How to Choose an Engagement Ring: A Buyer's Guide
Buying an engagement ring is one of the most significant purchases most people ever make — and one of the least familiar. Most people have never bought fine jewelry at this level before. The industry is full of confusing terminology, inflated markups, and salespeople whose incentives don't always align with yours.
This guide gives you a straightforward, honest overview of what you need to know before you buy: the metal options, the stone choices, the settings, the difference between custom and ready-made, and what the process actually looks like when you work with a jeweler directly.
Step 1: Choose Your Metal
The metal sets the foundation of the ring — its color, durability, and long-term maintenance. Here's what's available and what each means in practice.
Gold
Our engagement rings are offered in 18kt gold across three colors:
Yellow gold is the classic. Warm, traditional, and the most historically associated with engagement jewelry. It requires the least maintenance of the gold colors since the natural metal color shows through without any plating.
White gold has a cool, silver-like tone that's extremely popular today. It's created by alloying yellow gold with white metals and is typically rhodium plated for a bright finish. Over time the plating can wear in high-contact areas and may need occasional re-plating — a routine, inexpensive service at any jeweler.
Rose gold has a warm pink tone from a higher copper content in the alloy. It's a popular modern choice and holds its color well without plating since the copper content naturally produces that tone.
We use 18kt for our engagement rings because the higher gold content produces a richer, more vibrant color — particularly noticeable in yellow gold — and engagement rings are relatively light pieces where the labor is the primary cost driver rather than the metal weight. The price difference between 10kt and 18kt on an engagement ring is not significant, so there's no reason to compromise on purity for a piece this meaningful.
Platinum
Platinum is a naturally white metal that doesn't require rhodium plating to maintain its color. It's denser and heavier than gold, extremely durable, and hypoallergenic — making it a good choice for people with metal sensitivities. Platinum is also significantly more expensive than gold, both because the metal itself costs more and because it's harder to work with. We offer platinum in white only on select engagement ring styles.
Step 2: Choose Your Stone
Natural Diamonds
Natural diamonds are formed over billions of years in the earth's mantle and mined from the ground. They are the traditional choice for engagement rings and carry both intrinsic value and sentimental weight that lab-grown stones don't replicate in the same way. Natural diamonds are graded on the 4Cs — cut, color, clarity, and carat weight — which determine their quality and price.
Lab-Grown Diamonds
Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically, and optically identical to natural diamonds. They're created in controlled laboratory environments that replicate the natural diamond-forming process. The result is a real diamond — not a simulant — that is visually indistinguishable from a mined stone without specialized equipment.
Lab-grown diamonds cost significantly less than natural diamonds of equivalent quality, which means you can get a larger or higher-quality stone for the same budget. The tradeoff is resale value — lab-grown diamonds have depreciated significantly in value in recent years as production has scaled up, whereas natural diamonds retain value more reliably over time.
Our honest take: if budget is a priority and long-term resale value isn't a concern, a lab-grown diamond is an excellent choice. If you're buying this as a generational piece and value the story and rarity of a natural stone, natural is worth the premium.
CZ (Cubic Zirconia)
CZ is a synthetic stone that is not a diamond and doesn't convincingly pass as one in person. Unlike lab-grown diamonds, CZ has a distinctly artificial, plastic-like appearance — it lacks the depth and light behavior of a real diamond and most people can tell the difference at a glance. We offer CZ on engagement ring styles per customer request, but we'd be doing you a disservice not to say this clearly: if you want something that looks like a diamond, CZ is not the right choice.
A Note on Moissanite
Moissanite is a popular alternative stone that we're sometimes asked about. We don't carry moissanite, but it's worth addressing because it comes up frequently. Moissanite looks more like a diamond than CZ does — in photos and at a distance it can be convincing. However, it does not test as a diamond on standard diamond testers, and in person it can show a distinctive rainbow-like brilliance that's noticeably different from a diamond's white sparkle. If you're considering moissanite because it's more affordable than a natural diamond, a lab-grown diamond is a better option — it's chemically identical to a real diamond, tests as one, and looks like one.
Step 3: Understand the Setting Styles
The setting is how the stone is held in the ring. It affects the look, the security of the stone, and how the ring wears over time.
Solitaire — a single center stone held by prongs. The classic engagement ring setting. Clean, timeless, and puts all focus on the stone. Available in four-prong and six-prong versions; six-prong offers slightly more security for the stone.
