There was a time when women were expected to wait. And wait. And wait. And then when their significant other decided they were ready, they would give the women they love engagement rings. Sometimes they would be exactly what their new fiancé wanted. Sometimes they would miss the mark completely. Thankfully, those times are in the past.
It’s 2021, and now more than ever women have come to take back this power. If you’re supposed to wear a piece of jewelry for the rest of your life, you should make sure it’s exactly what you want. Between couple engagement ring shopping together and women buying their own rings, now is the time to design the ring of your dreams – not your man’s. Here are some tips on designing your own engagement ring:
Work online, not in the store
Before we even get into the basics, this is a disclaimer we need to put out there. Jewelry stores are fantastic and shiny and beautiful, but the reality is they do not have the capacity to spark your creativity the way an online engagement ring retailer does. A corner jewelry store may have a hundred different diamonds and rings on hand. Many online retailers have over 100,000 diamonds you can mix and match to customize your special ring. If you want to pull together a variety of styles and designs in a short time, start there.
Use Pinterest for Inspiration
You’re not even sure where to begin in designing your own ring? Find some inspo, now. Pinterest is great for this – pull together some searches, follow some jewelry and engagement ring boards, and you’ll suddenly have thousands of completed rings that you can say yay or nay to when imagining your own perfect concept. This will get those ideas flowing.
Consider the Elements of the Ring
You found a few rings on Pinterest that speak to you? Awesome! Now it’s time to break them down into their most basic elements. First, look at the setting. What kind of metal is it? What style setting is it? Is the stone placed high or low? What is it about this specific ring that speaks to you? When you break down the elements of the setting, you may realize “I love this ring because it a low-set halo setting, but honestly I’d prefer it in yellow gold than white gold.”
The next part to break down is the stone. Is it a diamond ring? Is there another stone used as the focal point? What is the cut of the stone? How much carat weight does it have? As you start to break down what you want in the looks of a diamond, you’ll start to see your dream ring come to life.
Start Building the Ring
This is another reason we love working online when designing an engagement ring – you can build 10 different styles in 10 minutes and get perfect renderings of what they will look like. You know they stone you want, so sort through Ritani’s 100K diamonds and pick the one you want. You know what parts of the setting you like, so find that style and put your diamond on it. Pick your metals, play around with the size, and makes it perfect for you.
Consider the budget
Are you going to buy the ring? Is your fiancé buying it? Are you buying it together? These are things to consider, especially when engagement rings can quickly become a very expensive purchase. You have your dream ring, not you can build it in a way that matches your budget. Maybe you use a lab diamond instead of a natural diamond to reduce the cost. Maybe you have a little more room to decrease the color in the diamond, making it near colorless. With a budget in mind you can make your dream a reality.
What are your tips for designing your own engagement ring? Where do you go for inspiration? How do you render out your dream before making it a reality? Let us know!
