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Engagement Ring Shopping – Shop alone or with your partner?
Posted on Loving the person you want to spend your life with is easy—so why is engagement ring shopping so hard?
The truth is your love exists beyond any object you could possibly use to symbolize it. But the ring is something that will become part of your daily lives forever, so we don’t blame you for thinking hard about the details.
One option you may not have thought of is shopping with your partner rather than alone. These days, it’s not unheard of to propose first and choose a ring after. This way, you can make this decision just like you’ll make many decisions in the future: together.
How to Make Engagement Ring Shopping Romantic
You might think that having a ring to slide on your partner’s ring when you propose is the epitome of romance. But if you want your partner in on the decision of a lifetime, you can bring romance into the ring shopping experience too.
Engagement ring shopping together can be a beautiful practice of sharing in this big decision as a couple. You can start by having your partner close their eyes and describe to you their dream ring.
From the band to the gems and the cut, each detail can hold a special significance for the two of you. Talk to each other about what would best symbolize your love. And while you’re in the dream stages, you can take a day trip to our boutique for a custom ring consultation.
When it comes time to try on rings together, you can make it a date you’ll remember forever. Pair the ring shopping with a sweet picnic or dinner reservation, and you’ve got a perfect day ahead of you. Bring along a camera if you can—something tells us you’ll want to remember this moment.
Shopping With a Partner Means More Ring Options
If you’re planning on proposing to your soulmate, you may have already encountered this classic concern: How do I make sure the ring fits?
There are a few different approaches here. For example, you can solve this problem by guessing your partner’s ring size or finding a roundabout way to measure it. You’ll have to be pretty sneaky about this, though, if you want to keep it a secret.
If the guesswork makes you nervous or you’re interested in a style that’s hard to resize, you might want to shop for the ring with your partner rather than by yourself. Take a look at these ring sizing approaches and see which one works for you:
1. The Sleeping Beauty
Some people take a string or strip of paper and wrap it around their partner’s finger when they’re sleeping. But you’ll have to be stealthy if you try this—it can be a difficult situation to explain yourself if they wake up.
And even if you pull it off without a hitch, what you’ll get is a pretty good estimate at most. You won’t know for sure how a ring of that size will feel on your partner or whether the comfort level is exactly right.
2. The Petty Theft
Another way to guess your partner’s ring size is to temporarily ‘borrow’ another ring they have and use that as a measure. If you do this, try to make it a ring that your partner won’t miss for a while. If they start looking for it and notice that it’s missing, chances are they’ll know that something’s up.
One potential flaw with this plan is that you might not know for certain whether the ring you borrow is the perfect fit for your partner’s hand. Especially if it’s a ring they don’t use often, the sizing might be a little off. Your partner can deal with a sizing mismatch in these less-important pieces of jewellery, but for an engagement ring, you’ll want the size to be perfect.
3. Guessing and Resizing
Lots of people just guess their partner’s ring size to the best of their ability, and then take the ring back for a re-sizing if they need to. In many cases, this process is easy and not too expensive. Here at Kalfin Jewellery, we won’t have a problem re-sizing and repairing most rings.
But re-sizing has its limits (usually up to 2 sizes up or down), and not every material or style can undergo this process.
For example, this gorgeous ring in rose gold might seem perfect for your sweetheart,
but you’ll have to make sure the size is just right. Re-sizing rose gold can actually break the ring. This is because the material is prone to cracks when placed under intense stress, like the stress of resizing.
And it’s not just the material that makes a difference here. If you want a style with gems all across, you’ll need an exact size. The placement of the gems would be custom-fit to the size of the band, and re-sizing won’t be an easy task.
4. Sacrificing the Surprise
Knowing your partner’s ring size for sure will give you a wider range of options when you’re shopping. If your heart is set on a certain material or style that’s hard to resize, knowing the exact size is one of the biggest advantages of shopping with a partner.
Sure, you’ll have to give up the surprise element of the ring itself, but you’ll have a better shot at choosing the perfect ring to last you a lifetime.
And if you still want a surprise factor, you can still accomplish this in other ways. For example, you can make the proposal itself a big surprise but schedule the engagement ring shopping for afterwards.
In the place of the ring, you can offer the wedding band, some lovely flowers, or even a toy ring for a bit of humour. Or instead of centring the proposal on the whole ‘kneeling with a ring’ scene, you can focus on a creative way to pop the question.
Whatever Way You Do It, We’re Here for You
Engagement ring shopping may seem like a huge set of choices to make right now, but we can offer our wisdom and experience every step of the way. From designing unique engagement rings to offering videos and photos of the best we have to offer, our job is to make sure the ring you choose is perfect for you and your partner.
Now go be with the one you love! And when you’ve made up your mind on how to propose, we’ll be right here.
