titanium with manzanita inlay. It's gorgeous.
We just got my ring after watching the platinum market for the last 6 months. We got a screaming deal, probably because of some initial well-addressed problems with my engagement ring and the downturn in the economy. So I got a platinum and diamond pave band for $380.
We shopped hard, and it paid off!
My wedding band contains the platinum and diamonds from my grandmother's wedding ring. The jeweler who custom made my engagement ring was able to melt down the platinum and make a band that fits and compliments by engagement ring perfectly. They had to add some extra platinum and the final total came to around $600 for my ring.
My husband's ring is tungsten and I ordered it on overstock for $50. He loves the look and it will never scratch.
Our wedding bands are both white gold with channel-set diamonds. We had them custom made. Mine was $1200; his was $1400 (fewer diamonds, but lots more gold). Neither of us actually wears much jewelry. He only wears his wedding band and a nice watch. I am allergic to most metals, and so just don't own much jewelry because it has to be nickel free. However, since I own very few pieces of jewelry, I like the things I have to be nice.
You can't really consider jewelry of any type to be an "investment," unless you are buying heirloom pieces with significant historical value, or really large and rare stones. The value of gold and platinum do tend to go up, but the amount of gold in your bands is pretty small. And diamonds of less than 3 - 4 ct, particularly white diamonds, are actually very common stones and have little resale value. Any value that the rings would eventually have to your kids will be primarily sentimental. So really, you should get what you like.
$350 for his, $400 for mine.
Yellow gold bands from an estate jewlery store (mine is estate, his was ordered new). No gemstones. His is a plain band; mine has details (ie, milgrain and embosed flowers) all the way around. I agree with suzanno: you shouldn't think of your rings as an investment, instead select something you like that's in your current budget.
Wedding bands: $400 for his $800 for mine -- that included engraving. His is simple 14K yellow gold, mine is 18K yellow gold with diamonds and sapphires. Click here to see pics of our rings.
There's no such thing as a "good amount" to spend on a ring. A good price depends on context: what kind of rings do you like and what is your budget? Pick what you like and get a good price for it.
It does not, however, depend on the context of "my friends and family think I should be spending more." It sounds like you're feeling pressured to spend more on rings than you would like. It is not a requirement of marriage that you be big jewelry people, or even that you wear rings at all! Don't cave! A ring doesn't need to be worth (or cost) millions, or even thousands, or even hundreds, to be meaningful. Don't worry about "investing" or handing your rings down to future children. Get something you love and that you can afford. You can get plain yellow or white gold bands for only a few hundred dollars (combined) and that is a very classic and respectable option.
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I should add, my ring was about $1500 and his was $760. Mine is a platinum half-eternity band and his is a 6 mm platinum band. It was a good price for what we wanted. My good friends though paid like $50 each for their recycled gold 4 mm bands, which is perfect for them.
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Mine was $65 (just a simple yellow gold band) and his was $150 (just a white gold band). The bands weren't that important to us, so we saved money on them!
My band cost $800. I bought it at a vintage jewler and it is from the 1920s. It is made with white gold and has 8 tiny diamonds in the front (about 1/3 way around band) and the rest is a hand carved design. This was more than I wanted to spend on a band but it was important to me that it was vintage and it is hard to be picky with vintage bands. Mr. PN's ring was about $875 and he had his custom made by a celtic jewler in Massachusettes.
Mine came in a set with my ering. So that was a thousand and he is going to use a ring that has been handed down in the family, so whatever the cost of getting it resized.
My eternity and cost $1,500.
My plain white gold wedding band cost $100 with free engraving
FI's plain white gold wedding band cost $300 with free engraving.
thanks, everyone! some of you are right to assume that we are feeling some pressure to spend more than we want. not that it's not within our budget - but we also wonder why we should spend so much when the economy is the way it is.
my fiance liked a tungsten ring but it was less than $100 and my family freaked cuz it was so inexpensive (relatively speaking). My mom has even offered to pay for our rings and is looking at high-end jewelry stores like cartier - but i feel irresonsible to spend so much on wedding bands, although i understand and am grateful for the thought behind it. I never put much thought into bands - the most important thing to me is that our bands match each other (which means mine won't match my e-ring). As for my fiance, he never even knew we had to get wedding bands! When I first brought it up, he asked, then what do you do with the engagement ring I got you?! lol. boys can be so clueless sometimes. :)
Well...... Let's just say that we have connections with a hot shot jewelry manager in Vegas, and she hooked us up- BIG TIME! Lucky me got to design both of our bands for $1000. I know that is still high, but being that my engagement ring was custom from my hubby, I couldn't find anything that looked right with the design. So we had them made. They are beautiful though. Mine is platinum with diamonds (identical to my E-ring) with milgrain carving & his is polished and brushed white gold with carving as well. Like I said though, we have connections. It would've been about $3000 if we didn't, and that would never have happened! I think you should spend whatever you feel is necessary for you. If you aren't big on jewelry, don't spend as much. My friends have simple plain gold bands that they maybe spent $60 a piece on, and they are just as happy as we are (they don't wear jewelry either). So do whatever works for the both of you. Good Luck!
Wow, if your family is freaking out because you're not spending enough money, then I would just not tell them how much the rings cost! You can tell them that it's a private thing (which it is, as all money matters are).
Besides, the question they're really asking is "Is it a high-quality ring worthy of being a wedding ring?" They equate that with price, but it ain't necessarily so :). And certainly whatever you choose will be worthy of being your wedding rings, so you can assure them that you have chosen something well-made, beautiful, and perfect for you.
We got my hubby's white gold, super-plain band on sale at Macy's for less than $200.
We had my platinum band custom made to fit my engagement ring and it got about $650.
My Husband's ring was $400 (white gold and palladium) and mine was $1000, diamond eternity/white gold band. I might add I lost my wedding ring 5 months after the wedding so I wish I had spent less :) I will not get another ring. I don't think rings are a huge deal aside from the symbolism of it... so I wouldn't spend outside of my comfort zone (in other words, put a ring on my credit card). You can always upgrade later in life when you are more financially stable (and dont have a huge wedding bill to foot!) too! But, that's just my opinion. I know many people who consider rings a life long investment and a really important part of their union... and if so (if you're not the 'upgrading' type) you might as well try and find something you'll be proud to pass on to your children!
$400 for him and $0 for mine. I decided I didn't want a band. If i do later on, I'll get one later on. We will use my e-ring for the ceremony
Mine is going to be about 1600 its all micro-pave diamonds. We haven't yet looked for his yet.
It makes me sad that you're getting pressure about your wedding bands. This is something you and your fiance will have to wear - why do others care how much you spend?
You mentioned that you and your fiance arent really jewelry people, and that some believe the bands are forever - do you feel that way? If so, then I think you should shop within your jewelry comfort level, keeping in mind that this is the ring you'll always wear. If you're in the "buy now, upgrade later" category, then my advice still stands - buy something you like and are comfortable with.
To answer your question, I believe my band was $400 (white gold, pave on the top half) and his was around $150 (tungsten). We got them both on sale. I didnt want to spend a whole lot on wedding bands, but it was important to me that my band look good next to my e-ring (white gold diamond solitaire) and that my fiance got something he likes.
My wedding band came as a set, but had we purchased it seprately it would have been $600 My FH band was $700 its white gold satin finish with a small dimond set in the band its gorgeous if it wasnt so big I would were. We got a great deal on it do to the great holiday sales. it was origanally $1200.
We haven't bought ours yet, but I found mine a few weeks ago, I wanted something different, since my e-ring is a sinmple round cut solitaire in yellow gold. I love it, but I didn't want the same old channel set diamond band that everyone with a solitaire has. I found a chevron shaped black opal ring for $601...its gorgeous. My FI hasn't decided what he wants, but I'm sure it will be aroudn the $200 range. We figure if we want to upgrade later when we can afford it, we will. I'm planning on being perfectly happy with mine for a long time, the only thing I might get is a plain band for when I'm working with athletes on the field, and my e-ring could get caught on something or stab one of the guys since it is set pretty high, lol.
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Mine was about $1000 and is white gold, channel-set with diamnond and sapphires. His was $179 from tungstenworld.com, which I highly reccommend. It doesn't matter what you spend, what matters is the love that goes into the choice!
