Events & Weddings
How much does a wedding ring cost?
Work out what a wedding ring will actually cost from the price of the band, any stones set into it, the engraving, the sizing that makes it fit, and the appraisal and first-year cover that keep it. A band is metal by weight with work done to it, so the figure on the tag is the start of the number rather than the whole of it. The calculator splits the ring into the parts a jeweller quotes and the parts that get added afterwards, and totals them. The defaults are ours and editable, so put your own quotes in and read the breakdown.
- Band (metal, design, finish)$600
- Stones set into the band$300
- Engraving$0
- Sizing and fitting$0
- Appraisal and first-year cover$0
- Partner's matching band$0
- Total$900
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$500 to $2,000 is the ordinary shape of a platinum or wider band, or a band with a row of stones set into it, plus the work around it. Check the split above: if the stones line is carrying most of your total, you are paying for the setting more than the metal, which is worth naming before you sign.
What this assumes, and where it could be wrong
Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.
THE RING EXCHANGED AT THE CEREMONY IS THE BAND, WHICH IS NOT THE SAME PURCHASE AS THE ENGAGEMENT RING.
A band is metal by weight, so the day's metal price sits under the tag.
Sizing and engraving change what can be done later, so decide them at purchase rather than after. A plain band resizes readily, but a band set with stones round its full circumference can be hard or impossible to resize without rebuilding, and deep engraving can limit how far a band can be taken up or down before the lettering is cut. The calculator keeps sizing and engraving on their own lines because they are decisions with consequences past the receipt: a ring is worn for years and a finger changes, so the fit you buy is the fit you live with unless the design allows a resize. Ask what the design permits before you commit to it, not after.
The appraisal and cover line recurs, so read the figure above as the first year rather than the whole of it. A ring worn every day is exposed to loss, theft and damage in a way a gown in a box is not, and insuring it means a written appraisal and an annual premium on a rider or a standalone policy. This page puts a single figure on that line for the first year, and the honest reading is that it continues each year the ring is insured. A jeweller's appraisal for insurance and an insurer's own valuation can differ, and the premium follows the valuation, so it is worth getting both before you decide the ring is covered.
What the jeweller is paid is not what the jeweller keeps. The tag covers the metal at wholesale, the stones and their setting, the bench work, the shop, the display, the staff hours and the tax, and a chain shop, an independent bench jeweller and an online seller each carry a different mix of those costs. This page does not model any of that and is not arguing that a ring's price is fair or unfair. It separates the lines so that the number you carry into the shop is a number about the same thing the counter is answering, which is the band, the stones and the work rather than a single ring price that hides which is which.