What Are My Options For Discount Engagement Rings?

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Even though the engagement ring itself is tiny, its expense is a significant part of your overall wedding budget. Helping an engaged couple find a ring on their limited budget is sometimes a dilemma. It's important to discuss all of your options with your partner before making a decision.

A diamond substitute is the best choice over a true diamond. Back at the beginning of the last century, the De Beers company, faced with a glut of quality diamonds and a sagging market, devised a very successful advertising campaign linking diamonds with true love, and the diamond engagement ring as a "necessity" was born. 

De Beers and other diamond sellers perpetuated the myth that the diamond is the only stone to have and thus have led to diamond rings becoming outrageously expensive.  The symbolism involved, of beauty, clarity, and durability, can be applied to may other stones and to diamond substitutes without loss of meaning.

If you and your partner want a real diamond its time to start to look into some of your current options. The first is indeed many a times overlooked: resetting a stone already there in either of the two families. Often purchasing an engagement ring from a current owner, or accepting one that has been a family heirloom, will result in the price being lower than a new stone, or in the case of one handed down through the family, the important "something old" that the bride traditionally wears for her wedding.  When a ring is an outright gift and the setting is appealing, that kind of diamond will not break your budget.

If that doesn't work, you could ask an experienced jeweler who sells individual  gems to locate a stone for you at a discount.  Understand, what you think is a low price may not be the same as a jeweler… but a jeweler with reputation is much less likely to cheat you than a fly by night, or a chain supplier with good intentions and limited jewelery education.

There are a number of ways you can find the stone you love and not break your budget and a good jeweler can help locate that stone either through estate sales, putting you in contact with other dealers or finding a stone that may have a small imperfection but otherwise is beautiful.       

A good jeweler will give you additional information about the sources of diamonds and educate you. Lots of jewelers know about and may even discuss the price fixing that occurs with diamonds; they are not able to skirt the problem, but may suggest other beautiful, less expensive stones. Not everyone lusts for a diamond.  Some just love white topaz, others Moissanite, and some cubic zirconium, so there is something for everyone if you look.   

There are some people, with a good knowledge of many different stones, who will suggest a beautiful and unique alternative. Pay attention,  and get ready to take into account their guidance. Jewelers do not enjoy selling high-priced diamonds to customers who lack the training to appreciate them more deeply than shiny, valuable "traditional stones." Many feel like cheats, but must charge enough to make a profit on what they themselves spend. They will be glad to give you a hand in helping you find a better selection that still makes them money without taking away your satisfaction or their reputation.

A final, long-shot option, not recommended but certainly possible, is to take advantage of pawn shops and such bidding venues as eBay. The problem is that there is no quality control or assurance that can overweight the blind spots these forms of acquisition entail.

Very often dealers cheat the customers when they sell stones and the buyer cannot easily find it out. You can stake your life in many ways. Your engagement ring should not form a part of them.

For more please see discount affordable diamond engagement rings and cheap princess cut diamond engagement rings.