> > Hey, does anybody know a good place to get engagement rings?
> >
> > Half"Thinkin' about spendin' foolishly large amounts of money on a piece of metal and a rock"Witt
>
> Learn the four C's...Carat, Cut, Clarity, and color, if these are important to your girl. From experience, a 1 carat diamond with great clarity cut and color is about 4000+. And it goes downhill from there. Find a jewlery shop that isn't too pushy and are generally good people. Some of those people are way pushy and/or rude.
> Have fun!
> Ran"Can't tell you what he spent, its a secret"dy

And remember that an engagement ring doesn't *have* to be a diamond. Perhaps if your- gosh, I don't know what to call her- umm, fiancée to be have spoken about this already, you may want to go together to a jeweler so she can indicate what she likes.

Darien and I were looking at rings, oh, about a week or so after we started dating. :-} I ended up choosing a topaz (I got to pick out the stone itself!) with a white gold band. Completely untraditional, but hey, so was everything else about our wedding. I loved being able to choose my ring myself. If you're worried about surprising her, you could always pick out the ring and then have the jeweler contact you when it's ready, so you can spring it on her when she doesn't expect it. That's what we did. Granted, the "springing" was a year or so before I expected it, but hey, so what?

Anyway, the point is, if she accepts, she's going to be wearing this ring for the rest of her life, so it had better be one she likes. Chain jewelers, while generally cheaper, aren't nearly as personal and helpful as independants. And, if you really really want her to be completely clueless, a simple round solitaire is classic. As long as it fits. :-}

And by the way, congrats, and good luck!

~Mina "wearing her ring for 828 days now" moon