Tips from Zoe & Morgan

Buying an engagement ring is a big decision and many people aren’t sure where to start. From nudging your partner to pop the question to picking the best gemstone for you and making sure the ring is sustainable, the list of things to consider seems endless.  

However, it doesn’t have to be. Buying an engagement ring should be a fun process, and we spoke to Ruth of jewellery brand Zoe & Morgan to help you pick the perfect engagement ring for your significant other.

From sustainability to alternative gemstones, Ruth, who has created many engagement rings over the years, has some tips.

The person who will be wearing the engagement ring can be involved, and Ruth thinks this is where fun comes into play. 

“The first thing you need to do is try rings on, because you've got to see what shape suits you. You've got to consider if you are a round or emerald cut... You've got to look at the different options.

“I get people to just play and have fun, and generally, when they have a ring on that they feel most at home in, you can just tell. I can tell. They can tell.

“You have to have an exploratory mind and you have to be willing to have some fun and play around a little bit, like a kid in a candy shop. I think through that and through trying things on and through seeing how it feels and how it looks, you'll settle on the kind of style that might be most suited to you, where you feel like: this is me, I'm home, this is my look.”

However, if you’re on the lookout for an engagement ring and want it to be a surprise, Ruth has some tips.

“In New Zealand, the girls all come in and in England, the men come in and do it as a surprise, so the approach to it is quite different culturally.

“Guys generally have a bit of an idea. I haven't really met anyone that's just got no idea.

“Instagram is key! Their significant other will have saved images and the guy can see what they’ve saved and be secretly collecting all these inspirations.

“It’s a bit of detective work, but they’ll be saving the likes.

“So I’d say: save stuff on Instagram that you like. You can’t be sure your other half will do the detective work, but he might.

“Having a reference image helps. Otherwise, I’ll ask them for a photograph of the person they’re planning on proposing to. I try to get a feel for that person, what she looks like, what she wears. Does she wear much jewellery? What are her hands like? I always ask if they have any pictures of her hands. There's generally always a hand somewhere you know. I try to figure out a vibe, her energy. 

“To figure out what her forever ring will be, photos are really helpful. From there we can kind of decide, is she more of a round classic kind of girl or does she want something that's actually a little more creative and fluid.”

While reference images are super helpful and getting a feel for the person your jeweller is designing for is important, the next step is budget. “Then I can know what sort of stones we're looking at.”

With gemstones usually the most expensive part of a ring, your budget will really impact the look and feel of the finished ring.  

Alternative stones are a fantastic way to keep your budget under control and have a unique, beautiful engagement ring. Diamonds are not the only options.

However, most people can get a bit overwhelmed with all the choices.

Ruth says: “They should be confused, because it's a very difficult path to navigate, it really is.

“There is a mine in Australia where we've been getting all of our teal sapphires from. We’ve been using them in a lot of rings and we know that this is an ethical mine and the guys that we use to cut the stones are in Bangkok and they're exceptional and they buy the stones directly from there.

“For a lot of our other stones, we can tell you where the stones came from country wise, but that's about as far as it goes.”

If you’re considering alternative gemstones to diamonds, you’re not the only one.

“Until recently, most people wanted a diamond, but the coloured stones have become increasingly popular. For us, mostly, it's just sapphires. We also do other stones, and emeralds are also quite easy to source ethically.

“It's something that has been building over the last five years, I think particularly with the teal sapphires that we're using, they are very popular with New Zealanders because we're quite a dark green kind of country. They just feel this natural connection with the teal sapphire. Not to say that English people aren't also interested, they are definitely interested in them as well, because there's something very unusual and striking about them.”

Whether it’s teal sapphires or other coloured gemstones, Ruth thinks people are feeling a little more adventurous with their engagement rings these days.

“I think that people are probably just feeling a little bit more adventurous and a bit more confident.

“Customers will come here because they are looking for something different and they are expecting to have a ring that nobody else has.”

While you may want to look for a forever ring, most couples are worries about whether their new shiny piece of jewellery’s value will be retained over the years.

Ruth thinks this “is practical and it's a realistic thing to think. And it's a healthy thing to think. But even if things don’t work out, there's no harm in keeping on to your engagement ring because things do go up in value. Gold has gone up in value, diamonds have gone up in value.”

Her top advice would be to “repurpose” your engagement ring. “Repurpose it, make a necklace, make some earrings.”

“I had a client, his main stone was an aquamarine, which is not hugely valuable. The value went into the fact that we had to cut diamonds specifically for this border around his ring. And so that costs a lot of money. So that's where you wouldn't necessarily retain the value. Because the design itself, the fact we had to cut diamonds… that's money up in smoke, but you get this beautiful ring.

“If you're wanting to have something where you want to keep the investment, make sure that it's not exactly one carat, especially if you’re buying a diamond. Because if a tiny chip comes out of that diamond, it's no longer one carat.

“Get one that's like 1.5 or 1.3, anything over one carat. Because the prices jump so much when it gets to one carat. And it’s the same for two carats, make sure that you get a little bit more. You do pay a premium for that 2.2, but it's worth it in the long run.”

Sustainability is an important part of the Zoe & Morgan brand. Ruth explains that “people that come to us know that we're about that.”

“We grew up with very conscious parents, for us it was just second nature. When we started the business, we used all recycled metals, but we didn't tell anybody because there was very much that mentality, 15 years ago, that recycled wasn’t quite as good as new. There wasn’t that understanding that metals can be purified, and it's the same, but it's a much more sustainable process.

“It's that funny thing where something you've always done gets turned and now everyone wants you to talk about it.”

While metals are the easiest materials to get recycled, most of the Zoe & Morgan customers are worried about diamonds.

“The big one people usually have is diamonds. Because that's probably the most highlighted thing.

“Metals are not such a big deal because it's pretty simple to do a recycled gold or fair trade gold. But diamonds seem to be the hot topic and then with all of the lab diamonds as well, people wonder whether to go the natural or lab grown route.

“It's just so personal. Every engagement ring, even if it's the same ring we've done 10 times, it's still going to be unique to that person because there are no two diamonds the same. There is always that sense of uniqueness and kind of authenticity to a ring and we are all different and so I think your ring, and your journey to a ring, should suit you. 

“A lot of people also come in and feel like there is this expectation or a right way of doing things. How am I supposed to do this? I always say, do you. Forget the rules. Do the ring that’s right for you and then it’ll work.”

In terms of sustainability, Ruth believes it starts with your jeweller.

“The first thing you can look at is the kind of a brand you want. Look for a business that shares your ethos, your ethic code, and something that you're attracted to and feel at home in.

“If you’re at home in that brand because you are like minded, then you can probably trust that the way they operate is going to be on that basis.

“You can be checking up on everything as they go, of course you can, but initially, if you really know nothing, that's what I would say because you're not going to find that kind of information on a website. You're going to have to go and talk to them.”

From being playful and trying different styles, to talking to your jeweller about your budget and sustainability concerns, buying an engagement ring is a journey. You should enjoy the process and come away with a forever ring that aligns with you, your partner, your style, ethics and looks fantastic on your finger.