WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
Over the years I have had the joy of working with many men who are about to ask the love of their life to marry them. They all want something very special and they all have the same worries and concerns about launching into the unknown territory of fine jewellery.
So I finally decided to write 'The Engagement Ring Handbook' as a practical manual for any man intending to surprise his partner with the perfect 'forever' ring.
An engagement ring is the most important piece of jewellery a man will ever give, but it is a subject on which few men are experts. And there is a lot more to it than price and prettiness!
This book answers all the common questions you might have, and most of the uncommon ones too. Its purpose is to arm you with the confidence you need to buy the perfect ring at a price you are comfortable with.
Knowledge is power and this book is about putting you in control.
So, read on for more information on content and links to all the Chapter texts.
OR
you can Download Individual Chapters in pdf format to read at your leisure.
INTRODUCTION and HOW TO USE THE BOOK
So, you’ve decided that the time has come to propose to your beloved. Now all you have to do is find the perfect ring. That’s the easy bit – no?
Well you would think so, but buying an engagement ring is rather like buying a high-spec bicycle. Unless you’ve done your research, when you take your shiny new bike out for its first ride you will discover all the things about riding it that the salesman in the shop never mentioned. You’ll be less impressed by its trendy colours and fancy stickers, but you will notice how hard it is to ride uphill due to its weight and even on the flat due to the thick off-road tyres that you don’t need.
So it is with engagement rings. There are many things you need to know before you make your final decision – you do not want to discover all the problems no-one told you about after you have made your purchase and she has the ring on her finger.
You just want to get it right.
Over the years, I have seen so many people get it wrong.
There are lots of reasons why, but they boil down to having incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information. You can do tons of research, gather mountains of data and comment, but you need to be able to evaluate that information and apply it. That usually requires more knowledge and experience than most first time buyers can expect to have.
A keen cyclist will frequently upgrade his or her bike and become an expert on the latest gearing systems or lightweight frames and tyres. You don’t make a habit of buying engagement rings, so you are not likely to be an expert in that field, and there’s a lot to know.
That is why I have written this book. Not to add to the mountain of data, but to help cut through it and make it as easy and pain-free as possible to find that perfect ring and still keep within your personal budget.
Over the course of this short book I will answer all of the questions raised over the years by my various clients, including the questions you did not even know you needed to ask. I shall equip you to set your own priorities and make the best decision possible in this most important of purchases.
START WITH THE SUMMARY
The book is easy to use. Chapters begin with a bullet-point summary so you can quickly skim the content and read sections in more depth if you want to know more, and they end with a conclusion so you can see if you have missed anything important.
There is a lot here, but you don’t have to read it all at once, or even sequentially. This book is designed so that you can dip into sections as you need them.