What to know before you choose your ring.

Not at all.

You might know you like oval diamonds but nothing else. You might have a folder full of screenshots that all look completely different. Or you might be starting from zero.

Usually, the easiest way to work it out is to see rings in person. Try different shapes. Look at them from the side as well as the top. Compare band widths, metals and setting heights.

You don’t need to arrive with a finished design in your head.

There isn’t a rule.

Start with an amount that feels comfortable, then decide where you want that budget to work hardest. A larger centre stone, a particular diamond grade, a more detailed setting or a custom design will affect the final price differently.

And that “three months’ salary” rule? It isn’t an old engagement tradition. The idea of linking an engagement-ring budget to salary was popularised through diamond advertising. It was a marketing benchmark, not a financial rule.

So we’re not going to tell you what you should spend. We’d rather explain what different budgets can achieve and help you decide what matters most to you.

Absolutely.

They’re often more useful than knowing the technical name for a design. Even if the images are all different, we can usually see a pattern in what you’re drawn to: the stone shape, proportions, setting style, band or overall feeling.

They’re a starting point, not something we have to copy exactly.

Yes.

You don’t need your partner beside you to start looking. Photos, jewellery they already wear, saved inspiration and a ring worn on the correct finger can all give us useful clues.

If the size is only an estimate, tell us. The design itself affects how straightforward resizing may be later.

Both are diamonds. The main difference is how they came to exist.

A natural diamond formed beneath the earth over a very long period. A lab-grown diamond is grown in a controlled environment using technology that recreates the conditions in which diamonds form.

Chemically and optically, they’re the same material. Where the buying decision changes is rarity, price and what you value in the stone.

Neither is automatically the right choice. We can show you both and explain where your money is actually going.

Not in quite the same way.

Carat and cut still matter. They affect the size, proportions and how the diamond handles light.

But with lab-grown diamonds, colour and clarity don’t carry the same relationship with rarity and price that they do with natural diamonds. High-colour, high-clarity lab-grown stones are much more readily available.

So once a lab-grown diamond is already white and clean to the eye, chasing an even higher colour or clarity grade can mean paying for a better result on paper without seeing much difference on the hand.

With lab-grown, we tend to put more weight on the cut, proportions, visual size and whether the individual diamond actually looks good.

The 4Cs are cut, colour, clarity and carat. They give us a common language for describing a diamond.

What they aren’t is a scorecard where every grade needs to be as high as possible.

With natural diamonds, colour and clarity can have a significant effect on price because rarity is part of what you’re paying for. With lab-grown diamonds, that relationship is very different.

And a certificate still doesn’t tell you everything. Two diamonds that look very similar on paper can look quite different beside each other.

We use the grades to understand the diamond. Then we look at the actual diamond.

No.

Carat measures weight, not the exact dimensions you see from the top.

Shape and proportions make a big difference to how large a diamond appears on the hand. Two diamonds with exactly the same carat weight can have noticeably different face-up sizes.

This is why we like comparing the actual stones rather than choosing from a carat number alone.

Enough that the diamond looks the way you want it to look.

A higher colour grade means less visible body colour, but higher isn’t automatically better for your ring. The diamond shape, the metal around it and how sensitive you are to warmth all make a difference.

With natural diamonds, moving higher in colour can also mean a substantial jump in price because colourless stones are rarer. With lab-grown diamonds, high colour grades are much more readily available, so we approach that decision differently.

It makes far more sense when you can see two diamonds sitting beside each other than it does from a letter on a certificate.

Clarity is about the tiny characteristics inside a diamond, called inclusions.

We tend to think of them a bit like birthmarks. They’re part of that individual stone, and no two diamonds have exactly the same pattern.

Some inclusions are so small you’d only ever see them under magnification. Others are more noticeable depending on where they sit, the size of the diamond and the shape of the stone.

For most people, once a diamond looks clean to the eye, going higher and higher in clarity doesn’t necessarily make the ring look better. It can simply mean paying for a higher grade on paper.

