ENGAGEMENT DIAMOND RING - what size?

[RaggedyAnn]

[quote=KSigkid;1741271]I was lucky enough that I got set up with a jeweler that was a friend of the family, someone who wasn't going to take me for a ride. I was able to get a nice diamond for my wife without mortgaging our financial future.
quote]

Knowing someone is always a good thing. My husband bought my diamond off of a guy that gave a good deal to one of his fraternity brothers. He was a dozen or so brothers and their cousins away from the original connection. That guy sure did make a smart business decision! He custom designed a ring for me. My ring is a 1.16 carats in an emerald cut. My husband had it set low for me. My only request for a ring was that it wouldn't catch on nylons.

[dekeguy]

My cousin Chip got married in England in September. He asked his then fiancee what she would like for her ring. Apparently the concept is rather different in the UK. She told him that if he gave a diamond it could be no larger than half a carat. If he gave a sapphire it could be a bit larger and ringed with very small diamonds but still not too large. Seems that sapphires are very popular as engagement rings over there. Large stones for engagement rings are seen as gaudy, vulgar, and theatrical. She told him that later on he could give her an impressive dinner ring if he really wanted to, but she would not wear something like a Joan Collins exercise in tackyness. Girls with gaudy rings are definitely infra-dig and non-u. Anybody (preferably female) familiar with this UK attitude? (As a reference point she is Cheltenham and Sommerville from a Debretts family).
Also, it is apparently considered to be in really bad taste to keep the ring if the engagement is broken off.