[Closed] Engagement rings - something different, inspire me...

I'm thinking secondhand. Diamonds last substansially longer than a human lifespan...

Yes, indeed - although in our (/her) case the image they project is not really one that suits either...

Get one made.

A sapphire is nice

You could try Kate Smith,  https://www.katesmithjewellery.co.uk/  for something beautifully made and bespoke, although recycled metal may be an issue. Or, if you can wait until then and you can get to Birmingham, the winter open studios event is the 24/25 of November.  Lots of designer makers will open there workshops and you can wander round until you find someone whose jewelry you like.

For a jeweler who does recycling of old pieces there is  https://www.josephinetournebize.com/jewelleryservices , for full disclosure my wife did her jewelry training with Josephine and she is a friend of the family.

Good luck!

Eco wood ring ?

https://www.ecowoodrings.co.uk

Antique shops.

Found my other halves ring in one, albeit it was a half eternity ring.  It was exactly what i knew she wanted, diamonds and blue sapphires and in her size.  Takes a while scouring the cabinets though but might be worth a squirt

Thanks all - some great food for thought already. I love those Kate Smith rings personally, although I am a total magpie - the OH is a bit more minimalist...

i got ours (it is ours! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise 🙂 ) from here  https://davidashton.co.uk/

Lovely shop, lovely people. The bi-coloured are lovely, but will do whatever you want, and you can pop in whenever you want to get your ring polished (so to speak)

Also popped back later to get a couple of little diamonds (to represent the kids) put in the shoulders a few years later.

And most importantly, I got it on sale or return....

Sale or return is a thing? Genius 🙂 !

Nothing says I love you and want to be with you like a Prince Albert.  Whip it out saying " I got you a ring, will you marry me?" and let us know how it goes.

My grandfather got my grandmother a silver tea service instead of an engagement ring.

I have it now.

nice silver ring from Isle of Mull silver worked for us..   just right.

Nothing says I love you and want to be with you like a Prince Albert.  Whip it out saying ” I got you a ring, will you marry me?” and let us know how it goes.

What if I've got one already 😉 ?

What if I’ve got one already ?

A matching one for her. It may require sedation if you want it to be a surprise.

Can highly recommend https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheAladdinsCave - has a range of stock stuff but makes custom pieces out of whatever metal (titanium 😉 ) you like.

I got Mrs Monkey a wood and silver one, from a UK company that seemed pretty hot on ethics (non-conflict diamonds etc). She said yes, so it can't have been too bad an idea.

Then we made our wedding rings, but that's another story.

Have a look at Rob Hayles’s (ex-pro cyclist) work on Insta, might be a few ideas there. A lot are carbon but he’s done some interesting wood designs too.

Can you send me a picture of her ring to my personal email? I’d like to check the size

Get in touch with your local jewellery course and see if any students would like the job. We did and it was cheap.

Just buy a diamond then get a ring designed together. Be sure to speak to a ring designer *before* buying the diamond though to ensure you get a suitable one.

I did this for my wife's 40th birthday and she loved the idea. I got our diamond from  https://www.77diamonds.com/loose_diamonds.html

Placeholder ring, choose the ring together.  She'll be - in theory at least - wearing it for the rest of her life, you want to make sure she loves it or it'll be an expensive mistake.

Placeholder ring, choose the ring together.  She’ll be – in theory at least – wearing it for the rest of her life, you want to make sure she loves it or it’ll be an expensive mistake.

This +a million.

Are there any stones you can get from any family rings that you may be able to use?

none of this Haribo ‘joke’ ring and then going shopping together business, I’m heading in committed However, I don’t want to do the trad Tiffany/diamond route, and the prospective Mrs finbar would be pretty offended if I did (the environmental impact of even ‘fairly traded’ diamonds is appalling).

Just buy a diamond then get a ring designed together. Be sure to speak to a ring designer *before* buying the diamond though to ensure you get a suitable one.

Nah, I think it's more romantic to surprise her with the real deal. And I hope I know her well enough to pick something she'll love.

I only have one family ring from my grandmother, which has a horribly shaped oval sapphire (or that might be wishful thinking - probably amethyst 😀 ). Anyway, not sure how much it costs to get stones recut, but probably rather uneconomical in this case...

EDIT: cheers for joining the dots Nico 🙂

Christ don't say you expected people to read the thread!?

FWIW we chose Mrs njee20's together and she loved doing so, but I totally get why people would want to have the ring in advance too, I'm rather assuming the OP knows which his wife prefers!

Have you considered a lovely [url= https://www.distractify.com/relationships/2018/05/23/Z2eE8lQ/ugly-engagement-ring-story ]heart shaped amber ring[/url]?

I'd definitely go and talk to a local jeweller, explain what you've said here and see what they say, a decent one (with a workshop on site) should be able to make what you want, and it needn't cost a small fortune, particularly if you're not having diamonds, which are disproportionately expensive.

Edit: posted 23 seconds after the OP above!

Njee, ha! I actually have some amber jewellery from my late mother and it's so ugly I've never even shown it to my girlf on the offchance she might want it 😀

I've been looking for local jewellers (Sheffield) - such a strong history of metalwork in the town, but I'm finding it suprisingly hard to find one that suits...

If you're anywhere near Worcester I can highly recommend Stacy @ Ice Jewellery. She's made most of the rings I've bought the girlfriend/fiance/wife..

