Engagement Ring Advice
Choosing an engagement ring is a big decision—it’s a symbol of your unique story. At Petra Jewellery, with over 45 years of expertise, we offer personalised, pressure-free guidance to help you find the perfect ring. Here are our top ten tips to help you make the right choice.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Bespoke Engagement Ring
Surprise or Choose Together?
You can surprise your partner with the ring, or design it together.
What Design Style Should I Choose?
From classic to contemporary, we’ll work with you to discover a style that reflect you, your lifestyle, and personal taste.
Which Stone Should I Choose?
Diamonds are the most popular stone for engagement rings, but we’ll help you consider other hard wearing options to add colour and meaning to the design.
What Shape of Stone?
You can have a lot of fun experimenting with different shapes of stone, which in turn can influence the details of the ring mount.
What’s the Best Setting Style?
We think this is often over-looked, the setting keeps your stones as secure as possible. We’ll help you choose ones that fits your lifestyle and aesthetic.
Single or Multiple Stones?
While a single stone is a classic statement, additional stones can bring individuality to your design. We can help you explore different combinations.
Which Metal is Best?
Yellow, white, rose gold, or platinum; each metal offers a very different look. We’ll advise you on what best complements your needs.
Inherited Materials or Brand New?
Inherited jewellery can be remodelled and make your ring even more meaningful. We source all our own metal from a single source mine and refine any leftovers for reuse.
Straight or Shaped Wedding Ring?
It’s worth at this stage considering whether you only want to be able to wear a straight wedding band, or are open to having one shaped to fit snugly with your engagement ring. We’ll show you examples to help you decide and design your engagement accordingly.
What Little Details Will Make It Truly Special?
Engraving, hidden diamonds, or subtle design elements can turn your ring into a one-of-a-kind. We’ll help you explore these thoughtful touches.
Talk It Through With Us
If you have any immediate questions, simply pop them over to the Petra Team using the form below. We’re here to help every step of the way.
ASK US A QUESTION:
Is it a Surprise?
If you’re planning a surprise proposal, we’ll guide you through the design process with thoughtful questions to ensure it feels perfect for your partner. Alternatively, you can gift them a complimentary Champagne Design Experience, a romantic gesture that allows you to create the ring together, without any design risk.
Geometric emerald cut centre, with tapered side stones with pretty tear-drop profile claws
Classic contemporary take on the ‘halo’, a ‘wearable’ showstopper with an immacualte ‘grain set’ surround and shoulders
What Design Style Should You Go For?
Designing a ring that suits you in every way is at the heart of what we do. We consider your job, home life, hobbies, personal taste and budget to create something truly unique.
Through a relaxed and collaborative process, we’ll explore all your options together. You’ll have access to our extensive collection of samples, hand-drawn sketches, and CAD designs if required, to help you visualize your ideas.
Partila rubover settings which are super practical and add a lovely flow to the design
Claw settings profiled to maximise stone security but also complement the design
How Much Does It Cost?
We believe in transparency when it comes to costs to make your engagement ring. You'll have a clear breakdown of all expenses, including labour, metal, hallmarking and stones. This helps you make informed decisions; whether you prefer to choose larger or smaller stones, or explore different qualities and quantities.
Think about needed a fitted wedding band to work with your design
Designed to love and last a lifetime…
Not Sure What to Do Next?
If you’re feeling unsure about the next step, we highly recommend having a chat with one of our team. We’re not pushy salespeople—we’re a small, family-run business that genuinely wants what’s best for you.
You can book a relaxed 30-minute consultation with one of our experts and take it from there. There’s no pressure—just friendly, helpful advice to guide you in the right direction.
Thank you,
Mitch
Owner of Petra Jewellery
PS: One more thing I forgot to include above: timescales!
We’ve been given FOUR DAYS to make a bespoke engagement ring before a flight to New York for their proposal, so in theory it can take very little time to make your ring if we ask our in-house goldsmith to slot you in as an ‘express job’.
Typically though, we like to allow you as long as you need to get the design right, sometimes with you coming back in to view certain stone shapes and sizes and also having the chance to change your mind on certain details if necessary.
Once you’re happy with everything and have given us the ‘go-ahead’ then we generally need to allow 2 weeks for the goldsmithing, 2 weeks for hallmarking, 2 weeks for setting and then a week for our final checks and polishes: so 7-8 weeks in total.
Like everything else though, we work to tailor our offering to your needs, we will commit to a tighter deadline if we can and manage your expectations realistically.
