Engagement ring: what it should be, which one is given, how to choose the size, what metal and stones will suit your girlfriend best, photos of original engagement rings

Which one is given - the classic version

According to established tradition, a gold ring with a small diamond is a classic . The history of this tradition goes back to the Middle Ages, when diamonds were endowed with unusual magical qualities. It was believed that the most durable of all stones would make the feelings of lovers stronger and help overcome any adversity in life. Interesting! Diamond is a symbol of endless devotion.

Alternative

What should an engagement ring be like? Typically, jewelry is made from precious metals , such as:

red gold;
yellow gold;
pink gold;
platinum;
White gold;
silver.

Unlike a wedding ring, an engagement ring must be decorated with a precious stone . But not every stone is suitable. An excellent option, in addition to a diamond, would be:

ruby;
emerald;
sapphire;
aquamarine;
pomegranate;
cornelian.

Note! The number of stones can vary from one to several pieces depending on the design.

By design, rings are divided into three main types:

classic;
modernist;
art-design.

Engraving on engagement rings is currently in great demand. This is a very sure way to preserve an important message, hiding it from prying eyes on the inside of the ring.

Metal type

When figuring out which ring to give for an engagement, it is important to decide what metal to choose from. You should rely on the personal preferences of the future spouses, as well as the budget that is planned for purchasing the main attribute of the engagement.

Before making your final choice, you need to familiarize yourself with all the pros and cons of the metals from which engagement jewelry is made.

Red gold

Red gold is a recognized world standard. This metal has the highest standard (more than 900). Modern jewelers use this gold mainly for making engagement and wedding rings.

The main advantage is ease of processing and the ability to take any shape.

But there is also a significant drawback: due to the low impurity content, the metal deforms over time. To avoid this, jewelers increase the weight of the product to 10 grams.

Yellow gold

The most common metal for engagement rings is yellow gold. It has two samples - 750 and 585.

Note! A disadvantage for picky buyers may be the typical nature of this metal.

The advantages include:

long service life;
metal scratch resistance;
large selection in jewelry stores.

Platinum

, which has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years, is one of the most expensive and elite metals .

The advantages of this metal include:

durability;
resistance to mechanical damage;
high degree of purity;
does not fade over time;
does not cause allergies.

But, at the same time, platinum is an expensive pleasure, so it is not accessible to everyone.

White gold

Externally very similar to platinum, white gold is either an alloy of nickel, zinc, silver and gold, or an alloy of platinum, silver and gold. When platinum is added to gold, the product becomes more durable , but the price also increases significantly.

White gold is a fancy metal. Jewelry made from it should be protected from chlorinated water and any abrasives.

Silver

The most practical choice for thrifty and thrifty newlyweds. In the manufacture of jewelry, 925 standard is mainly used.

Important! The only downside to wearing a silver ring may be the darkening of the metal, but if you carefully and constantly care for the product, this can be avoided.

Silver rings are reasonably priced and look great with precious and semi-precious stones . In addition, the metal is hypoallergenic and has healing properties.

Select form

There are ideas about the classics, but don't limit yourself to them. Perhaps it is a ring of an unusual shape that will highlight the best aspects of your girlfriend’s character.

Modern jewelers work with original shapes. For example, a precious stone may be among geometric patterns.

Perhaps the chosen one prefers vintage, that is, antique-style jewelry. Choose rose gold jewelry. In the accessory, smooth fantasy threads are intertwined many times.

There are also selection criteria that are not only related to a woman’s taste. Take a closer look at your beloved's hands:

if your chosen one has short fingers, it is better to purchase jewelry with a thin rim;
Thick fingers suggest jewelry with a medium-width rim.

Do you want to be original? Then take a closer look at the halo type decoration. In these rings above the rim there is a decorative platform strewn with pebbles. In the middle of this scattering there is one large stone. In the future, such a ring will become an unusual festive decoration.

Halo rings are suitable if a girl wanted jewelry with a semi-precious colored stone. Jewelers surround such a mineral with a scattering of small diamonds.