So we look at the actual diamond: where the inclusions are, whether you can see them, and whether they affect the appearance or integrity of the stone.

Start with what you keep coming back to.

Round, oval, emerald cut, radiant, pear and marquise diamonds all behave differently on the hand. They have different proportions, patterns of light and overall personalities.

Try them on. A shape you love in a photograph isn’t always the one you love on your hand, and sometimes the opposite happens.

Neither is automatically better.

Four claws expose more of the stone and can give the setting a very open look. Six claws give the design a different visual balance and additional points of contact around the stone.

The stone’s shape, size and overall design influence what we recommend.

A traditional halo surrounds the centre stone and is visible when you look at the ring from above.

A hidden halo sits lower, beneath the centre stone. You tend to notice it more from the side.

And you don’t need either. Sometimes the strongest design is the simplest one.

Think about how the ring needs to live on your hand.

A higher setting can create more space beneath the centre stone and may make pairing with a straight wedding band easier, depending on the design.

A low-profile ring sits closer to the hand, which some people prefer for comfort or practicality, but the wedding band may need to work around the setting.

This is why the side profile matters just as much as the top view.

There isn’t one ideal width.

A fine band can make the centre stone feel more prominent. A slightly wider band creates a different proportion and can change the way the whole ring feels on the hand.

Your stone size, finger, setting and whether you plan to wear a wedding band beside it all come into the decision.

A plain band keeps the focus strongly on the centre. A diamond-set band adds more light and detail across the finger.

There are practical considerations too, including future resizing and wear, so we look at the whole design rather than treating the band as an afterthought.

That depends on the setting.

The height and shape of the centre setting can determine whether a straight wedding band sits neatly beside it or whether there will be a gap.

If a flush wedding stack matters to you, tell us early. We can take that into account while designing the engagement ring rather than trying to solve it afterwards.

No.

You can start with one of our rings and change the stone. Bring us a design you like and work out what you’d change. Combine details from several references. Or start from scratch.

Your job isn’t to arrive with a technical drawing.

Tell us what you like. We’ll help turn that into a ring that actually works.

We can work with you around the stone you’re looking for and the design you have in mind.

Sometimes the right stone becomes the starting point for the entire ring. Other times we establish the design, proportions and budget first and then look at suitable stone options.

Yes.

Sapphires and other coloured gemstones can make beautiful engagement rings. The important part is choosing a stone and setting suited to how the ring will actually be worn.

Colour also opens up far more possibilities than most people realise.

Yes. An existing ring can be the starting point rather than the final answer.

Depending on the design, we can explore different centre stones, metals, proportions, side stones or other details to make it feel more like yours.

An estimate is okay.

If you can borrow a ring, make sure it’s one they actually wear on the correct finger and hand. A trusted friend or family member may also be able to help.

Tell us when the size is a guess. That matters when we’re deciding on the design.

Not always.

This is one of the reasons we don’t usually recommend having diamonds set all the way around the band. Leaving a plain section of metal gives us much more flexibility if the ring ever needs to be resized.

If the size is only slightly off, that’s usually fairly straightforward. If we need to go up or down quite a few sizes, it can become more complicated depending on the design and how the ring has been made.

It’s worth thinking about resizing before the ring is made, not only if the size changes later.

And if you’re really not sure of the size, tell us. We’ve been jewellers for a long time, so we’ve picked up a few tips and tricks for working it out without ruining the surprise.

Typically, once the design is locked in and the deposit is paid, it will be around 4–6 weeks.

Stone sourcing, design complexity and the work involved can all affect the timeframe. Once we know what you’re making, we can give you clearer guidance on what happens next.

If you have a proposal date in mind, tell us at the beginning.

Sit down with us in Craigieburn and work through the decisions that matter — stone, shape, setting, metal, budget and how the ring looks and feels on the hand.

Bring screenshots if you have them. Bring nothing if you don’t.

You don’t need to know exactly what you want before you come in. We’ll help you narrow it down.