Yep. My now-husband wanted me to have something I would be happy wearing every day. I did and I still love it, 15 years later!

We went together and chose our rings.

I probably could have given a suggestion. Dh sent someone to me to show me her new anniversary ring and asked what I wanted for an engagement ring. Lol! I was embarrassed and clammed up. Dh choose a much nicer ring than I would have chosen for myself.

I wanted a marquise-cut diamond, and DH wanted it to be high quality. The jeweler had diamonds brought down from New York City, so we could select the stone and then have the mounting made for it. DH actually made the selection of both the stone and the mounting, but I was there. I chose not to have a separate wedding ring, because the diamond is three carats, and a separate band would make it too wide to be comfortable.

If I had it to do over, I would get a much smaller ring...primarily because I don't have a daughter or granddaughter to inherit it, and it's sad that it will probably just be sold off with the rest of the estate.

Yes. But we bought the "engagment" ring several years after we were married - consisting of three white sapphires set in yellow gold. We had matching yellow gold wedding bands with some "carving" in them. Now I have my late mother's engagement and wedding bands (white gold), along with an anniversary band my husband had made for me - 5 round diamonds. My mother's engagement ring is a .75 emerald cut virtually flawless diamond. It's breathtaking.

Fifty-two years ago DH and I went together to C. D. Peacock in Chicago to choose our rings.

It was raining that Saturday afternoon. DH dropped me off on the corner and went to park. I went through the revolving door to wait inside. When he returned, he entered the revolving door -- and spun around twice in it before coming in!

I chose a platinum setting with a pear-shape diamond, set at a slight angle, with two diamond baguettes. He chose a striated band with three shades of gold.

Shortly before our wedding day, the jeweler created a wedding band of platinum with two additional baguettes and soldered it to my engagement band. Promise fulfilled.

Neither of us has ever wanted different rings -- or additional ones.

After reading a few of these....I am very unaware of rings. I had to look up a few cuts, carats and gems. I have no idea how many carats my diamond is. I mean, how close my ring may be to a carat. My ring is very simple and catered to my profession in my younger years so that any diamond wouldn't snag. I was in emergency services. I wouldn't have thought of that if I chose.

Hell yeah :-) Funny, though, I really liked my wedding set, but never really LOVED it. I've since changed up my engagement ring, using the center stone in a different setting. My wedding band was made into a cross.

I still have some bits of platinum and a couple small diamonds left.

I'm lucky to have a DH that lets me be me, and he was all for it.

DH chose mine, it is a small solitaire. I'm not really into jewelry, so he did fine. My wedding band is several small channel mounted diamonds, and I added a matching band to the other side on our 5th anniversary.

I haven't worn my bands in a long time. I do too much messy work (lawn care and painting), so I wear a simple gold band unless I'm getting really dressed up. I'm not sure they still fit, I have a few swollen knuckles these days.

Mine was a gift to us from his grandmother - the jeweler took the stone from another ring and we had it reset and a ring guard with side stones put on it. I've been wearing it happily for the last 49.5 yrs.

I never had one. My DH and I didn't have a formal engagement, and when we got married my ring was a circle of diamonds from Tiffany's. Very beautiful, but not very practical. A couple of years later, after we'd moved from NYC to NJ, I went to Bamberger's and paid $6 for a 14k gold band to wear instead. A lot of years after that I gave the diamond band to my daughter.

We were together when I picked engagement ring. I wore it daily u til I lost the stone. Got a replacement but became so nervous about losing it again that some of the enjoyment has faded.

My dh picked out my set, I wanted him to - but we went together to pick the center diamond. He had given the jeweler the price range to stick to, to show me. For a few weeks I wore a CZ in place of the real diamond because he didn't want me to be without a ring while it was getting made. lol

No, he took his Mother! I was never happy about that, picked out all 3. I still have them but do not wear them.

Sue

We designed it ourselves. The most important criteria was that it had to fit into and be comfortable in ski gloves.

Only knew my dh for 2 weeks before we got married so there was no engagement ring. Years later I got a beautiful wide wedding band with rubies going around it. Hard to wear any rings because of arthritis.

Marilyn Sue -- Why am I not surprised? LOL

OK, Mary506 -- Now you know you have to tell us that story! Two weeks?

Yes I chose my setting and the shape of the stone...emerald cut. DH went to the jewelers and worked with them to get the specific stone. I also picked out his wedding ring and mine. He was teasing that it wasn't fair that I got a diamond and he didn't, so as a wedding present I bought him a ring with a diamond in it.

Yes and it was lots of fun!

I didn't have an engagement ring, due to my own stubbornness. We were both living at home with our parents when we became engaged, my (then) fiance still in college. We'd decided not to get married until after he graduated, but a couple of months before Christmas he said he had money saved and wanted to buy my ring as a Christmas gift.

