Engagement Ring - Attention Future Grooms

There are many ways to save on an engagement ring.

The obvious way to save money on an engagement ring is to visit a jeweller specialising in estate jewellery and choose a vintage engagement ring.

The other way is to visit a pawn shop or a jeweller who sells rings on consignment and buy the engagement ring from them.  

If you don’t want to go down the path of buying a vintage piece from a jeweller specialising in antique jewellery or an engagement ring being sold on consignment from a jeweller selling estate jewellery or a pawn shop, there are many other ways to save big dollars on an engagement ring but still end up with an exquisite piece of jewellery.

  

Manufacturing jewellers:

Look for manufacturing jewellers online or in the yellow pages. These are usually jewellers operating out of smallish premises in buildings such as the Dymocks Arcade in 428 George Street, Sydney. Generally, these jewellers won’t have the costs associated with larger jewellers such as huge shop fronts, advertising, added security that large jewellery stores will tend to have. Those savings will be passed on to you – the consumer.

As they are manufacturing jewellers they will tend to have a range of their own rings as well as be able to create a design to order. 

Auctions:

Another way to save on an engagement ring is to go to auctions such as First State auctions. You can bid on new rings there at incredible savings. An interesting option is to bid on a diamond pendant or diamond earrings and then take that piece of jewellery to a manufacturing jeweller to have it made into an engagement ring.

Look in the Sydney Morning Herald on a Saturday for details of upcoming auctions.

Online auctions:

I have seen some incredible bargains on engagement rings on graysonline.

I have also seen loose diamonds offered from time to time on graysonline which, like buying another piece of diamond jewellery, can also be taken to a manufacturing  jeweller to design a custom made ring.


Don’t think you can save money when buying a Tiffany’s engagement ring? Think again...

A Tiffany’s engagement ring in Sydney can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

On a visit to the Tiffany’s store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, my husband and I ventured into the store to look at their stock (we had no intention of buying but the kind patient sales assistant let me play dress ups anyway).  I tried on an engagement ring that was selling at the Sydney store for $30,000. The price at the Honolulu store? $14,000.

Consider this - Hawaii is only a 10 hour flight away. With the bargain flights and packages available on both Jetstar and Hawaiian Airlines, you could easily fly to Honolulu over a long weekend for example, take an extra day off work, and even with those travel costs you can save at least $10,000.  You can find flight and hotel packages to Hawaii that come in at well under $2,000.

If you register to be on the Hawaiian Airlines email list, you can be notified of upcoming sales to save you even more money. Hawaiian Airlines flights leave at 9.20pm so you can catch a flight after work and arrive in Honolulu early the same morning. Please note though that you will effectively lose a day on your flight home.

Just check the visa requirements for the US. If you qualify for the visa waiver program, you need to pay $14 US by credit card over the internet, have a passport with at least 6 months validity left on it and apply at least 72 hours before your flight.

© Sydney Fairytale Weddings on a budget