Gems

When deciding on an engagement ring, you should remember that most brides dream of getting jewelry with precious stones . This product looks original and beautiful.

When choosing, you need to consider:

compatibility of metals with minerals;
energy and meaning of the stone.

Since ancient times, each stone has been attributed different significance and power.

Diamond

A symbol of pure and sincere relationships will be an excellent choice. There is a belief that a diamond engagement ring symbolizes successful and strong family relationships in the future. Diamonds go well with white gold.

Red ruby

Interesting! Paired with a diamond, it guarantees happiness and constancy of feelings.

Symbolizes love and life. It ranks second in strength after diamond. This stone will not allow the passion between lovers to fade away and will help resolve any conflicts.

Green emerald

A symbol of strong and long-lasting relationships. According to legend, if newlyweds exchange rings with emeralds, their love will only become stronger every year.

Sapphire

Makes lovers more tolerant of each other , brings peace and tranquility, wealth and harmony.

Cornelian

A ring with carnelian will serve as a real talisman of love , supporting pure and sincere feelings between spouses.

Quantity

There are no rules about how many stones should be in a ring. It can be one large stone or several small ones:

Two stones are a symbol of the union of two loving souls;
A ring with three stones symbolizes the past, present and future of a couple in love.

Note! There is a tradition on a wedding anniversary, in addition to organizing thematic competitions, to give a ring with three or five stones.

Unsuitable!

For an engagement ring, not a very good option would be:

pearls are a symbol of tears and sadness;
opal, which is believed to attract misfortune;
diamond chips - a symbol of broken love;
dark and black stones that bring negativity into family life.

Shape and types of cuts

There are three main types of cuts (bevel, circle and cabochon), including more than 250 variations. What shape the mineral will take depends on its type and size, hardness, purity, optical properties, and to a large extent on the professionalism of the jeweler:

Cabochon is the oldest processing option. The mineral is given a convex shape with no edges. Mainly used when working with translucent and opaque inserts, as well as to achieve the “cat’s eye” effect. This cut requires good grinding and polishing to ensure that the stone is absolutely smooth;
Circle – traditional processing of minerals. The standard cut is “diamond”, which has 57 facets;
Oval is one of the round cut options. Mainly used for processing large stones;
The pear cut has a teardrop shape with a smooth top surface and wedge-shaped side faces. Variants of this form are considered “drop” and “briolette”;
“Marquise”, if cut correctly, looks like a boat (shuttle) or a grain with sharp corners;
“Baguette” is a variant of step cutting, as a result of which the mineral takes the shape of a rectangle. In this cut, even a non-professional will see all the pros and cons of the quality of the work of the master and the selected stone;
The square is also a variant of the step cut, but is shaped like a square. More often, stones of this shape are placed in the center of the decoration;
The heart-shaped cut is one of the most difficult and expensive. It is often used in custom-made designer products.

Bartack options

One of the main processes in jewelry craft is setting a stone in a product. Most types of fastenings have been known for a long time, but the specialist’s imagination plays a big role in the design of the finished product. Current fastening methods are mainly creative reworkings of previously known ones. The jeweler selects and approves the mounting method at the jewelry design stage.

The most popular types of fastening are:

hooks or legs (valves). It is used in cases where you need to show only the mineral, but not the product. The stone is located in the original metal bowl and is secured with grooves and claws;
channel or rail setting is used in the manufacture of rings with stones of identical size, which are arranged in a row;
paving (pave) setting method , with which many small stones are placed and secured. The minerals completely cover the desired part of the jewelry and are held in place due to the influx of metal;
The strongest setting is considered to be rim or blind setting , in which the metal base surrounds the mineral on all sides.

Design

Every man wants to know everything about how to choose an engagement ring so that his chosen one will definitely like it. There is only one piece of advice - take into account the woman’s tastes and preferences. Thus, a lover of fine jewelry is unlikely to be pleased with a massive ring with large stones, and conversely, a girl who loves flashy jewelry may find a small and neat ring too modest.