Good luck with it. It's fun. I designed (I say designed - did some research into stone shapes and rings I liked then sketched the ring up both in Cad and some freehand sketches) the ring I gave and got a jeweller I found (Harriet Kelsall- https://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/) to make it. Quite fun with her at the auction on the phone and deciding what stone to bid on (size/flaw/colour/budget juggling). This was when I was slightly more naive about diamonds - prob would have gone a different route now. The final outcome was/is super minimalist and sleak (a lot more than on her site now) - still like it.

Harriet Kelsall seems to be a lot bigger an enterprise than it was when I used her. Then it was her and a couple of assistants in a small place in Cambridgeshire. Never actually went there mind - all done over phone and email with drawings past back and forwards. If looking more local(ish) and wanting to keep the cost down Louborough has one of the best regarded jewellery courses in the country - might be able to get a recent graduate to do it as a commission.

Mild advice - if torn between sizes - size up. Mrs C and I are no longer competitive racing snakes and a good few years older. Joints thicken as you age and with some extra 'padding' it no longer fits as it should - been sat in a box for the last year waiting for a miracle to happen and it to start fitting again. I fear it is off for a resize once acceptance is reached that she (we) will never be the slim early 30s we once were.

Bit of silly answer: I rather like these in a geeky way though I've no idea what sizing is like.

http://www.kinektdesign.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1_b_ooSs3gIVVZ3VCh1aDAyzEAAYASAAEgK3gPD_BwE

Certainly not on the shiny bling end of things but you say the oh isn't inclined to that so much as you (unless I'm reading the magpie comment wrong) so maybe a fidget thing would be better. You'd be able to get a decent jewler to mount a stone too I'd think depending on what you've got in mind.

More sensible:

Someone mentioned wood rings which might be a good call, iirc the jeweler i used had a nice range of metal and wood which could have stones mounted and would look very different in a fairly understated way.

Also to agree with a previous poster depending what you mean by a stone in mind, if the ethical side of diamonds bothers you, most real gem stones are the same in the grand scheme of human misery, so assuming you're not looking at a synthetic and don't have a specific stone (e.g. star of India vs "a diamond") in mind, I'd look at second hand jewellery and recovering the stones, it'll save a fortune and is (imo) ethically much better.

We got loose second hand stones and got a guy in the jewelry quarter to make up a ring. Saved money (which was an issue for us at the time) and wife has something she likes. Its not big, its not that valuable but she still wears it 25+ years later 🙂

I went for Sea Glass, completely different and unique as each one is made to order.

If you want something different have a read up on this, and look on this website, really good quality and impressed with the ring when it arrived,

http://www.glasswingjewellery.com/page25.htm

My mate went on a course to make the wedding rings himself. He's quite adept at making stuff, but apparently there was a range of abilities on the course. I think it was a really nice touch and made it really personal. I think it worked out about the same price as buying one.

I bought a fair trade ruby from www.rubyfair.com and had it mounted in a ring of recycled silver by www.annafinejewellery.co.uk - the (now) wife was/is very chuffed and both companies were great to communicate with

My wedding band is from  https://www.shirubatree.co.uk.

Choice of materials a top class workmanship.

Black bronze. Can come out slightly purple and has (necessarily) a minor gold content.

Some awesome suggestions everyone, thanks so much. I especially like those Shiruba tree ones - for me 🙂 !

Have got a plan so I'll update this thread with how I get on in a month or two...

@finbar how have you got on?

I've just looked this thread up again to check out the websites 🙂

Ha! Thanks for checking in 🙂 . I got a ring from Anna Fine. Very simple recycled silver / mossanite solitare ring with a fair trade sapphire hidden inside the band. Anna was dead good.

After all that though, I haven’t actually proposed yet! The anniversary of our first date it at the start of May, so I thought I’d wait until then. Then if she says yes and we get married on the same day next year, I’ll only ever have to remember the one date... 😀

A bit late to the party but if you're down South then try Ring in the Lanes in Brighton ( https://www.ringjewellery.co.uk/ ). My wife and I got our ti wedding rings from there last year and the service was great. Utterly spoilt for choice too and plenty of sci-fi geekery options as well if that floats your boat.

Anyone have any inspiraton for me please?

don't do it - pointless waste of cash. why does she need a ring?

She’s made most of the rings I’ve bought the girlfriend/fiance/wife

Bloody risky..... what happens if she gets their names mixed up when you next take one of them into the shop?

I made ours. Titainium bar end (off cut) half an hour on a lathe, job done.

I could never afford a proper ring at the time and this had more sentiment, i'm lucky that she is not obsessed with things done properly and needs a diamond.

Stainless steel engagement rings for Me and the missus were about £20 each and about the same again to have them put in our nipples (the left one of course).

Certainly different, a great conversation piece and a lot cheaper than bling,

I'm sure my mate got one made with some precious metal (can't remember what) from a mine in Wales.
It's proper nice and a bit niche.

don’t do it – pointless waste of cash. why does she need a ring?

Wow, bundle of fun, aren’t you! Don’t tell me, let me guess, you’re single, with no intention of getting hitched up?
Why does anyone need anything? It’s a symbol, a token; just because you possess not an iota of sentimentality, doesn’t mean everyone else needs to live a joyless, miserable existence.
Jeez! 🙄