How To Get An Engagement Ring You'll Love

Choosing the ideal engagement ring for you, his dream girl, can be an overwhelming prospect for any fiancé: it’s the ultimate symbol of your love and it has to make you swoon. Plus you’ll be showing it off to family and friends.

Meanwhile, you have a strong sense of the ring you desire but don’t want to add pressure to the process for your hubby-to-be. How do you help him choose your perfect ring? We've got some ideas.

Bring in backup “A sneaky way is to go through a friend or close family member and have them let your potential fiancé know what you like,” suggests Lynzie Kent, owner and creative director of Love By Lynzie Events and Design.

Tip: Make sure your wing peeps know exactly what you like about a particular design (whether that's the band, diamond cut, or style) in case he can’t get that exact ring.

Social media is a girl’s best friend “The best thing about today’s times is that girls are going on Instagram and other social media platforms to find ring photos and sharing them with their fiancé,” notes Diana Pires, founder and creative director of Truly Yours Planning. “Guys want to know what you fancy so they don’t spend money on something you dislike.”

Tip: While unwinding at home, casually showing him your Pinterest ring board may feel less stressful to him than wandering by a jewellery store pointing out rings.

Pictures are worth a thousand words Nagham Cararah, event planner and designer at Love by Lynzie Events and Design, compiled a singular email listing all the rings she loved and sent it to her fiancé. He chose a beautiful engagement ring inspired by her picks.

Tip: Try limiting the sharing to one email, so your groom-to-be isn’t bombarded with so many suggestions that it feels like an assault.

Straight from the heart approach “I like the open-book approach, saying, ‘Hey, I have preference for a ring and if you’re shopping for it this is it.’ That’s what I did,” reveals Rebecca Chan, owner and lead planner of Rebecca Chan Wedding Events. Especially since she wasn’t interested in diamonds, she wanted a sapphire. “Something with colour can be tricky to choose, so I told him off the bat I didn’t want him to pick it for me.”

Recent Toronto bride Hayley Dineen also sought something unique. “I knew I didn't want a traditional engagement ring,” Dineen admits. “The thought of walking around with a big diamond on my finger didn't feel like me. I’d been following the work of a New York-based designer, awed by her asymmetrical designs and mixed-stone rings—I dreamed of having one her pieces.”

She showed her then-fiancé, Alasdair Clarke, the designer’s website. “He could tell how much I loved her work and how it fit me and my personality. I let him take the reins deciding which ring, what colours, which stones, and loved the surprise of seeing what he chose for me.”

Tip: Some places offer a loaner ring, especially custom jewellery design companies—Chan’s fiancé proposed with a loaner, which she wore until her ring was created.

Getting it done Kent says a friend who got engaged advised her prospective husband, “When you propose I’d like some say in what my ring looks like.” He proposed using a family ring then they designed one collectively.

She says another friend’s hubby-to-be bought just the diamond and proposed with that—the couple chose the ring design as one, a fitting symbol for their new life together.

Tip: When relaxing together leave this page open on your tablet and trust him to do the deed flawlessly.