JFF...How Big Is Too Big?

i'm blown away by the huge sizes! after 27 years of marriage i just got what i think is the most beautiful ring in the world. it's a half carat solitaire with smaller diamonds that make up another carat. and as much as i love it, i'm learning to cope with the fact that panty hose and horse blankets and clingy fabrics of all sorts are GOING to get hung up on it.........
my SIL has an heirloom stone that's spectacular and well over a carat. she is tiny and that rock is huge, but she's poised and classy enough to carry it off, but boy howdy! sometimes the ring walks into the room 2 minutes before she does!
i like sparklies as much as the next gal, but i don't know how people cope with boulders on their fingers. that being said, i'm tickled for 'em!
:) khairete
S. (still clutching her chest over the price tag)

I wear a 3/4 carat with accent stones. I "could" wear probably up to a full carat, but that would me as big as I would want to go. I found a setting and then a stone to go with it. A larger stone wouldn't look quite right with the setting I have, but if the setting were different, a full carat would be as big as I'd want to go.

I do wear mine all the time. Day in. Day out. Even outside working in the yard (I wear gloves). Even working out in the gym (also wear weight lifting gloves if doing much with free weights/dumbbells). And even doing dishes (though people say that is bad.. I say, I have a ring to wear... so I'm wearing it.)

I have friends that wear 1 carat diamonds on each ear. The problem we have learned is that if you have small lobes, they hang down.. Not attractive, so they need special backings,

There used to be a neighbor up at the lake that had a diamond so big she had to wear it on 2 fingers, yep the diamond was placed over 2 ring bands to go on the 2 middle fingers. . .. No joke or exaggeration.

She gardened, washed dishes, water skied, pumped gas with that ring.. It was awesome!

I recall her husband gave her a 3 karat diamond pendent one year for their anniversary.. She laughed, because he had already given her the same thing the year before!

I guess I am so surrounded by people with large diamonds, it takes a lot to make me flinch. It did happen this spring when I was working at an antiques fair in Round Top, Texas. There were women there with diamonds that looked like coffee tables on their fingers.
Gorgeous stones.

But remember, I am in Texas, everything is big and flashy here.

It varies on the person. I'm petite, so big rocks look stupid on me, and I'm also not into giant diamonds. I'd be more worried about losing it than happy to wear it. I don't know how big my ring stone is, but it is small because I wanted it to be small. I think there is a fine line between classy and klassy and some rings are just garish.

I have one carat and I really think anything more would be awful, no, it would not be me.

I had an old jeweler that I asked what does three carats look like? He said it looks like you have a light bulb attached to your finger. No thanks

I think it is personal choice and what someone can reasonably afford.

I've seen a lot of larger stones that look gaudy on celebrities as well as people who live in my area.

A lot of it depends on the cut of the stone as well. I wear a solitaire that has been passed on through my husband's family and will be passed on to my daughter. It is an old miners cut and not the flat top you see on many of the newer styles. Mine is a little over 3 carats and I just wear a simple gold band with it. I wear it all the time.

I'm pretty simple and low maintenance. My earrings are simple diamond studs which are about 1.5 carat each ( with special screw backs for protection). I also have a very nice gold watch. I chose the watch face with no added diamonds or bling but I've seen some that are really blinged out. There is such a thing as too much!

I don't wear any jewelry other than these pieces. We pay a hefty premium on our insurance as well to make sure I'm covered.

When we married, I only wore my solid gold band for 3 yrs and small diamond studs. After being together 26 yrs, hubby upgrades my things occasionally with exception to the solitaire. Whenever daughter inherits it or I just give it to her, she is welcome to change the setting to suit her choice as long as the stone stays in the family.

I would be perfectly ok with no diamond and my gold band as well . I don't feel I have to have a specific size of diamond to be happy in my marriage. Our marriage is built on more than that.

For me...any is too big :-) I'm not a fan of diamonds for myself - there are so many other things I would rather the money be spent on. We had a simple gold band for 14 years & just this year my husband convinced me we needed new rings since his doesn't fit anymore & has already been resized. We ended up going with white porcelain bands inlaid with koa wood. It suits us.
As far as on others, I think if it gets in the way of daily life then it's probably too big for normal wear. To each their own though!

There is no such thing as a diamond that is too big. I am a jewelry wearer and I love my bling.

