[Number 3]

Ok, first, since we pretty much knew we were getting married but I hadn't proposed, I had her shop with me to get some ideas on what she liked.

Second, unless she is very outgoing in her jewelery tastes, simple is better.

So your choices for the ring itself.

Yellow gold, white gold or platinum. That is more of a color choice on the first two. We chose platinum but that's a personal choice.

Now to the diamond.

First, hopefully you know they aren't rare and even if you buy at a pawn shop you are paying a huge manufactured mark up. Read up on De Beers and you'll see that they essentially create a "fake" scarcity to keep the prices up. This alone keeps a few from even buying a diamond.

Review the C's.....Cut, Clarrity and Carot Weight and Color.

Cut is how well the diamond is cut so that the facets will reflect the light.

Clarrity is the number of visible and detectable (with a loop) flaws in the stone. For sure you don't want anything that has a visible flaw in the stone.

Color is simply white vs lower quality yellows. Some people prefer a colored stone, but the whiter the better.

The biggie from my very limited knowledge is picking Carat Weight (size) vs. Quality (Cut, Clarrity and Color). If you want something big that she can show off, then get a big old diamond with lots of inclusions and a bit of color to it. However, a high quality diamond with good cut will sparkle and you can see it from a distance.

So now we get to the question for you..............is she knowledgeable about these things or not? Some woman will love the bigger stone at the expense of quality. But a friend has a large (2 carat) diamond and you can visually see it doesn't sparkle or look quite right.

So size vs quality is your dilema as I see it.

Also, keep in mind the "2 months salary" thing is just like "change your oil every 3,000 miles". Marketing to get you to buy more. 2 months is a lot of scratch.

And also, you can upgrade later if you are not flush with cash. Mrs. Number 3 got a nice ring when we got engaged, and several years later, I got her a nicer stone of larger size and higher quality. So if she isn't the type of woman that would hang on to "the one" then you can just upgrade later. Our jewelery store had a guarantee trade in for what we paid at any point in time.

Annnnd not knowing how much your budget is, do not go below .25 carats. It will simply look small. If you can afford it, go .5 or bigger just so it looks nice on her hand when she shows it off. JMO on that one.