Classic

The classic option is a gold ring with one or more diamonds. This option is not subject to fashion trends and easily withstands the onslaught of seasonal trends, so it is in steady demand among consumers .

Important! Prices for gold rings with diamonds for engagement range from 7 to 145 thousand rubles. Exclusive models are more expensive.

The cost of such rings depends on the type of metal, the number of carats and the number of diamonds.

Original

Jewelry salons are ready to offer a large selection of extraordinary engagement rings.

French charm

An original and romantic option for a marriage proposal would be an engagement ring in the shape of the Eiffel Tower . The ring is set with one large diamond and four small round-cut diamonds.

Fingerprints

American jewelers make unusual rings with fingerprint patterns. An unusual ring with your loved one’s fingerprints will make your engagement unforgettable. The fingerprint pattern can be applied both on the outside and on the inside of the ring.

The cost of such products depends on the value of the metal and the complexity of the work. You can make both silver rings and luxury platinum designs that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Amulet

A ring with a Celtic shamrock design will not only be an engagement piece, but will also serve as an amulet. Trefoil has protective properties and brings good luck and money.

Exclusive

Rings that are made to order in a single copy . Compared to the assortment of jewelry stores, such products have a number of advantages:

In addition to the engagement ring, you can also order a wedding ring from the master so that both products fit perfectly;
the ring will be unique, so it will be impossible to find it on another woman’s finger.

Important! A custom engagement ring will look perfect on a woman's finger, fit exactly and be much more comfortable.

Many jewelry stores offer this service to clients. You can select a product from an existing catalog or draw a sketch yourself. Making a ring to order opens up wide scope for imagination and provides freedom of choice of parameters :

material of the product or several metals for the alloy;
color shade;
presence/absence of decorations and their quantity;
placement of decorations and patterns;
shape and exact size.

Engraving

Engraving gives the ring a special meaning. There are no restrictions on content and form : these can be memorable dates, names or initials, simple and personal phrases, symbols of love, peace, eternity. Phrases can be written in any language: English, Russian, Latin, and even engraved with Japanese characters.

In Russian:

forever yours;
together forever;
you are the meaning of my life;
my heart Belongs to you;
I breathe you;
loved, love and will love.

In English:

i love you (I love you);
crazy for you (I'm crazy about you);
endless love (endless love);
only you (only you);
i will always love you (I will always love you);
you and me (you and me).

In Latin:

semper in amino meo (forever in my heart);
ubi tu ibi ego (where you are, there I am);
amor omnia vincit (love will conquer all).

Engraving with humor:

game over;
goodbye freedom!;
resistance is futile;
adventures ahead.

Important ! If you choose a phrase that is too long, the font will turn out small and you will only be able to read what you have written with a magnifying glass.

What to consider?

Financial opportunities

One of the main aspects when buying a ring is its cost. Abroad, it is customary to focus on the price, which is equal to two months of the groom’s income. In our country, some men relatively recently began to follow this tradition, but it has not yet taken root, so there are no strict rules for linking the price of a ring to income.

Before choosing, the groom needs to soberly assess his financial capabilities. Not everyone can afford to buy a diamond ring, and in this case, you should pay attention to an elegant ring with semi-precious stones .

There is a way to save up to 50% on your purchase - this is the so-called upgrade. You can give one or more old jewelry to a specialized store that provides this service and get a good discount when buying a new ring.

Girl's personal preferences

When choosing a ring, do not neglect the bride's preferences. To determine the style of the future ring, you need to pay attention to the jewelry that the girl wears in everyday life, which style does she prefer: classic or modern?

With the help of leading questions, it is easy to find out what stones and what metal she likes. If your chosen one loves gold, then you can safely buy a gold ring, but if she likes white metal, then the right choice would be white gold, silver or platinum.

It is important to pay attention to the length, shape and thickness of your beloved’s fingers. So, large rings will look ridiculous on an elegant hand, and vice versa, thin rings on a chubby hand will probably get lost. The main criterion is that the girl wearing the jewelry should feel comfortable.

