Getting The Most For Your Wedding Ring Budget

When it comes to wedding and engagement ring shopping, every engaged couple preforms a careful tightrope act, teetering between getting maximum dazzle and staying within the budget. These rings will be worn for a lifetime, flashed in hundreds of photos and shown off to dozens of jealous friends, so it’s no time to skimp on the sparkle. But, you don’t want to start your life together in debt, especially when there’s still a fabulous dress and a romantic getaway to pay for. Rather than relaying on a single massive diamond, use a few of these tricky tips to amp up the wow factor of your ring, without overspending.

Select a prong setting: Most rings hold stones in one of two types of settings, bezel or prongs. Bezel settings feature a metal ring around the entire central stone. It’s a secure, fashionable setting, but it can dwarf your diamond by hiding it behind all that metal. A prong setting uses three of more tiny arms to hug your diamond, showcasing the stone all the way around. The type of setting can enlarge the look of a stone by leaving more of it visible, and, because it uses less metal, it may cost less than a bezel setting.

Buy decimals: A 2.8 carat stone does not look significantly different that a 3.0 carat one, except on the price tag. Diamonds tend to leap in price when they reach the carat and half-carat point. So, buying just under that nice round number can give you the look of a larger stone at a significant savings.

Forgo platinum: For years platinum has been the must have metal for wedding and engagement rings. There are plenty of excellent reasons for its popularity; it’s durable and the brilliant white silver looks good on every skin tone. Unfortunately it’s also quiet expensive. To get the high shine and white glow of platinum for a lower price, opt for white gold. The two metals are nearly twins when worn and white gold is strong enough for decades of daily wear. But, the savings can enough to finance your wedding flower budget, or redirect into a larger stone.

Add smaller stones:width=”460″ height=”460″ The bigger the better, right? Let’s be honest, most brides want the look, and the bragging rights of a larger carat ring. But, who says all that glitz and glimmer has to be made up of one enormous stone? Rather than blowing the budget on a hefty solitaire, create the illusion of a large diamond by enhancing a petite one with smaller stones. Halo settings, with a ring of diminutive stones around a central one, are on fire as an engagement ring trend, partly because they help fluff up dainty diamonds. Pave diamonds are also excellent for amping up shimmer. The tiny diamonds add texture and brilliance to a ring and can be added to a band to create a surface of shine. Not only are small enhancement stones a budget-friendly way to get more diamond for the money, they also create a ring that looks fancier and more interesting that a simple solitaire.