Serious question

[Raralith]

As many have already said, buy what you can afford. And yes, you can tell a crappy diamond from a good one quite easily. A good quality will almost always be better than a big stone. