It is likely one of the hottest instances of the 12 months to suggest – in response to Bridebook, a well-liked wedding ceremony planning app, greater than 100,000 engagements occur through the festive interval.
However with Britons feeling the pinch after years of excessive inflation, how a lot are individuals spending, what cuts are they going for, and what occurs to the ring should you cut up up?
The Cash weblog did a deep dive to search out out.
The ‘two-month salary rule’
With regards to budgeting for a hoop, the phrase that’s typically bandied about is that you must spend two months of your wage.
However do you know this truly got here from a intelligent piece of selling? It was the work of De Beers, a diamond cartel, within the Thirties.
The Nice Melancholy was a catastrophe for De Beers, and they also started a marketing campaign to hyperlink diamonds to getting engaged – and it actually labored. Within the Nineteen Forties, simply 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds, however by the top of the twentieth century, it was 80%.
They did it by launching an advert marketing campaign that instructed a single month’s wage was the correct amount to spend on a hoop. The largest breakthrough then got here in 1947 with the phrase “A diamond is forever”.
Within the Nineteen Eighties, the single-month wage was bumped as much as two months. A well-known advert that includes a lady with a hoop stated: “Two months’ salary showed the future Mrs Smith what the future would be like.”
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One other featured a hoop and stated: “How can you make two months’ salary last forever?”
By the flip of the century, De Beers had efficiently made diamond engagement rings a vital a part of getting married – and dictated how a lot a person ought to pay.
In accordance with the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, the typical UK month-to-month wage is £2,297 after tax, which might imply (should you adopted De Beers logic) the typical Briton is spending £4,594 on a hoop.
After all, for an enormous variety of Britons that is unaffordable – whereas there are additionally many who can afford to pay extra.
Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, wears a white engagement ring, with three diamonds, together with some from Princess Diana’s assortment. It’s estimated to have value Prince Harry between £150,000 and £300,000 – however is now seemingly value rather more.
Molly Mae Hague’s ring may very well be value greater than £1m. Pic: AP
Molly Mae, in the meantime, who broke up with fiancé Tommy Fury earlier than making it down the aisle, was proposed to with a five-carat, oval diamond ring – value at the very least £600,000.
A Sky Information ballot of greater than 3,400 individuals on LinkedIn discovered a majority would spend between £1,000 and £5,000 on a hoop.
Simply 306 stated they felt rings had been pointless – lower than the 507 who stated they might spend greater than £5,000 on a hoop.
‘Two months? It’s nonsense – right here’s what many individuals do as an alternative’
Charlotte Leigh, the proprietor and founding father of Lottie Leigh Positive Jewelry, tells purchasers to spend what they’ll afford.
“One month, two months, three months… it’s relative nonsense. You should never get yourself into a financial pickle over an engagement ring. Because an engagement ring, as lovely as it is, it’s not going to pay the mortgage or the rent. It’s not going to pay your electricity bill.”
She typically sees {couples} purchase a “starter” ring aspiring to improve it later down the road if and after they can afford it.
“It shows an attitude of, ‘I want you to have what you want, but actually that’s not practical right now. So let’s get you something lovely, and then when we’re in a different financial position, we’ll get you something fabulous,’” she stated.
And in the case of choosing a stone, diamonds are a “lovely concept” but additionally sensible, she stated: “They are very durable and should last you forever.”
In 2024, emeralds are extra well-liked
New analysis, performed by Ramsdens Jewelry, has discovered lately it’s the emerald that’s extra wanted, adopted by diamonds and sapphires. The analysis analysed nationwide Google searches for engagement ring gem stones and cuts to find out essentially the most in-demand within the UK.
Emerald lower, princess lower, and pear lower had been the most well-liked types.
File pic: iStock
The best way we consider rings is altering
In penning this piece, this reporter instructed Charlotte that her husband didn’t get her an engagement ring in any respect – and Charlotte didn’t appear stunned to listen to about somebody doing issues in a different way.
“The average age for marriage these days is 32, and we are settling down much older than other generations,” she says.
“And when we meet people, we now move in with them before getting married. I know some couples who have children who haven’t bothered to get married – it’s a reflection of how our society is changing. People have different priorities.”
However what she sees extra typically is individuals (normally girls) designing their rings alongside their companions.
“It’s fairly symbolic of the way in which girls’s place in society has modified. Earlier than, girls would have had a hoop bestowed upon them. And I promise you, 9 instances out of 10, it wasn’t the proper ring.
“But now what we are doing is saying, this is all about you, you and your happiness, and I want you to have the perfect ring. And I think that is a beautiful concept.”
Charlotte says whereas a consumer will typically stroll within the door asking for the “whitest diamond with the best clarity”, they typically change their thoughts when she reveals them completely different choices – as most of the variations aren’t seen to the bare eye.
Lab-grown or mined?
One solution to get barely extra dazzle to your coin is to go for a lab-grown diamond. These are compositionally the identical as mined diamonds, proper right down to the identical sparkly atoms – however they’ve been grown in a lab as an alternative of dug from the earth.
On the face of it, it appears extra environmentally pleasant however most lab diamond growers require 250-750 kilowatt hours (kWh) to provide a tough carat (that may be like operating 750 dishwashers for an hour).
Lab-grown diamonds are seen as a extra reasonably priced various. Pic: iStock
“Whichever avenue you go down with an engagement ring, even if it’s a great diamond, there is an impact to the environment – and anyone who tells you any different is lying,” says Charlotte.
Predictions additionally present a lab-grown diamonds will finally “be worth the same as a [cheap] cubic zirconia”, Charlotte says, as a result of the “market is being flooded” as they’re straightforward (if energy-consuming) to make.
“The whole point of a diamond is that it is rare,” she says.
What occurs should you break up?
Like Molly Mae and Tommy Fury, not each engagement ends in fortunately ever after. Paris Hilton’s third engagement to actor Chris Zylka was marked with a 20-carat pear-cut diamond ring stated to be value $2m. After they broke up, the heiress refused to return it as a result of Zylka had reportedly acquired it totally free from a detailed pal, jeweller Michael Inexperienced.
One very costly ring discovered itself on the centre of a courtroom battle that went all the way in which to the Massachusetts Supreme Courtroom, the place arguments had been heard from legal professionals representing Bruce Johnson and Caroline Settino. The pair had been briefly engaged in 2017.
In accordance with courtroom paperwork, Johnson purchased the engagement ring from Tiffany’s in Boston, paying greater than $70,000. Shortly after the pair grew to become engaged, the connection ended. Massachusetts regulation stated the ring was a “conditional gift”, saying the giver might get it again in the event that they had been discovered to be with out fault within the relationship ending.
Within the UK, nonetheless, the ring is normally categorised as an “absolute gift”.
The Regulation Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 states that: “The gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.”
Nelsons Solicitors says though it appears unfair, this implies the recipient is underneath no obligation to return the ring if the wedding doesn’t happen, or ends in divorce.
We requested our readers and 55% stated it needs to be given again.
Pondering of proposing this Christmas?
Charlotte says that nonetheless a lot you spend ought to come right down to the place you place your worth.
“Some individuals place worth on that value per put on and pleasure issue. So if in case you have one thing that you just put on day-after-day, and also you take pleasure in it, you may say, properly then it’s value it.
“It’s a bit like a Chanel bag – it is expensive, but is it worth it? That’s down to the individual.”