Well, of course, I was really excited, and told my family and friends that I was getting an engagement ring for Christmas. A week or so after I'd spread the word, he came to me, very sheepishly, and told me that his parents had called in a loan they'd made him, and unless he borrowed the money elsewhere, he couldn't afford the ring. His parents didn't need the money, and I felt that they were either trying to teach him a lesson, or setting up a test for me. So, I played it cool, didn't make a fuss, and didn't treat them any differently. But I didn't enjoy telling everyone, after Christmas, that the ring hadn't materialized.

When my fiance (such a fancy word for my good ol' boy ;) again mentioned getting an engagement ring, I declined, and told him that I'd wait until we could afford a one-carat diamond. We chose 10mm wide gold wedding bands, so I really never missed the engagement ring--a good thing because we never got around to purchasing one. We had a wonderful marriage, but he knew better than to surprise me with a ring that I didn't choose for myself.

My in-laws and I developed a very close and loving relationship, and years later, after my dear MIL passed away, my FIL gave me her one-carat diamond. I accepted it graciously, wear it occasionally to honor her, and I'll eventually give it to my younger DD, whose birthstone is a diamond. I'd never mentioned the engagement ring fiasco, and I still don't know if my FIL remembers it.

I don't have a engagement ring. Never really enjoyed jewelry, though we do both wear simple gold wedding bands. I probably can't even get mine off :)

@bifenton. I believe wearing & removing garden gloves weakened the setting on my ring. Ski gloves, etc would do the same.

We knew each other for 2 months, then we signed paperwork, nothing fancy. No engagement.

I may buy myself an engagement ring yet....there's still time...

I designed my own ring and we went together to the jeweller's to have it made. I wanted something a lot simpler and with a lower-mounted setting than was fashionable at the time. Sadly a number of years later I lost one of the three small diamonds from its setting, took off the ring and put it away until we could afford to fix it. We've been able to for years now, but wearing it again would involve cutting off my wedding ring which has been made to fit into the differently-shaped engagement ring's bad (it's not a plain circlet) and resizing both it and the engagement ring's band as my fingers are now larger than they used to be and I can't get the wedder off at all (so I wouldn't get the fitted engagement ring back on).

My original ring was selected by my DH who took me to the jewelers to get it sized and wanted to be sure I liked it. We were eloping that weekend. So what could I say? I never particularly liked it. It was stolen and I finally got the kind of ring I wanted as the replacement. I have told my DD that she is to save my ring for one of her boys to use when the time comes. Her ring is much larger than mine, but one of her sons might appreciate having the stone to have set. We gave our son his paternal grandmother's diamond to set in a more modern ring. His fiancee was thrilled to have a family keepsake as her diamond.

We went together to chose our rings. In the early seventies antique gold was the rage. I was quite petite then and wanted a smaller, unfussy design set in platinum. Ended up with a marquise cut with an interlocking wedding band. DH has a plain gold band which he seldom wears because of his job. I stopped wearing jewelry except occasionally some years back.

DH worked at the home town jewelers for a time so there was only one place he would trust to sell us the diamond and even now 30 years later THAT is the only place he would allow to do maintenance on my ring.(so it gets NONE, lol) We went together to "design" and order it. The wedding band has both our birthstones in it. It must have been a good choice of size and design because even with house cleaning and gardening it stays on my finger and has held up just fine. I had no preconceived ideas about what sort of "engagement"/wedding ring I wanted so it was a difficult choice. Can't say I would choose differently, guess I still don't know what I would want LOL. Like other's have said I am not a huge jewelry person certainly not a ring wearer--but my wedding bands are always worn. I didn't think I would be able to stand wearing a ring 24/7 but after 30 years I don't even think about it anymore. The price of these things is INSANE and that is reason enough for me to stay pretty understated in this department. No way would I wear a ring equal to what "they" said we could afford or "should" buy (two months salary?) RIDICULOUS. THAT would have been an anchor on my hand and only been worn very occasionally.

Just have to share that old line from Zsazsa Gabor, who'd been married many times. Someone said that she was breaking her engagement and asked if she needed to return the ring. Zsazsa replied, "By all means, darling, return the ring...but keep the stone!"

yes, we both went together. We went downtown, Jeweler's Row in Philly and we were walking and looking in all the windows, and this guy was standing outside on of the stores, smoking a cigarette. he asked us what we were looking for, we told him. then he asked "how much do u have to spend?" we told him and he said, " no, you don't have to spend that much, come on in." so we did. i choose the shape, pear, and DH chose which diamond, jeweler set out about 5. he gave us a beautiful setting, designed it himself, and i was very pleased. when we were done, we found out he was the owner, never told us who is was during the process!! pretty cool actually. he told us his first name, but never last, Barsky!! he was a great guy and needless to say when we had our first child, DH went back and bought me diamond studs to celebrate!!

