The price of a wedding ring can range anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 or even more for women. It is time and money well spent to look for a wedding band that can be coordinated with the wedding theme. For instance, if your engagement ring is white gold, the metal of your wedding band should also be white gold.
Good news: wedding rings don't usually cost as much as engagement rings. On average, they cost about $1,100 for women and around $550 for men, according to one estimate from The Knot. But the ultimate price often depends on the metal you choose.
General Rule: You should spend at least 2 months salary on the engagement ring. If, for example, you are making $60,000 per year, you should spend $10,000 on the engagement ring.
Average Wedding Ring Price
For the average Australian salary (coming in at $82,436) that means spending between $3297 and $6594 on your wedding rings.
Consider Diamonds in the 0.65 to 0.75 Carat Range
With a total budget of $2,000, you'll be able to afford a good quality round diamond in the 0.65 to 0.75 carat range, provided you're willing to opt for a solitaire setting.
According to tradition, the amount you choose to spend on an engagement ring should approximate the amount of your monthly salary times two. By this measure, anyone who earns $2,000 a month should be looking at models in the $4,000 range. For someone earning $10,000 a month, a $20,000 ring would be about right.
How Much Should an Engagement Ring Cost? A one carat engagement ring typically costs around $5,500, but most couples spend over $6,000—and 7 percent spend over $10,000.
Cheap Does Not Mean Low-Quality
They're all just fine. But some will last longer than others. If you choose an option made with high-quality materials, your ring can quite literally last a lifetime and be passed along to future generations.
The average cost of a wedding band for men is about $510, according to The Knot.
#1: The Three Months Gross Salary Rule
When it comes to buying a diamond ring, the rule of thumb used in the industry is a 3 month's salary guideline. This is the rule that most people are familiar with especially if you had done some browsing around or research.
Current Engagement Ring Price Rule of Thumb
This engagement ring price rule requires the proposer to buy an engagement ring worth three months of salary. To demonstrate, if the proposer makes $75,000 per year, the engagement ring should be worth $18,750. That's quite a price tag to accompany an engagement ring.
Your Ready to Propose!
If you're going with a pre-designed ring, make sure to purchase that at least one month before your proposal date, while two months minimum should be allotted for a custom ring.
A $1,000 engagement ring should be simple and unflashy. But by no means does that mean you can expect a mediocre ring. While $1,000 can't afford a huge diamond or an elaborate setting, size and flair are not everything. Often the most beautiful diamond rings are the simplest.
On top of this, there's Kim's 20-carat engagement ring worth a staggering $3million, making it one of the most expensive celebrity engagement rings of all time.
Traditionally, the bride's family pays for the wedding, but that custom is rapidly changing. Couples are increasingly choosing to handle at least half of the wedding expenses on their own. Early planning and a written budget can help avoid miscommunication when deciding who pays for what.
There's been an oversupply of rough diamonds in recent years, especially in smaller gems. Retailers are holding less inventory, forcing suppliers to keep more stock at a time that prices are falling. Banks have also been abandoning the sector, cutting off credit to an industry that has grown accustomed to cheap money.
Is it Rude to Negotiate on an Engagement Ring? I'm happy to tell you that the answer is no. It is indeed completely appropriate to negotiate the price of any piece of jewelry. Jewelers know this and will expect it.
High-end jewelers may charge more for their rings due to the quality of the materials and craftsmanship, while more affordable jewelers may offer less expensive options. It is important to shop around and compare prices from different jewelers to ensure that you are getting a fair price for your wedding rings.
While we're hesitant to throw out a number, we will say that according to a survey by Diamondport Jewellers, the average price of an engagement in Australia is $5367. To get the scoop on how much is normal to spend on a ring, we asked a handful of local jewellers to weigh in.
Payment options like layaway, financing or jewelry store credit cards are rip-offs because of their ridiculous interest rates. Saving up and paying cash will save you a ton of money in the long run. And here's the thing: That ring will look a lot less sparkly if it comes with years and years of payments.
Notice that a 0.60 carat round diamond is approximately 5.35mm in diameter, while a 1 carat diamond is 6.4mm in diameter. So, even though the 1 carat diamond is almost double the carat weight of the 0.60 carat diamond, it's only about 20% larger when viewed from the top-down. The same goes for other diamond shapes.
There is a widely cited “rule” that you should spend three months' salary on an engagement ring. This stems from a 1930s De Beers advertising campaign that convinced men to spend roughly one month's salary on this purchase. By the 1980s, one month's salary was no longer the rule. It turned into two months.
$10,000 is quite a generous budget for an engagement ring. It's certainly much more than the median amount spent on an engagement ring, which is generally less than $3,000 — something we've covered more below.
Typical mined diamond rings for $3,000 will be small, and low-quality, but with a real lab-grown diamond, a $3,000 engagement ring can be stunning in carat weight, color, cut, and clarity.