[quote name='wubb']Platinum or white gold seems to be a lot more popular than gold colored bands. I wouldn't go with a gold colored band unless you know that's what she wants. (I don't really know what 'three-diamond past-present-future' is, so that might imply platinum band anyway. If so carry on
)
It's something she'll wear every day for the rest of her life (hopefully) so I don't see much shame in getting some input from her on what she'd like. If you are trying to make the question a bit of a surprise that's obviously tough to do. I don't know if you can somehow get into a store and look at rings as a goof or something. Of course, if you're like me browsing around a jewelry store is pretty low on your list of stuff you like to do, so there probably is no way to do this without tipping your hand. Alternately you could ask her best girl friend for advice.[/QUOTE]
She's definately a white gold type of girl and as far as making it a surprise announcement....the only surprise is WHEN it's coming as opposed to the idea that it's coming. We've actually looked at rings together and she definately knows that I intend on proposing one day, but just not when. The good part is I feel comfortable enough to get her input on possible rings while keeping it low-key enough so that she thinks its just casual browsing.
[quote name='Michaellvortega']Ok here might be a lame idea but how about buy her a Heart of the Ocean Necklace from Titanic and ask her to marry you like this "I'll be your jack and you'll be my rose,lets go down with this Titantic ship called life togather" Huh? huh ? If that don't work you'll at least get laid. Good luck BTW.
http://www.geocities.com/tmikulich/titanic/[/QUOTE]
Ha, LMAO! That'd work until our ship crashed and I was forced to spend the rest of my days on the bottom of the atlantic.
[quote name='kaw']First, educate yourself on the "4 C's" - cut, clarity, carat, color. Depending on how much you're going to spend it might be worth it to try an online diamond distributor. I used
http://www.diamondsonweb.com/ and picked five or six GIA certified diamonds that they then shipped to a local jeweler (you aren't obligated to buy any of them). I met the jeweler and scoped them out, then he made a custom setting. I paid the distributor for the diamond, avoiding sales tax, and only had to pay the jeweler for the unique setting.
I highly recommend the site, it has been around for at least five years now, very informative, good to deal with, and the diamonds were excellent quality. Even the jeweler admitted he wouldn't be able to sell me a comparable diamond for cheaper.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the advice, I'll check the site out. I know about the 4 "C's" because my girlfriend's sisters repeatedly emphasize their importance, on a damn near biblical scale. The good part is that they are really cool and I can trust them enough to run by some possible ring ideas with them before I make the big leap.
Thanks for everyone's advice, and yes, I'm definately not going to be a cheap ass on this. But just because I'm not going to be a cheap ass doesn't mean I'm going to stop looking for deals. I've been saving up for more than a year to make this work and I want to make it special for her while getting my money's worth.