Does anyone have a yellow gold engagement ring? It seems platinum was all the rage for a long time but I think there is something very classic also about yellow gold. Just curious. I love jewelry.

I designed the ring and we took the design to one of his family's jewelry storea in the Jewelers building in Boston. We picked out the stone and they did my design. I also chose a wide platinum band, softly rounded and the two looked stunning together. I wore them for many years until my husband bought a bigger one with three stone width wise and I retired the original as an engagement ring but had it sized down to pinky size. I wear two diamonds on the other hand too. He officially gave it to me on Christmas eve and then we went to midnight mass. All I did the entire hour was stare at the ring and thinking how lucky I was to find this wonderful man and I still feel that way 58 years later.

I went with platinum, but my mother had yellow gold. I think either are classic and will last a lifetime. Actually, I also bought myself a gold and diamond "shrimp" band to wear when I wore my gold jewelry. That was back in the days when I had to dress formally for work. I liked having the option to switch.

Metal colors are cyclical- white has been all the rage for a while now, but yellow is making its come back! We've been doing a lot of yellow and rose gold engagement rings in the past year or so.

I've never cared for yellow gold, I've always preferred silver. My engagement and wedding rings are both white gold.

I have my Mother's wedding ring set and it is white gold, but sadly there are very few diamonds left in it. My set is yellow gold, not many diamonds in it, never was.

Sue

When Hubs and I got married (1986), I had my own real estate appraisal business, doing residential appraisals. When you appraise a house, one of the things you have to do is measure the entire outside of the structure (and make a to-scale drawing), which sometimes involves climbing over, under, or through bushes, trees, etc. I didn't want a ring that would have a traditional "high mount" setting because if the diamond ever fell out, it would be nearly impossible to find again. I decided that a band would be enough. One of my husband's brothers is a certified master bench jeweler, and he made my ring. At the time, he was working at a well known jewelry store in Beverly Hills, so my ring came in a really nice little box. :-)

All of the stones are channel set. The center stone is 3/4 carat, and there are 9 little diamonds on each side -- 3 chevron-shaped rows on either side of the center stone, with 3 little diamonds in each row. Yellow gold. I love my ring.

We married in 1971. Fiance and I chose the engagement BAND together and I told him I preferred a round diamond solitaire. HE chose the diamond.

I prefer yellow gold. Simple and classic. My wedding band is without stones or etching.

I've always been a fan of yellow gold. Back when my rings were purchased I'd never heard of white gold or rose gold. To me, gold IS yellow. Jewelry that looks silver could be anything from platinum to white gold to sterling. Gold always seems warm looking.

Is it just me or do all the current engagement rings look alike? Silver colored, main diamond surrounded by a halo of small diamonds and even tinier diamonds along band. Very fussy.

In the 45 years we've been married we've upgraded my diamond a couple times. But I'm still wearing my original engagement band and wedding band.

Kessala

Some on the KT have posted that they'd lost the diamonds from (gold) settings. Some have posted that they have their rings checked often to be sure the mountings are secure.

I'd never had my ring checked routinely in 52 years of daily wear. This leads me to think that a platinum setting may be stronger than gold. Yes? No? Maybe so?

Hi chisue, The original prong setting in my yellow gold engagement ring was white gold. Jeweler told me he'd use white metal against my diamond so the diamond wouldn't reflect with a yellowish cast. Made sense.

Over the years we've upgraded my solitaire diamond a couple times. As the diamond became larger and more expensive Jeweler suggested switching the white gold prongs to platinum. Platinum looks the same as white gold but is very much stronger.

With the white gold prongs Jeweler recommended having my ring checked yearly. Once the platinum prongs were used Jeweler said I could wait five years between ring checks.

Kessala

A six-prong setting for a round diamond is much more secure than a four-prong setting, too.

Lindsey_CA, your ring sounds beautiful!!!

We went together to get my set. Very simple brushed silver band with a VERY small solitaire diamond. $103.00 and took most everything my DH had at the time! I got his on our first anniversary , as it took me that long to save for it. When you are 16 and 18 years old money didn't come easy. My DH had to stop wearing his years ago due to it catching on something and nearly tore his finger off. We thought we had misplaced it for years and both looked time and time again thru the years for it. Last week my DH mentioned that now that he is retired he would love to have his ring. So I looked for the hundredth time in my jewelry box and there it was! I was stunned that it was there all along and neither of us could find it. Being my 60th birthday was in a few days I knew the best gift I could ever get would be the look in my DH's eyes when I gave it to him along with a new one as the first was so badly worn and split. As we went to dinner for my birthday I had him stop the car as I had something I just had to show him. He was as stunned as I and we shared many tears together! It truly was the most wonderful birthday ever!