Engagement Ring Shopping

[princess_todd]

Well .. the time has come for me to go shopping for my Caroline's engagement ring

Comments

[divaflip]

I don't have any suggestions as to where to look, as I'm not sure what style you are after. But make sure you know what size ring she takes - they are all letters. You might need her to go into a jeweller where she lives and find out sizing. And going up half a size isn't a bad idea, for long term fit. My mum's engagement and wedding rings were too big for her when she got them, but fit fine now.

[princess_todd]

Yeah .. the first thing I did was to get her to measure herself .. and yes, we upped the size .. so I know that off by heart now. :-)

[amithralia]

the big jewellers would be Michael Hill, Angus & Coote, perhaps Prouds.

If you go into Pitt Street you will find all of them fairly close together. (Not exactly sure where, but I have seen them around).

But you might also find a few boutique jewellers who will have more unusual pieces that you don't find elsewhere.

Anything with diamonds should have a certificate of authenticity I think. Ask about that anyway.

I have also had friends get engagement / wedding rings from art and jewellery expos, and got some unique, one-off pieces that way.

Hope that is a good start :)

[amithralia]

umm - this is philippa, using a different account. forgot to change back.

[restaurantkiler]

My tip is: Diamonds are boring, overated and overpriced. You can get beautiful rubys, sapphires and emeralds for (it turns out) a fraction of the cost, and they look better.

[divaflip]

oh yeah, I'm with that. I'm also ideologically opposed to diamonds, due to the whole cartels enslaving african nations thing. but I know not everyone shares my views on that

[princess_todd]

We have already decided to get an emerald ring, with some accompanying diamonds with a white gold band .. if possible.

The emerald is my birthstone, and also represents love and commitment.

The diamond is her birthstone, and adds to tradition and love etc.

The white gld is her favourite.

[gargoyal]

If you are going for a new ring .... good luck, there are thousands of places out there with similar things and I wouldn't know the first place to look. You could bug Hef if you want an ex-industry worker's opinion.

If you are going with a antique/pre-loved/second-hand ring there are slightly less places to go and (what I think are) better rings. There is the antique shopping centre near Moore Park which is quite good, a fair few places up near Hornsby/Beescroft and pleanty here and there.

I don't buy much jewellery...

[haju]

But it's much much cheaper overseas - see South East Asia. In my experience it's a bit cheaper in China town. If you know what you want - you can get things made to order.