I wanted to respond to a point MissKakes made about "keeping in mind that this is the ring you will always wear" (or that you will upgrade to a ring which you will then always wear).
Not all couples will always wear a wedding ring. For example, for men, it was not common practice to wear wedding rings at all until about 50 years ago, during WWII when soldiers began to wear them when they shipped out. I know my grandparents, who were happily married for nearly 60 years, happily quit wearing their rings sometime in their 50s after they got arthritis and couldn't get them on anymore. They didn't feel any less married for it (others might have chosen differently, of course).
This is all to say that you don't need to conform to other people's ideas of what a wedding ring should be, as long as both members of the couple are happy with their choices. :)
For the extremely frugal wedding we are having, this was one of our more expensive budget items...$270 for his and $800 for mine...I'm glad though...I would much rather spend money on a ring that I will wear for a long time than linens or flowers...I agree with the other posters...just don't tell people how much you've spent on your rings...no one will ever know...if you find omething you like and it happens to be inexpensive, who cares what someone else wants you to have...
His is $45 and mine is $35. They are sterling silver and absolutely gorgeous. They're from a Texas-based company that I adore- James Avery. I've had some of their rings and necklaces and they last forever...no tarnishing at all. Then again, I haven't exactly had them for 50 years, but they're cheap enough to replace with something more expensive and durable when we can afford them!!
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His platinum and gold inlay band cost me $2250 at E.E.Robbins. That was after looking at $300 Tungsten bands. >_<
My "band" was custom-made platinum to mesh with my E-Ring. Both were made at Greenlake Jewelers in Seattle. I believe my narrow platinum band with 2 bevel-set diamonds was $1100.
Photo here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3234619897_130b0234b3_o.jpg
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The best way to go is probably to set a budget for what you want to spend on each ring (or even what you want to spend, combined) and go from there. If people are critical, don't share the prices with them!
FI's is going to be white gold rimmed with yellow gold (between 2-400) and mine a platinum and gold custom fit band (under 1K). I aspired for some yellow diamonds to match my e-ring but it got too complicated. I am trying to finagle some yellow diamond earrings instead : )
I have the problem of ALWAYS sharing my bargains with others. I can't help but spread the news of a good deal.
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hello!! i have diamonds that came from a flawless stone- my band is set in platinum, diamonds eternity style which are less than 0.5 Carats and cost $4000 (because of the quality of these little diamonds it's pricey and the platinum but you can see the difference of clarity and shine factor). For my husband I got him a plain platinum band because he wanted a dull looking band because his not a jewelry person so our jeweler opt for platinum because it gets dull fast due to it's softer then gold but the plus side is if he were to ever want to polish the ring he will never loose metal nor will he have to dip his ring unlike gold, according to our jeweler.
My yellow gold half eternity band was £300 which was an amzing price, it's from custom local jewellers and is 0.33 carat and fabulour quality. My husbands was £80 tungsten.
My wedding band is a 2mm plain yellow gold band £50. FI isnt having a ring as he works machinery, and he really isnt a jewellery kind of guy.
Mr. Bing wants Tungsten, so I'll be spending less than $200 on his. My band is $2600, it's a platinum 3/4 eternity band with about .8ct of diamonds. It's pave set with millgrain detail and decorative engraving on the sides.
My band is set in white gold and has four round diamonds 1 ct tcw. It was $1,100.
Mine is a micro pave eternity band and we paid around $700
Ours were expensive..... I think mine was $3200 and his around $1200. Both from Tiffany (so that has a lot to do with it)... that's where my engagement ring is from. We shopped around a little, but actually found little price difference for what we were looking for. Mine is a platinum half eternity band, small diamonds (.5 total carat wt.), and his is a plain platinum band. I wish they were less expensive, but it was worth it!!!
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Sorry if this is a personal question. But I am getting such a wide specctrum of suggestions of what we should/need to spend on these bands that I am confused. Some say that these are the lifetime symbols of our marriage and love and can be handed down to our children so they should be considered an investment - but my fiance is just not a jewelry person. I, on the other hand, am also not much of a jewelry person, but the few staple pieces I have can range from a few hundred to few thousand (some giifted/nherited). Just curious how much others are spending on their bands... Thanks! :)