Can You Really Afford a 2 Carat Engagement Ring?
Congratulations on finding the love of your life! Before you ask her to marry you, you'll want to pick out the perfect engagement ring. Understandably, you have a lot of questions: Is a 1 carat engagement ring big enough? Is a 2 carat engagement ring too big? What's a carat anyway?
Don't worry. The answers to these questions are easy to find.
What's a Carat, Anyway?
When talking about diamonds, a carat is a unit of weight. Just as we weigh ourselves in pounds and ounces, diamonds are weighed in carats and points. One hundred points make up one carat. So, the loose diamond that gets set into a 2 carat engagement ring setting weighs 2 carats, or 200 points. A loose 2 carat engagement ring diamond is approximately 8.2 millimeters in diameter.
Does Size Matter?
You fiancée may have told you that she doesn't care whether you buy a ½ carat engagement ring, a 1 carat engagement ring, or a 2 carat engagement ring. Don't believe her! I'm not saying she is a liar - she probably thinks that, since love conquers all, the size of an engagement ring doesn't matter to her as long as she has you for a husband.
In fact, studies have shown that most women who get small engagement ring diamonds when they get engaged trade up to a bigger diamond as soon as they can. If you don't buy her a 2 carat engagement ring now, it is almost certain that you will buy her one in the future, when inflation has driven diamond prices up higher than they are now. So, even if it seems like you can't afford a 2 carat engagement ring right now, you may actually save yourself money by buying that 2 carat engagement ring now instead of waiting until the future.
She Should Love Her Engagement Ring
An engagement ring means a lot to a young lady. Think about how many times a day you see your own hands, and how many times a day your fiancée sees her hands. She will see her engagement ring more times than you can count, for the rest of her life. That is why it is important that you choose an engagement ring that she won't get tired of looking at.
For better or worse, women compare their engagement rings with other women's rings. If her ring is 1 carat, and her friends are wearing 2 carat engagement rings, it may leave the impression that you are financially unstable, or cheap, or that you don't recognize how much an engagement ring means to a woman.
Most jewelers understand that you want to buy the very best engagement ring you can afford, so they offer very favorable financing terms so you can afford a 2 carat engagement ring - a ring that will light up your fiancée's eyes every time she looks at it.