I have 3 carats so I think over 5 is too big. But it also depends on the size of the person. I'm tall and have fairly big hands. Not fat but not dainty hands. A friend has over 3 carats I think and is tiny so the ring looks huge on her. So I think size can be kind of relative. And it's also a bit dependent on your crowd. I remember when many of us were getting engaged , 2 carats seemed right. People who got engaged right out of college had more like 1 carat. I happen to like a large diamond. I don't do flashy otherwise and live well below our means but one thing I wanted was a good sized diamond and now it doesn't seem too big at all. :).

My husband and I have wedding rings and I have a nice engagement ring but we both work with our hands - on computers all the time, and he's in wiring too (he's an electrical engineer).
Wearing anything on our fingers (or wrists even) gets in the way.
We keep them in the safe.
Realize that 'stars' and celebrities in tv and magazines don't mesh with reality - it's not how real people live - and it's kind of silly to try to emulate them.

My ring has multiple diamonds and in total is about 1.5 carats. The main stone is about 1/2 carat. I never wear it because I think it sticks out too far and is in the way. I have another ring that has a ton of tiny diamonds in a pretty design. Not even sure what the carat count is on it. It does not stick out very much. similar in style to this: http://www.zales.com/diamond-center-lace-anniversary-band...

I love it an get so many compliments on it. It is very special to my (husband gave it to me at a vow renewal) and I dont have to worry about someone trying to rob me of it or killing me for it. At one point I wanted a big ring because they ARE beautiful. But I am so over it.

Any diamond is too big for me. I hate them.
But to each her own. All that matters is that the person wearing the ring likes it.

Mine is .75 carats and I never wear it because it gets in the way of everything. Plus, I hate wearing rings so I actually don't even wear my wedding ring on a regular basis. I'm wearing them both right now and they're bugging the ____@____.com out of me! But if someone has a super huge ring, that doesn't bother me.

I don't even know. I guess one could say it was average. I see a lot smaller and I see a lot bigger.

As for the stars, don't weigh into what you see on their finger. They borrow a lot of jewelry for their photo shoots. If they are big enough stars, they have a nice rock.

If your honey can afford it, go for it. If you work with your hands and it will get in the way, ask for two rings.

I do have two rings. One white set and one gold set. My original ring is bigger and that is the one I do not wear.

I have teeny diamonds set into silver picture rings we had made.(the diamonds are small--they are the stars). I'm not a jewelry person; even the more modest diamond solitaires are more than I want to wear for myself. I still take the rings off for cooking/cleaning/gardening and before bed. Like I said-- not really a jewelry person.

To each their own!

My main stone is 1 ct and set in a suspension setting that nests into the band, which gives it a slightly lower profile than a traditional setting that sits on top of the band. There are a couple of 1/4 ct diamonds flanking it, which also smooth out the profile. I can honestly say that unless I'm smoothing a cake with fondant, my ring (and wedding band) are on all the time no matter what I'm doing.

I think up to 2 ct in a single stone looks fine on most hands, anything more than that is something that most people probably can't pull off without looking conspicuous.

It depends on the person. When I was in my early teens I stopped at a local jewelry store and he had just received a 7 carat diamond to set. He put the setting and the stone on my finger and it was huge. In fact is looked false instead of real.

My diamonds I wear daily are a carat each main stone with smaller accents on each hand in different settings. I started out with a 1/2 carat 40 some years ago and upgraded about 20 years back. One I traded in for a larger stone and mounting. The other I got from the jewelry channel loose and had set and it is my "trophy" from a hard job I worked at as a reminder that I survived. The only thing I don't do in my rings is garden otherwise I wear them daily.

To each his own. TV celebrities go overboard on everything they do. Get the size you are comfortable with and wear it. If you don't wear them then they are too big even if it is a small ring.

the other S.

For me, I would not wear anything over a carat, but prefer no diamonds at all.

I wore an amazing huge turquoise ring for my wedding/engagement ring. The stone was the size of a quarter. I loved it and was very upset when it was stolen from my car.

No diamonds on my hand though. Not my taste. :)

Mine is 1.1 and I wear it all of the time. I think anything over 3.5 would be too big.

I had a 2.25 Carat diamond & I found myself scratching my baby as I picked her up, gave her baths, etc. I felt awful & started only wearing a Diamond band until she was older. For me it just wasn't practical wearing it all the time.