What was the cost of your engagement ring?

I got engaged 6 weeks ago. My ring came from a second hand jewelry shop and cost £80 - it's cubic zirconia rather than diamond, but so pretty and I love it.

We are an older couple marrying for the first time but both on low incomes - we looked at engagement rings and even simple ones were well over £100 so we weren't sure we could afford one, but my fiance really wanted me to have one. Then he found one he liked in my size in the jewelry shop near his workplace - he was so excited and sent me a photo to see if I liked it and when I said I did, he rushed back and bought it.

No one else knows it's secondhand and I think a few people are assuming it's diamond and new and wondering how on earth we afforded it! But I don't care. I just love having his ring on my finger.

Our reasoning behind the budget was that we are getting married 7 months from now, so need to put our money toward the wedding. But I'm not sure we would have spent MUCH more even if we had more time to save for the wedding. I'd feel uncomfortable wearing anything too expensive in case I damaged or lost it, and when it looks so pretty and means so much because of the person who gave it to me, who cares about the price tag or whether or not it's a diamond anyway.

My engagement ring cost £390 and I bought it myself with fiancé(now husband) in tow as he couldn’t afford a ring. He was at university at the time and has 4 children with his first wife and so didn’t have a lot of spare cash. Ultimately though the cost doesn’t matter the feeling behind it does as a friend of mine and her fiancé spent £35 on an engagement ring and was just as happy as if he’d spent thousands.

Thank you for replying. It’s lovely to hear that, you’re a team at the end of the day so it doesn’t matter who pays. I’m so glad she likes her ring. An ex colleague of mine had her heart set on a £50 ring from Pandora, he was very happy to spend thousands but that was what she wanted because she loved it and it matched something he had given her previously.

I know my friends who are from America, have all told me that it's expected by working/middle class for a ring to cost at least 3 months wages. For me that just seems ludicrous. Spending money doesn't show a partners love for somebody, their actions do. My husband and I got engaged in Thailand, I think the ring at the time cost around 200 GBP and thankful it wasn't more as I lost it!! We bought a replacement together whilst traveling in Singapore and it costs 500 GBP. When we bought wedding rings we decided to spend 200-300 GBP on each and then every three-your years, change them if we felt like it. We've been married 5 years, I still actually have my original ring but my husband has changed his once.

Thank you so much for responding. That’s such a lovely story, I can imagine your partners excitement when he saw it. Definitely don’t concern yourself with what people think, a friend called mine plain but i like that it’s understated. I’m recently engaged also. It was nowhere near as romantic ?. We were moving in together and I told my partner I’d like to get engaged before we do that (cultural reasons). Bless him, he knows I’m pedantic so gave me a budget and sent me along my merry way to find it. Once I did, he just went in and paid for it. My fiancé was very generous, it was 8.5k but it’s genuinely not anything flashy. I thought that was a lot until I heard the expectations being flung round (think double). I think it might because they’ve spent a lot of time in the US.

This is such an interesting thread!

My engagement ring is a family antique from my fiance's mother's side (it was her great aunts) and I absolutely adore it. I don't know the value (don't care to know) and my fiance didn't have to pay anything for it as it was given to him. Knowing that his family chose to let me have such a piece of their history is beautiful, and every time I look at my ring I am so grateful to them and love being part of the family.

My wedding ring cost £340 from an antique jewellers and I found it quite by accident. My fiance's ring will cost about £80 as he just wants a simple band. Our parents on both sides have agreed to pay for our rings as our Christmas presents this year.

I think it's important to get a ring that will stand the test of time - but there are lots of affordable options out there. A lot of my friends have just got engaged and their rings are huge and very showy. I don't know how much they cost but at the end of the day it's a piece of jewellery you will wear every day so you should love it, it should suit you but it shouldn't cost you (or your partners) peace of mind.