Ring Buying the perfect engagement ring isn’t an easy task. There will be some serious decisions you’re going to need to make before getting it all done right. Here are ten terrific tips on what you need to do to make her say “I Do”!

1) Pick a Budget. Your girlfriend doesn’t want to marry some broke dude. Make sure you don’t spend all your salary on the ring. You’re gonna need some for the wedding, and for..well, the rest of your lives!

2) Pick a Style. Decide if she likes contemporary or vintage, silver or gold, big diamonds or lots of little diamonds.

3) Learn your Diamonds. Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat Weight – the four essential diamond qualities. Figure out what is the most important diamond quality for you and your girlfriend. Does she have her heart set on a 1 carat center stone or does prefer one .50 carat diamond surrounded by ten .5 carat diamonds instead?

4) Learn your Settings. Does your girlfriend want a bezel set engagement ring, a tension set engagement ring or a six prong engagement ring , and do you even know what that means?! If you don’t, you should. So go learn!

5) Preset or Custom. Let’s say you decided on a solitaire 6 prong engagement ring, now decide how you want to find it. Some prefer to forego picking out a specific diamond. They look for rings that are preset with a diamond that a jeweler picked out. Others prefer to pick out a unique and special diamond and “build” or “design” their own ring. You can choose a diamond, then pick a pretty six prong diamond engagement ring setting and have it made just for you.