Halo — a center stone surrounded by a ring of smaller stones that amplify its perceived size and brilliance. Popular for making a smaller center stone appear larger.
Pavé / Side stones — smaller diamonds set along the band, adding sparkle and visual weight without increasing the center stone size. Many of our styles feature pavé accents alongside the center stone.
Bezel — the stone is encircled by a rim of metal rather than held by prongs. More secure and lower-profile than prong settings, with a modern, clean look. A good choice for active lifestyles since there are no prongs to snag.
Twist / Vine band — the band itself has a sculptural, twisted or organic shape. The Twisted Vine and Infinity Twist styles fall into this category. Distinctive and romantic.
Step 4: Custom vs Ready-Made
This is one of the most important decisions and one most guides gloss over.
Ready-Made Engagement Rings
Our ready-made engagement rings are available in set styles with customizable metal, karat, color, and stone choice. You select the design from our collection and personalize it from there. These are made to order based on your specifications — production time is approximately 4–5 weeks — but the design itself is predetermined.
This is the right choice for most buyers. You see exactly what you're getting, the process is straightforward, and the result is a beautiful, quality ring at a fair price.
Fully Custom Engagement Rings
If you have a specific design in mind that doesn't match anything in our collection — a particular combination of elements, a family heirloom design you want recreated, or something completely original — we can build it from scratch. Custom work starts with a consultation in our Tampa store or over the phone, where we work through the design, materials, and budget together.
The timeline for fully custom work has two phases: design and production. Plan for 3–4 weeks for the design phase — this is where we work through sketches, revisions, and final approval before any metal is touched. Production then takes an additional 4–5 weeks from design approval.
If you have a set proposal date, plan for a minimum of 2 months from your first conversation with us — and that's still tight. If your timeline is shorter than that, a ready-made ring with customization options is the more realistic path. Contact us as early as possible so we can tell you honestly what's achievable.
What to Expect at Liry's
We're a family-owned jewelry store in Tampa, Florida — three generations in business since 1989. We don't operate like a chain store. You deal with real jewelers who make the pieces, not salespeople working on commission.
A few things that are specific to how we work:
Every ring is solid gold or platinum. No plating over base metal, no gold-filled settings, no stainless steel. What the listing says is what you get, and we back that with a lifetime karat guarantee.
We display our pricing transparently. You'll know what the metal weight is and what you're paying for before you commit. No surprises at checkout.
We work with natural diamonds, lab-grown diamonds, and CZ. All stone options are available across our engagement ring styles. If you're not sure which direction to go, we'll give you a straight answer on the tradeoffs — not the answer that makes us the most money.
Production time is 4–5 weeks. All of our engagement rings are made to order. If you have a specific date — an anniversary, a planned proposal — contact us before ordering so we can confirm the timeline.
Don't Forget the Wedding Band
This is something a lot of buyers don't think about until after the engagement — and planning ahead makes a real difference.
The engagement ring is what you propose with. The wedding band (or wedding ring) is what goes on at the wedding ceremony, or after you're officially married if you don't have a formal ceremony.
A few things worth knowing:
Both partners get a wedding band. Only the woman receives an engagement ring. The man's wedding band can be purchased at any point — there's no rush on that. The woman's wedding band, however, may need more planning depending on the style of the engagement ring.
If she wants a contoured or wraparound wedding band, it needs to be designed to fit around the specific engagement ring. If you're purchasing one of our ready-made engagement rings, we can make the matching wedding band later and fit it precisely to the ring she has. Just come back to us when you're ready.
If you're doing a fully custom engagement ring, the wedding band should ideally be designed and made at the same time. Custom pieces are built to specific dimensions, and creating a perfectly fitted band later is harder and more expensive than doing it as a set from the start. If you're going the custom route, plan both pieces together from the beginning.
There's no rule that says an engagement ring needs to cost two months' salary. That number was invented by a diamond company in the 1980s and has no bearing on the meaning of the ring or the quality of the relationship.
Buy the ring that fits your budget without financial stress. A well-made ring in 14kt gold with a quality lab-grown stone is a beautiful, meaningful piece. It will look the same on her finger as a ring that cost three times as much. What matters is that it's real, it's made well, and it's from someone who put thought into it.
If you're not sure what you can get for your budget, call us or come in. We'll show you options across the range and give you honest guidance — no pressure, no upselling.
Shop Engagement Rings → Shop Men's Wedding Bands →
Questions about custom work? Call (813) 888-8590 or email info@lirysjewelry.com.