Compatibility with other jewelry

The ring should be chosen according to the style of jewelry that the girl prefers. If this is a classic style, then the ring should be classic. Classics remain a priority even in cases where difficulties arise in determining the favorite style of the chosen one.

Note! This classic ring goes well with any style of jewelry.

If a girl prefers certain jewelry brands, then she should try to choose an engagement ring from their collections.

that the girl usually wears also plays an important role Before you make your final choice, you need to be sure that the engagement ring will not force you to give up your favorite jewelry due to the fact that it will simply stand out from the general style of accessories.

Where do they sell beautiful rings?

You won’t see this on the shelves in regular jewelry stores; ordering from a manufacturer from the latest collections is expensive; in online stores it is sometimes dangerous. We found several of the men's rings presented above on the websites of large pawnshops with a good name and good reputation. And don’t rush to turn away from the monitors in bewilderment: is it really possible to give someone else’s ring, which has become unnecessary, as an engagement gift?

Pawn shop sales

Note to the owner: in online pawn shops, in addition to used rings, they always sell new items. Jewelry factories will not miss the opportunity to offer their assortment at any point of sale where traffic is consistently high, and, taking into account the specifics of the establishment, they set very loyal prices. A special convenience is that modern pawnshops have online stores where you can easily read the description, compare several rings, order and buy rings without leaving your home. Sometimes pawn shops host and conduct auctions. We must use it.

Stylish fashionable new rings can be purchased at a discount of up to 40%, and during global sales the discount reaches 70%. Now is the time to try your luck and stock up on a ring, even if you're not ready to propose yet. Perhaps you will mature in a couple of months. Be prepared in advance - this will be very useful in family life.

Sales in jewelry stores

Factory showrooms that sell rings without intermediaries, and fashionable jewelry stores also systematically organize global sales with good discounts. But there is a caveat: if your significant other closely follows trends in this direction, you are taking a big risk by buying a ring on sale, while she (he) is dreaming of an item from the collection presented a couple of weeks ago. The choice is yours, but think that you will live next to this person for many happy years. There is a possibility that in 20 years this ring will be inherited by a daughter or daughter-in-law.

Do it yourself

And we're not kidding. We are talking about an order to develop an exclusive project in a jewelry studio or from a private designer. This will be guaranteed to be a unique product, in the creation of which you will literally take an active part. Together with the master, choose stones, their cut, weight, combination with white or yellow metal, engraving, inlay and any other nuances. Of course, within your budget.

By the way, if you have long dreamed of gaining new knowledge, experience and skills, why not take up jewelry 3D modeling yourself? Try to master the Rhinoceros and T-Splines programs, and if your other half doesn’t get tired of waiting (unlikely!) for you to create your dream design, in a few years you will be engaged to an exclusive ring, a new profession, and, most likely, a new lover . The old one, alas, did not wait for your triumph.

How to choose a size?

Before purchasing, you need to find out the size of the bride’s ring finger, because it is on it that wearing a ring is considered correct. In order not to spoil the surprise of the upcoming engagement, the groom will have to make some efforts.

The simplest options for choosing the size of an engagement ring:

Take any ring of your chosen one and take it to a jeweler , who will help determine the size. All that remains is to return the jewelry to its place so that the girl does not discover it is missing;
If it is not possible to take the ring for a long time, the contours of the ring can be traced on paper;
Roll a sheet of paper into a tube, insert it into the ring, distributing the paper tightly along the contour. Then the paper must be secured well, removed from the ring and taken to a jewelry store;
The groom can put any ring of his beloved on his finger as deeply as possible and mark the place to which it has sunk. In a jewelry store, select the ring according to your finger, making sure that it is in the right place. Or ask the jeweler to measure your finger in the area of the mark and tell you the size;
Involve the bride's mother or her close friend to steal the ring or find out the size, but in this case you need an absolute guarantee that the accomplices will be able to resist the temptation and will not reveal the secret about the upcoming event;
For lovers of grand gestures, a joint trip to the salon for this attribute is preferable. You can arrange everything very romanticly, for example, without words or explanations, bring a girl to a jewelry store blindfolded. It is only important to be ready to buy the ring that the girl chooses.

Advice ! Photos from jewelry catalogs can also tell you which ring to choose. This option is suitable for a practical couple and will appeal to a girl who prefers to get what she dreams of and does not like unfortunate surprises.

Trends - how to make an offer and not get rejected

No one can give guarantees: even if your other halves, at first glance, are mentally prepared for such a turn of events, in practice something may go wrong. Excitement, nerves, and confusion can create a slightly unfavorable environment. Even a wondrously beautiful ring cannot save you. Therefore – Recommendation No. 1.

If you receive a refusal, don’t think about grieving and walking off into the sunset. We discussed why you shouldn’t take the ring at the very beginning. Let your loved one come to his senses, breathe, meditate, perhaps even cry and curse indecently. Try again during a pause. Everything will work out, you'll see!

Recommendation #2. Avoid platitudes. No rings in champagne, cake, during halftime at a football game next to sweaty fans, through dummies in the gym and in other foul-smelling ugly places. Remember: after hearing this, your destiny will be confused anyway (or pretend that it is). Don't double your stress. If you want originality, play Monopoly at home. Yes, not a simple one, but with a secret drawer.

Recommendation #3. Put pressure on emotions. If you're not particularly good at romance, delegate. Toy pandas with eyes you can’t refuse, cute puppies, or the heroes of the Pixar film studio. They even make their floor lamps look more human than we do ourselves. Who would say no to Valli? Well who? No heart? Look! But puppies are okay too...

Recommendation #4. Good old flash mob. Call all your friends, rehearse, don’t even think about adding a little 5 grams for courage. Propose anywhere: on the street, in a store, at an exhibition, at the airport (just notify the administration) - choose the most unexpected place for this.

Signs and traditions

The engagement ring must not be removed until the wedding. It symbolizes the strength of relationships and sincerity of feelings. It can be removed only after the marriage has been registered;
You need to treat the ring with care and store it in a box;
An engagement ring can become a family heirloom, the passing of which through inheritance will make the children's marriage stronger;
Losing an engagement ring is a bad sign , which is why most women wear it on one finger along with their wedding ring.

Wedding sets

Recently, combined rings or entire wedding sets have become especially popular. They are a transforming ring, which consists of two parts.

One part with a stone is an engagement stone, and the other is a wedding stone. This shape of the ring was invented specifically so that during the engagement, only one part of it can be worn, and after the wedding, they can be worn together as a single whole. This allows us to resolve the issue regarding the future fate of the engagement ring.

The wedding set also includes a ring for the groom. This way, the complete stylistic unity of all wedding decorations is preserved.

Useful video

An engagement ring is a special symbol, presenting it with which a man proposes marriage. At the same time, it is not at all necessary to organize a magnificent celebration of engagement, order a cake and gather guests. It is important for a man to demonstrate the seriousness of his intentions and present his chosen one with a symbol of love and fidelity. But unfortunately, most young people get confused when it comes to buying jewelry. This video will help you choose the right engagement ring:

Matchmaking or engagement?

Indeed, in Rus', engagement was successfully replaced by matchmaking. When the bride is wooed and the wedding festivities begin, not a single guy should look at her differently than at someone else's future wife. But in the West, everything happened a little differently. The proposal was made (and is being made today) without special rituals and contracts. Offering his chosen one a happy future together, the man put a ring on her ring finger. If the girl agreed, she left a piece of jewelry on her finger, indicating that she was now a bride. Naturally, in case of refusal, the ring was returned back to the gentleman.

Although today both in the West and in Russia it is customary to celebrate an engagement, during which it is publicly announced that the lovers are now officially the bride and groom, which is confirmed by the presence of special engagement rings.