It is likely one of the hottest instances of the yr to suggest – in keeping with Bridebook, a preferred wedding ceremony planning app, greater than 100,000 engagements occur through 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 break up up?
The Cash weblog did a deep dive to search out out.
The ‘two-month wage rule’
On the subject of budgeting for a hoop, the phrase that’s usually bandied about is that it’s best to spend two months of your wage.
However do you know this truly got here from a intelligent piece of promoting? It was the work of De Beers, a diamond cartel, within the Nineteen Thirties.
The Nice Melancholy 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 Nineteen Forties, simply 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds, however by the top of the twentieth century, it was 80%.
They did it by launching an advert marketing campaign that steered a single month’s wage was the correct quantity to spend on a hoop. The largest breakthrough then got here in 1947 with the phrase “A diamond is forever”.
Within the Eighties, the single-month wage was bumped as much as two months. A well-known advert that includes a lady with a hoop mentioned: “Two months’ salary showed the future Mrs Smith what the future would be like.”
One other featured a hoop and mentioned: “How can you make two months’ salary last forever?”
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 response to the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, the common UK month-to-month wage is £2,297 after tax, which might imply (if you happen to adopted De Beers logic) the common 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.
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The duchess of Sussex’s engagement ring is estimated to be value 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 price Prince Harry between £150,000 and £300,000 – however is now possible value rather more.
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Molly Mae Hague’s ring could possibly be value 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 – value at the least £600,000.
Simply 306 mentioned they felt rings had been pointless – lower than the 507 who mentioned they might spend greater than £5,000 on a hoop.
‘Two months? It is nonsense – here is what many individuals do as an alternative’
Charlotte Leigh, the proprietor and founding father of Lottie Leigh Effective Jewelry, tells shoppers to spend what they will afford.
“One month, two months, three months… it’s relative nonsense. You should never get yourself into a financial pickle over an engagement ring. Because an engagement ring, as lovely as it is, it’s not going to pay the mortgage or the rent. It’s not going to pay your electricity bill.”
She usually sees {couples} purchase a “starter” ring aspiring to improve it later down the road if and after they can afford it.
“It shows an attitude of, ‘I want you to have what you want, but actually that’s not practical right now. So let’s get you something lovely, and then when we’re in a different financial position, we’ll get you something fabulous,'” she mentioned.
And in relation to choosing a stone, diamonds are a “lovely concept” but additionally sensible, she mentioned: “They are very durable and should last you forever.”
In 2024, emeralds are extra in style
New analysis, performed by Ramsdens Jewelry, has discovered nowadays 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 probably the most in-demand within the UK.
Emerald lower, princess lower, and pear lower had been the preferred kinds.
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File pic: iStock
The way in which we consider rings is altering
In scripting this piece, this reporter advised 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 another way.
“The average age for marriage these days is 32, and we are settling down much older than other generations,” she says.
“And when we meet people, we now move in with them before getting married. I know some couples who have children who haven’t bothered to get married – it’s a reflection of how our society is changing. People have different priorities.”
However what she sees extra usually is folks (often girls) designing their rings alongside their companions.
“It’s quite symbolic of the way women’s place in society has changed. Before, women would have had a ring bestowed upon them. And I promise you, nine times out of 10, it wasn’t the perfect 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 right ring. And I believe that may be a stunning idea.”
Charlotte says while a client will sometimes walk in the door asking for the “whitest diamond with the most effective readability”, they usually change their thoughts when she reveals them totally 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 in 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 an alternative 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 will be like operating 750 dishwashers for an hour).
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Lab-grown diamonds are seen as a extra reasonably priced different. Pic: iStock
“Whichever avenue you go down with an engagement ring, even if it’s a great diamond, there is an impact to the environment – and anyone who tells you any different is lying,” says Charlotte.
Predictions additionally present a lab-grown diamonds will ultimately “be worth the same 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 whole point of a diamond is that it is rare,” 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 mentioned to be value $2m. After they broke up, the heiress refused to return it as a result of Zylka had reportedly obtained it at no cost from a detailed good friend, jeweller Michael Inexperienced.
One very costly ring discovered itself on the centre of a courtroom battle that went all the best way to the Massachusetts Supreme Court docket, the place arguments had been heard from attorneys representing Bruce Johnson and Caroline Settino. The pair had been briefly engaged in 2017.
In response to courtroom 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 legislation mentioned the ring was a “conditional gift”, saying the giver may get it again in the event that they had been discovered to be with out fault within the relationship ending.
Within the UK, nonetheless, the ring is often categorised as an “absolute gift”.
The Legislation Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 states that: “The gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.”
Nelsons Solicitors says though it appears unfair, this implies the recipient is beneath no obligation to return the ring if the wedding does not happen, or ends in divorce.
We requested our readers and 55% mentioned it ought to be given again.
Considering of proposing this Christmas?
Charlotte says that nonetheless a lot you spend ought to come all the way down to the place you place your worth.
“Some people place value on that cost per wear and enjoyment factor. So if you have something that you wear every day, and you enjoy it, you might say, well then it’s worth it.
“It is a bit like a Chanel bag – it’s costly, however is it value it? That is all the way down to the person.”
