How much of a surprise should the Engagement Ring Be?

As a jeweller to thousands of happy couples over the globe and having produced some of the finest bespoke engagement rings for decades we at Gemrize have seen a variety of scenarios when it comes to planning the perfect proposal with the perfect ring.

Ranging from Engagement Rings designed unilaterally including the selecting of raw materials solely by the gentleman involved all the way to having the bride to be design her engagement ring entirely and have her partner only pay for the ring or even pay for the ring partly or entirely herself; at Gemrize we have worked with and welcomed all scenarios.

Anecdotally given the thousands of rings we have worked on we can say safely there is no right answer to the debate and we have enough examples to justify each couples’ unique decision with regards to how much of a surprise the design of the engagement ring and planning of the proposal should be.

Let’s take one extreme for example – the total surprise. This is where he picks out the gemstone involved e.g. a Unique Sapphire Engagement Ring, A Classical Diamond Wedding Ring, etc. The shape of gemstone, the gold tone, whether there will be accent stones, halos, multiple gems or a centre stone, texturing, etc. Now of course we are aware that the vast majority of Engagement Rings are still dominated by the classic Solitaire Round Brilliant Diamond Engagement Ring or some rendition of the Diamond Engagement Ring. However, we have seen a client be just as sure about making a Yellow Gold Emerald Engagement Ring featuring twin Princess Cut Diamonds without having an inkling from his wife to be that she didn’t want a Diamond Engagement Ring. And for those women who have their Perfect Engagement Ring imprinted in their minds ever since they were 11 year olds we know this sounds nerve wrecking, but it was a case of happily ever after for this particular couple. The recipient of the Customised Engagement Ring which was a joy to make for this particular gentleman was just what his over the moon fiancée wanted. She was jumping for joy when she saw that he had sieved through dozens of Emeralds with us and seen how painstakingly perfectly we matched the Twin Diamonds that would flank her Unique Centre Stone. In her words, she was shocked “at how much better he knew her than she knew herself”.

And for those of you who think that is a one off shot in the dark, allow us to introduce you to another client who had his intentions squarely in the right place, he had earmarked a budget for a sizeable Round Diamond from our inventory and wanted to spare no compromise on the size of the side Trillion Diamonds he could get to flank his centrepiece and voila the Three Stone Diamond Engagement Ring was tailor made to his exact taste and proportions down to the band width and height.

Little did he know that as a nurse she was not going to be able to ever wear something so sizeable on a daily basis and she was a little annoyed that he hadn’t thought of something more practical before parting with such a large chunk of the savings that was to be used towards the down payment of their house.

In any case, we worked with the client to set the centre diamond in a low set Solitaire Engagement Ring which she proudly wears when not wearing rubber gloves and turned her Trillion Side Diamonds into the perfect pair of Engagement Earrings which she could wear on a daily basis and show off to her friends and colleagues right after getting engaged and every day after that.

At Gemrize we love Bespoke Engagements Rings to embody each couple’s unique love story and with each love story there is a particular dynamic.

Again speaking from actual instances we have been involved in we can say it is not fair for those that think it is out of taste to let the recipient of the Engagement Ring be involved in the crafting of the ring. Inversely we think the folk that think it is not inclusive for a bride-to-be to NOT be involved in the process when she is after all going to be the one wearing the ring and quite likely on a daily basis.

Speaking to both these camps we would like to recall one such instant where a very ready and sure client of ours who had already bought a few gifts for his girlfriend from Gemrize, decided it was ready to go in for the big ask. He had honed in on a centre diamond from our extensive selection and earmarked a classical design and like with all his other jewelry purchases that went down very well with his girlfriend he was about to give us the green light to start casting in white gold when the doubt kicked in. For the first time ever he decided to let his girlfriend in on his jewelry purchase from us instead choosing to keep just the time and place of the proposal a surprise.

Let me assure our readers what was supposed to be an open shut case turned into a long and protracted back and forth between a variety of designs which were all very similar or very different. And what was supposed to be a second opinion to solidify what the usually sure fellow already knew became a bone of contention but with the most sweet comment at the heart of it. She was not pleased purely because she said “you could have given me anything and I would have been happy, but what you shouldn’t have given me was choice”. Finally she went for his original design which was the most perfect and unique wedding ring that was wed fit as we say or would allow for a custom wedding band to sit snug with the engagement ring completing the bridal set. Meanwhile, the men’s wedding band would be an extension of the design components from her engagement ring. The perfect custom made wedding bands for the perfect couple.

As crafters of Personalised Jewelry and specifically Custom Made Engagement Rings, the next tale shows the gravity the act of one person proposing to another can have and how more often than not in some parts of the world it can involve more than just two individuals as two families come together.

A lovely young man approached us with a very sound budget and had commissioned us to make a bespoke engagement ring even detailing to us how many diamonds should appear on each side of the band to symbolise the years they had been together before he was going to as her to be his wife.

And while he didn’t need nor did she want to be involved in the design of the ring, she insisted on selecting the centre diamond with him. Very quickly we found that she was encouraging him to double or triple his already very large budget leading to the couple going silent for a few days before the very kind young lady remade contact with us and told us the budget had increased almost 7 fold.

We were further provided assurances that this was the case by the young man who was as cool as a cucumber. The girl was very happy to be getting married but didn’t care for the engagement ring, when they both came to pick it up. She just wanted to make sure the centre diamond was a certain weight and certain specification which we had already assured her through the GIA Certificate provided with it. And again the young man cool as a cucumber decided to tell us when they were leaving with their very high value Diamond Engagement Ring, that his girlfriend couldn’t wait to start their married life any sooner, but her parents came from money and didn’t like the idea of her receiving such a “modest ring” and so to make their lives simple she just wanted to pacify them and decided to pitch in for the diamond and up the specs. In her words “we have already been married for a while now in our hearts and last week when we went radio silent, we signed and married each other legally”. The Engagement Ring in this case was a means to an ends.