Well I can't speak for everyone else, but I for one am dead serious when I say I wouldn't want anything bigger than a 1/2 carat. Like I said in one of my previous post, if I had anything bigger I could never wear it to work. Besides that I am honestly not into flashy jewelry. I don't even wear any jewelry at all other than my engagement ring. Oh, and my tiny little diamond stud earrings, which are REALLY tiny!

Ditto here. Bad enough I have to glove/gown and go into operating rooms sometimes. I would either have to (a) take the ring off -- forget it -- or (b) risk ripping the glove. (The surgeon would kill me.)

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)

I know my cousin received a smaller ring because her husband was only out of college for 2 years at the time that he proposed. They had to consider other expenses like the wedding and setting up a household. A few years later he upgraded. He added diamonds to the ring. It's hard to explain. I guess that an option for those of you who get engaged when you're young.

xo_kathy, I would be more than happy with one carat or more. I just want it to come from the right man. :)

My friend, who is a nurse, never wears her engagement ring to work. It safely at home. She just wears her wedding band.

Absolutely, Cream!!! :)

And I didn't say everyone was fibbing! But I think maybe some...Again, though, I mean no disrespect!!! :) And maybe it's because I live in this crazy town, but I don't consider a carat flashy at all?

I don't know, I think a lot of it has to do with the setting and who's wearing it. For example, I have two co-workers who have rings of almost exactly the same carat-weight (right around 1ct). One is a teeny-tiny thing, and the stone is set in a very modern setting with a lot of "extra metal" around it. We sometimes joke that we think she is going to fall over one day from having that ring on her hand.

The other co-worker is a "woman of size", and has a very classic, rather delicate setting, and her stone appears a lot smaller than the other girl's.

Personally, I like coworker #2's ring better... even though it looks rather small on her, I think generally it's a nice looking ring and flattering to the stone.

I expect that my ring will be at least a carat. I don't think that a 1 carat ring is flashy at all.

My boy is an engineer, so he's got "issues" with things not being even, so he indicated that he was going to go for the full 1.5 rather than have a wierd number.

That's more than I expected - but I did want at least a carat.

And I want a very simple 6-prong tiffany setting, so any size stone looks good in that

We went shoppingn together in November, but we're not engaged yet. He wanted to get an idea of what I wanted and then is going to surprise me with it. It was a comprimise between him wanting total surprise and me wanting to pick it out.

