How to Buy Cheap But Nice Looking Wedding Rings

If you want to have a beautiful wedding ring that you can cherish forever, but you do not want to spend an arm and a leg getting it, then you may need to do a little legwork in order to come up with the wedding ring of your dreams. While many people simply purchase a simple ring and "upgrade" later, it is likely that you will not want to let your original ring go when the time comes and you have the option of upgrading. It is best to select a nice looking wedding ring that you can love forever, regardless of price and value.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Access to jewelry stores
• Ring size
• Budget

Instructions

1. Think about the things that are most important to you in a wedding ring. Make notes as you discuss these aspects with your significant other. For example, if it is very important that the rings look nice and have decorations like diamonds or engraving, then that will play a major role in your next step. On the other hand, if you must have platinum, then this will dramatically impact your final ring selection if you want to keep the rings cheap and nice looking.

2. Try on some rings. Go to the jewelry store with the understanding that you are probably not buying your ring on this trip. Try on wedding rings to see what types fit best, what looks you prefer and whether what you thought you could not live without (matching pave rings, for example) actually ends up being what you want.

3. Consider less expensive metals. Sterling silver paired with diamonds is an extremely popular and fashionable combination that is particularly popular in right-hand rings. Because sterling silver is much less expensive than gold or platinum, this can free up your budget to get additional stones in your rings or to have custom designs or engravings. Of course, you can usually get plain silver bands engraved for as little as about 20 dollars. In addition, since most people assume that wedding rings are gold or platinum and cannot tell the difference anyway, if you keep your sterling silver ring clean and polished it will look exactly like white gold.

4. Think hard about your stones. If you simply must have expensive metals in your ring, then opting for small diamonds, no diamonds or other less expensive gemstones (even farmed ones or created ones like cubic zirconia) can seriously reduce your ring cost. Manufactured stones are often so well made that no one but a jeweler will ever know the difference anyway, and then if you elect to upgrade your ring later you can simply replace the faux stones with real ones without changing the ring itself.

5. Look online. Once you have decided what you want, then you can shop around online for the best deals. However, if you are buying jewelry online, you need to be aware that there is some risk involved, and also that you may not have much recourse if the jewelry is not what was promised. The best thing to do is get some ideas online, then go to a jeweler or even a pawnshop and look around for the rings that best match what you want.

Tips & Warnings

• You can often get cheap, nice looking wedding rings on eBay that are worth hundreds or even thousands more than they sell for, but you need to be comfortable with wearing a ring that used to belong to someone else. Also, always verify that you are working with a legitimate seller that can be traced.

Resources

• Overstock sites like this one sell knock-offs of expensive designer jewelry that can fool most people as long as you keep them very clean and bright.