It is likely one of the hottest occasions of the 12 months to suggest – in response to Bridebook, a well-liked wedding ceremony planning app, greater than 100,000 engagements occur throughout the festive interval.
However with Britons feeling the pinch after years of excessive inflation, how a lot are folks spending, what cuts are they going for, and what occurs to the ring if you happen to cut up up?
The Money blog did a deep dive to search out out.
The ‘two-month wage rule’
In the case of budgeting for a hoop, the phrase that’s usually bandied about is that you need to spend two months of your wage.
However do you know this truly got here from a intelligent piece of selling? It was the work of De Beers, a diamond cartel, within the Nineteen Thirties.
The Nice Despair was a catastrophe for De Beers, and they also started a marketing campaign to hyperlink diamonds to getting engaged – and it actually labored. Within the Forties, simply 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds, however by the tip of the twentieth century, it was 80%.
They did it by launching an advert marketing campaign that recommended a single month’s wage was the correct quantity to spend on a hoop. The most important breakthrough then got here in 1947 with the phrase “A diamond is without end”.
Within the Nineteen Eighties, the single-month wage was bumped as much as two months. A well-known advert that includes a girl with a hoop stated: “Two months’ wage confirmed the long run Mrs Smith what the long run could be like.”
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One other featured a hoop and stated: “How are you going to make two months’ wage final without end?”
By the flip of the century, De Beers had efficiently made diamond engagement rings a necessary a part of getting married – and dictated how a lot a person ought to pay.
In line with the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, the typical UK month-to-month wage is £2,297 after tax, which might imply (if you happen to adopted De Beers logic) the typical Briton is spending £4,594 on a hoop.
In fact, for an enormous variety of Britons that is unaffordable – whereas there are additionally many who can afford to pay extra.
The duchess of Sussex’s engagement ring is estimated to be price between £150,000 and £300,000. Pic: AP
Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, wears a white engagement ring, with three diamonds, together with some from Princess Diana’s assortment. It’s estimated to have value Prince Harry between £150,000 and £300,000 – however is now possible price way more.
Molly Mae Hague’s ring may very well be price greater than £1m. Pic: AP
Molly Mae, in the meantime, who broke up with fiancé Tommy Fury earlier than making it down the aisle, was proposed to with a five-carat, oval diamond ring – price no less than £600,000.
A Sky Information ballot of greater than 3,400 folks on LinkedIn discovered a majority would spend between £1,000 and £5,000 on a hoop.
Simply 306 stated they felt rings have been pointless – lower than the 507 who stated they’d spend greater than £5,000 on a hoop.
‘Two months? It is nonsense – here is what many individuals do as a substitute’
Charlotte Leigh, the proprietor and founding father of Lottie Leigh Effective Jewelry, tells purchasers to spend what they will afford.
“One month, two months, three months… it is relative nonsense. It’s best to by no means get your self right into a monetary pickle over an engagement ring. As a result of an engagement ring, as pretty as it’s, it is not going to pay the mortgage or the hire. It is not going to pay your electrical energy invoice.”
She usually sees {couples} purchase a “starter” ring meaning to improve it later down the road if and once they can afford it.
“It reveals an perspective of, ‘I need you to have what you need, however truly that is not sensible proper now. So let’s get you one thing pretty, after which after we’re in a unique monetary place, we’ll get you one thing fabulous,'” she stated.
And in relation to selecting a stone, diamonds are a “pretty idea” but in addition sensible, she stated: “They’re very sturdy and will final you without end.”
In 2024, emeralds are extra widespread
New analysis, carried out by Ramsdens Jewelry, has discovered lately it’s the emerald that’s extra wanted, adopted by diamonds and sapphires. The analysis analysed nationwide Google searches for engagement ring gems and cuts to find out essentially the most in-demand within the UK.
Emerald reduce, princess reduce, and pear reduce have been the preferred kinds.
File pic: iStock
The best way we consider rings is altering
In penning this piece, this reporter informed Charlotte that her husband did not get her an engagement ring in any respect – and Charlotte did not appear shocked to listen to about somebody doing issues in a different way.
“The typical age for marriage lately is 32, and we’re settling down a lot older than different generations,” she says.
“And after we meet folks, we now transfer in with them earlier than getting married. I do know some {couples} who’ve kids who have not bothered to get married – it is a reflection of how our society is altering. Individuals have completely different priorities.”
However what she sees extra usually is folks (often ladies) designing their rings alongside their companions.
“It is fairly symbolic of the best way ladies’s place in society has modified. Earlier than, ladies would have had a hoop bestowed upon them. And I promise you, 9 occasions out of 10, it wasn’t the proper ring.
“However now what we’re doing is saying, that is all about you, you and your happiness, and I need you to have the proper ring. And I believe that may be a stunning idea.”
Charlotte says whereas a shopper will generally stroll within the door asking for the “whitest diamond with the perfect readability”, they usually change their thoughts when she reveals them completely different choices – as lots of the variations aren’t seen to the bare eye.
Lab-grown or mined?
One technique to get barely extra dazzle to your coin is to go for a lab-grown diamond. These are compositionally the identical as mined diamonds, proper all the way down to the identical sparkly atoms – however they have been grown in a lab as a substitute of dug from the earth.
On the face of it, it appears extra environmentally pleasant however most lab diamond growers require 250-750 kilowatt hours (kWh) to provide a tough carat (that may be like working 750 dishwashers for an hour).
Lab-grown diamonds are seen as a extra inexpensive various. Pic: iStock
“Whichever avenue you go down with an engagement ring, even when it is an awesome diamond, there may be an impression to the setting – and anybody who tells you any completely different is mendacity,” says Charlotte.
Predictions additionally present a lab-grown diamonds will finally “be price the identical as a [cheap] cubic zirconia”, Charlotte says, as a result of the “market is being flooded” as they’re simple (if energy-consuming) to make.
“The entire level of a diamond is that it’s uncommon,” she says.
What occurs if you happen to break up?
Like Molly Mae and Tommy Fury, not each engagement ends in fortunately ever after. Paris Hilton’s third engagement to actor Chris Zylka was marked with a 20-carat pear-cut diamond ring stated to be price $2m. After they broke up, the heiress refused to return it as a result of Zylka had reportedly obtained it free of charge from a detailed pal, jeweller Michael Inexperienced.
One very costly ring discovered itself on the centre of a court docket battle that went all the best way to the Massachusetts Supreme Courtroom, the place arguments have been heard from attorneys representing Bruce Johnson and Caroline Settino. The pair have been briefly engaged in 2017.
In line with court docket paperwork, Johnson purchased the engagement ring from Tiffany’s in Boston, paying greater than $70,000. Shortly after the pair grew to become engaged, the connection ended. Massachusetts regulation stated the ring was a “conditional present”, saying the giver might get it again in the event that they have been discovered to be with out fault within the relationship ending.
Within the UK, nevertheless, the ring is often labeled as an “absolute present”.
The Regulation Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 states that: “The present of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute present; this presumption could also be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the situation, categorical or implied, that it must be returned if the wedding didn’t happen for any motive.”
Nelsons Solicitors says though it appears unfair, this implies the recipient is underneath no obligation to return the ring if the wedding would not happen, or ends in divorce.
We requested our readers and 55% stated it must be given again.
Pondering of proposing this Christmas?
Charlotte says that nevertheless a lot you spend ought to come all the way down to the place you place your worth.
“Some folks place worth on that value per put on and pleasure issue. So you probably have one thing that you just put on each day, and also you get pleasure from it, you would possibly say, properly then it is price it.
“It is a bit like a Chanel bag – it’s costly, however is it price it? That is all the way down to the person.”