I don't either! I honestly don't think 2 carats is too gaudy if set right. I love the princess cut diamond set in white gold/platinum. I have my image of my "dream ring", but I would NEVER fix my mouth to say "Don't bother if it's not". Too me, the question for me (if I was the man) would then be what happened to the love?

~~~~~
Have any of you ever gone to www.adiamondisforever.com and designed your own ring? It's so fun!

Here's mine :p :http://www.adiamondisforever.com/dyo...03_6_5_B_S.jpg

My thoughts exactly.

White gold or Platinum only
Round or Princess cut w baguettes preferable, but love solitaire too.
Good quality.

Don't care about size, well, as long as you can SEE it. My cousin's ring is about 1/4 carat and--really, its just too small, the band overpowers the stone and to me, they should balance each other out or the stone should be bigger. 1 or 2 carat would be MY choice if money was no object, only because I LOVE diamonds, not because I HAVE to have it. Probably 1 carat better on my, my fingers are long and very thin.

GORGEOUS!

my friends recently went shopping for rings. the sales person talked about upgrading to a larger diamond in a few years and my friend thought it was soooooooooo tacky! of course, her bf wants to get her a ring that is bigger than she wants...lol.

for people who get married young or while financially unstable, being able to upgrade later is a good option. my friend's parents were married quickly b4 her dad left for vietnam and he was only able to afford a very small ring. years later....after becoming a very successful accountant, he purchased a much larger engagement ring and gave it to her mom.

Hehehe . . . :D

I will fully admit to being materialistic. It's not like I'm saying I don't have standards for my future engagement ring. It had better be platinum! And the diamond has to be good quality. But as for the size . . . as someone who rarely wears jewelry and never wears anything flashy (and as someone who has delicate hands, lol!), a 2-carat diamond would look ridiculous on me.

I love this topic, it's so girly.

what about the classic Tiffany's ring? the solid little band with that diamond?

in november during the christmas season the wall street journal was advertising a different ring each week, and oh god i fell in love and told my guy.

our three month is next month and we're going on vacation together and i keep thinking in my mind, how sweet it would be to receive a ring then, but i don't think he's ready yet, but that's ok. when he comes to his sense he knows what i want :D

Shopping? Who said anything about shopping for a ring?? You girls are lucky!

TKE209 is making my ring...that's what you get when you're with an artist...plus it'll make it much more special :) :) :)

But, he knows what I want.
White gold, 1.5 carat princess cut diamond (it'd be nice..) with my birthstone (ruby) and his (blue topaz) on both sides as accents.

Rumor is I'll be getting it either the end of this year...or next year in July... (<---special day that month..)

I defend my right to have an engagement ring with a smaller diamond... hey, he was a poor starving grad student at the time :p

And, for the record, it is from Tiffany & Co. ;)

2 Carats eh?

-Rudey
--She better have D cups that don't sag.

Oh Tiffany & Co. I am 'shopping' on their website right now with a ring in mind. Now if only I could meet Mr. Right.

-Cream
--I am a perky C cup. :)

LOL, you can tell this is a girl dominated site. This is a long thread really fast lol.

Randomly: If I were shooping for a diamond for my SO. I would probably take another lady with impeccable taste with me to pick out a few and them make the final decision. But it would have to go with the general style the SO liked.

Size ALWAYS matters :p .

This is a great idea--I have been with a few guy friends when they selected rings-- in one case it was a huge help--he was 24, she was 18--he picked out a "cute" ring--- after explaining the ring was nice--but at 40 would she want that ring. He agreed and got something (still in his price range) but a less of the "promise ring" look. She was thrilled with the ring.

And on the subject of demanding a bigger ring-- my husband and I know a guy who proposed with a half carat ring-- the girl said, "yes, BUT only if you return that thing and get me something that shows you love me" He actually took the ring back and got her a 1.5 carat ring!!! I would have kicked her ass to the curb!! But needless to say--they are divorced now!!!

-wendi

Re: SURVEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I want it to be a total surprise as well: ring and everything...

My only thing is when there's a man who may propose with a relative's ring (for example, he was given his grandma's ring to give to his fiancee). I don't know how I'd take that...I really, REALLY don't wanna sound shallow, but I don't want someone else's ring...I think...I don't know...

OK, Hootie (and whoever else wants to listen), here is my theory:

In NYC the cost of living is much higher than many other areas. However, people also make more money. For example, the job I work now would probably pay me half of what I am making if I was in Michigan. So, a 1 carat diamond in most towns is XX amount of dollars. In NYC, XX is equal to one weeks pay, in Kalamazoo, MI, XX is equal to 3 weeks to a month's pay. So when looking at rings men in NYC can say, "Oh, that's only __% of my salary" but in other areas it would be a greater percentage. Does that make any sense at all? It does in my head!!! :p

My first fiance picked out the ring when I was standing there. It was not what I wanted at all. Hence, why he is not current fiance. :p

Mr. Mox was my best friend before boyfriend and fiance. He heard me bitch about the 1st F's ring enough times to know what I wanted. 2 years later, I got just what I'd always dreamed of having on my finger!

I have no clue how many carats it is, but it is a nice size for my finger. It's a marquise diamond with a white gold setting and band. On either side of the big diamond, there is a cluster of three smaller ones in a sideways triangle shape. Ok, that used no technical jewelry terms, but you get the idea. :)

One of my dearest friends became engaged over the summer. Her now fiance and their best friend (also a sister) went shopping together. She got a 1/3 carat and it is the perfect size for her hands and looks stunning. He opted for a "Hearts on Fire" which is one of the supposed "perfect" cut diamonds. And honestly next to any other sisters rings, her's sparkles like no other.

I think it's the love in the relationship which makes a marrage work, not the size of the ring. And I think that actions speak for words that he tried to find her a "perfect" ring. I just think it's so sweet of him. FYI he also got her the matching "perfect" earings for Valentines Day! :)

I personally would like a 1 carat, but I would be happy with anything from someone I loved enough to spend the rest of my life with.

Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with engagement rings -- I've always sworn I'd never wear one once I got my wedding band (I despise sets) so it always seemed kind of wasteful.

But what girl doesn't want someting icy and flashy and amazing?

I recently found a gorgeous white gold and aquamarine ring at an online antique jewelry store -- I think when the time comes I'm going to point my boy in that direction instead of the diamonds. That way we can save up to get amazing platinum wedding bands and I can put the pretty little sparkler away without feeling guilty that I'm letting all that investment rot in my jewelry box.

But that's just my 2 carats -- I mean cents. ;)

Greekgrrl

1.47 carats, baby!

But, I"m much more excited about the boy I'm getting...the ring is just an extra!