The Complete Engagement Ring Checklist

This page collects everything into one sequence. Each stage links to the guide that explains it, so use this as the index and follow whichever thread you need.

Stage 1 — Before you look at any rings

1. Settle the budget as a single figure, and say whether it includes shipping and duty. A budget is a design constraint, not a negotiating position — withholding it quietly buys you a thinner shank.
2. Answer: will it come off for work? About half the time this single answer removes every durability constraint that follows.
3. Measure the finger properly — inner diameter of an existing ring, in millimetres, measured at the end of the day. Never send a converted size.
4. Check knuckle clearance separately from the base of the finger. They are two measurements.

Stage 2 — Choosing the stone

Where to relax: clarity to SI1 below 1 ct, colour to G–H in warm metal, and just under a round carat weight. Where not to: cut, always.

Stage 3 — Choosing the ring

1. Shank thickness 1.8 mm minimum for daily wear. The single most consequential number on this page.
2. Profile height in millimetres — 5–7 mm is comfortable for most people. Fixed at casting.
3. A prong over every point and corner. V-prongs on pear, marquise and heart; a prong on each corner of an emerald, Asscher or princess.
4. Decide the wedding band now, not later. Fitting it during the build costs far less than fitting it afterwards.
5. Keep the shank plain at the back so the ring can be resized. Full eternity cannot be.
6. Ask what can be modified. Most people want a modified stock design rather than bespoke, and do not know it is an option.

Stage 4 — Before approving the CAD

The last moment anything can change. Six checks, all answerable in one message.

• The side elevation, not just the top-down view.
• Shank width and thickness, confirmed in millimetres.
• Profile height, confirmed in millimetres.
• Prong placement over every point and corner.
• The wedding band shown alongside, on the finger.
• How many sizes it can be resized.

Take a day over this rather than an hour. Three of the six are invisible from above, which is the view everyone approves from.

Stage 5 — Before it ships

1. Is the price landed? Duties and taxes prepaid, or payable at the door. One word, and it decides whether a surprise survives.
2. Signature required — non-negotiable. Shipment insurance needs proof of delivery to the named recipient.
3. Insured for the full value, and check what is declared on the customs paperwork.
4. Production and transit quoted separately. A checkout estimate is transit only.
5. Who insures a return leg if it needs resizing.

Stage 6 — The week it arrives

Open it on camera if you can. Check it against the written specification — metal stamp, stone millimetres, shank dimensions, report number and inscription — rather than against the listing photographs, since a ring correctly looks calmer and smaller than product imagery.

Photograph it properly, including inside the shank and from underneath, and store the images somewhere other than your house. Report anything wrong the same day. And add it to a policy that week, checking the single-item limit and whether cover extends away from home.

And then, for the next thirty years

Two habits cover almost everything. Clean it fortnightly from underneath with warm soapy water and a soft brush — the film that collects under a stone is what makes people think it has dulled. And book a bench check every two years, because prongs thin gradually rather than breaking, and that check is the only step that prevents an actual loss.

Frequently asked questions