Weddingbee Blog

Like everything else, I began my engagement ring search on the internet to get a feel for what I would like and how much it might cost before we headed to shops. As a newbie bride-to-be, of course I stumbled onto the Tiffany site first, of all things.

(Image via The Fashion Bubble)

I choked at the prices, but it’s Tiffany, so what do you expect? I actually figured that the overpriced Tiffany prices would be more in line with Swiss prices than anything else. After a little while browsing, I realised that I thought a single stone was a little boring for me.

(Ring by Tiffany & Co.)

I stumbled upon this beauty and figured I would want something similar. I mentally noted the $1500 price point for the modest .5 carat size, and figured this would be a starting price point for jewelry in Switzerland.

Mr. Funnel Cake did not do any homework before we went out to look, and you can imagine his utter shock when they placed a similar .5 carat multi-stone ring on my finger and told us it was about 1500CHF. He started sweating and I told the jeweler we’d think about it so we could excuse ourselves and leave.

Out of the store…Mr. Funnel Cake confessed he had NO idea a ring would cost this much. He admitted he didn’t have this much available for a ring budget at the moment, and if I wanted a ring like that he would have to save up for it. He might have even gone on a little rant about how it makes much more sense to pay for an expensive watch, because he can appreciate the engineering in crafting them.

So why don’t you just be patient and wait Miss FC?

(Image via cheezburger.com)

Well, at this point, I was booked for a flight home to the US in a month to attend my brother’s wedding and I wanted to have my “real ring” in time to show the whole family. It would be the only time I would see them before our own wedding 18 months later, so I reeeaally wanted to be able to show them the ring when they would all ask to see it.

I told Mr. Funnel Cake I could help pay for the ring. We could even go halfsies if he wanted. I thought this was fair since he wasn’t even expecting to buy an engagement ring in the first place. But he flat out refused. He said, “No, this engagement ring is a gift from me to you. I will pay for all of it.” He wouldn’t even accept if I would help him pay for it while he was saving up for it… he didn’t want me putting any money down for my ring at any point.

With Mr. Funnel Cake still traumatised by his first ring quote, we continued on our increasingly uncomfortable search for the ring.

Were you surprised by the costs of rings?