The Complete Engagement Ring Guide: Sizing, Choosing and Proposing in Australia

Engagement ring buying comes backwards compared to what people expect. You do not start by picking a stone and then finding a setting. You start by reading the person: what stones they like, what metals they feel right wearing, how bright or subtle they want the piece to be. Then you build the ring around that.

If they like jewellery at all, they have taste. Look at what they already wear. If they wear gold, they probably want gold. If they layer necklaces in silver and rose gold, that is useful information. If they never wear jewellery, that is useful too, and probably means they will not wear a thing unless it feels right the first time they put it on.

Asking the Right Questions

The best proposal is one where you have already asked about the important parts without spoiling the surprise:

• Do they wear jewellery day to day? What metals and styles?
• Have they mentioned a stone they like, even casually? (This happens in films, or when friends get engaged.)
• Do they like things bright and sparkly, or quieter and more understated?
• Would they want a solitaire, or something with side stones?
• Have they ever tried on an engagement ring? How did they feel about the weight or size?

None of these need to be asked directly. Most come up naturally over a year or two.

Ring size matters more than you would think. A ring that is one size too small is unwearable. A ring one size too large will slip and is uncomfortable in cold weather. The good news is that sizing is fixable, but it takes time. Get it right the first time.

There are five good ways to find their size. Choose the one that fits your situation:

1. Borrow a ring they already wear

The easiest. If they have a ring that fits their ring finger, measure the inside diameter in millimetres, or take it to a jeweller and they will size it for you in a minute. A ring worn on a different finger still gives you a useful reference.

2. Use a ring sizer

A ring sizer is a set of plastic or metal rings in every size. You try them on until one fits. We post a free ring sizer anywhere in Australia. This method is second-most reliable if you are honest about the fit.

3. Ask their family

A parent, sibling, or close friend may know. "Does she ever mention her ring size?" is a conversation that sounds natural.

4. Measure their finger

Wrap a thin strip of paper or string around the finger where a ring would sit (not tight, not loose), mark where it meets, and measure the length in millimetres. Match it to the circumference column in the chart below.

5. Get sized in person

Book a studio visit / video consult. We can walk you through sizing at our Southbank studio or on camera.

Stone shapes fall into categories. You do not need to memorise these, but knowing them helps when you talk to a jeweller or look at examples online.

Setting choice comes down to how much of the hand you want the ring to occupy, and how traditional or modern it should feel.

Solitaire

A single stone on a band. The most timeless. Works for everything. If you are unsure, solitaire is the safe choice.

Halo

A centre stone surrounded by a ring of smaller stones. Makes the centre look larger and adds sparkle.

Three Stone

Past, present, future. One centre stone with a smaller stone on each side. Elegant and still very popular.

Bezel

The stone sits in a metal rim that wraps around its edge. More protective, lower profile, very modern.

Metal

We craft in 9k, 14k and 18k gold in all three colours, plus platinum. Higher karat means richer colour and a softer metal; 14k is the everyday sweet spot of colour and toughness. Choose based on what metals they already wear.

The old rule was two months' salary. It was an advertising slogan, not wisdom. Most Australian couples spend AU$2,000 to $5,500. Decide your number first, before you fall in love with a design, and spend what makes sense for your life.

What matters more than the total budget is where the money goes. Do not save on the cut of the stone, the integrity of the setting, or certification. A large stone on a thin, flimsy band is a repair waiting to happen.

Lab grown diamonds and moissanite are not the same stone, but they compete in the same market. Mined diamonds are still available, but younger couples are increasingly choosing lab grown over mined.

Carat is weight, not width. Two stones of the same carat weight can look different sizes if they are cut differently: an oval or pear looks larger than a round of the same weight because more of it spreads along the finger.

Moissanite is sized by diamond equivalent weight, so a "1 carat" moissanite is cut to the same millimetres as a 1 carat diamond. Use millimetres, not carats, to compare.

If you have sized correctly, the ring will fit from the moment they put it on. It still may not feel right for a few days. A new ring feels foreign in a way nothing else does until it is worn past the break-in point. Most people say this takes three to seven days.

If the ring does not fit, we adjust it. One resize within 3 months is free, with return shipping both ways covered, and most resizes take 2 to 5 business days once we have the ring. Plan around it if you have an engagement party coming up.

Order earlier than feels necessary. Standard crafting takes 6 weeks, or 3 weeks on express. Add shipping and a buffer for a resize before the proposal, and work backwards from your date. Eight weeks out is comfortable; twelve is serene.

Hide it somewhere they never go. A trusted friend's house or your office, not your sock drawer. Keep the certificate and receipts separately from the ring, and insure it before the proposal, not after.

An engagement ring is jewellery you wear every day, and a lifetime of wear adds up. The stone is harder than almost anything it touches, so it stays clear. The band and the setting are softer metal, so they wear.

Daily wear and storage

Take the ring off before swimming. Chlorine in pools and spas attacks the alloys in gold and can weaken claws over time. The stone is not the issue; the metal is.

Also remove it before bed, before the gym or sport, before gardening or DIY, and before using harsh chemicals.

Cleaning

Mix warm water and a few drops of dish soap. Use a soft toothbrush to gently scrub the band and the underside of the setting, where grime builds up and dulls the stone. Rinse with clean water and dry with a lint-free cloth. Do this every month if you wear the ring daily.

Professional cleaning and inspection

Book an annual professional clean and check. A jeweller will check that every claw holding the stone is intact. A stone that has moved in its setting is a safety issue and a sparkle loss. Catch it early.

Damage and repairs

Scratches on the band are normal and do not affect the integrity of the ring. If a claw holding the stone has been bent or worn down, have it repaired straight away. A stone can fall out if the setting fails.

We offer resizing, claw re-tipping, re-polishing and full rebuilds. Most repairs can be quoted over email if you send a photo.

Colour is the first thing your eye reads and the biggest driver of value in coloured stones. Graders assess hue (which colour), tone (how light or dark) and saturation (how vivid). Colourless stones are judged the other way: the less colour, the better. A lab-grown sapphire is a real sapphire, chemically identical to one from the ground; a simulant only imitates the look.

Hardness: the Mohs scale

Hardness measures scratch resistance from 1 to 10, and the scale is not linear: diamond at 10 is several times harder than sapphire at 9. The everyday enemy is quartz, hardness 7, which is in household dust. Any stone softer than 7 slowly dulls just from being wiped clean. For a ring worn every day, treat 8.5 as the floor.

Brilliance and fire

Brilliance is white light returned to your eye, set by the refractive index: the higher it is, the more light bends back out of the stone. Fire is that light split into rainbow flashes, measured as dispersion. Diamond's fire is 0.044. Moissanite's is 0.104, more than double, which is why it flashes colour in sunlight the way nothing else does.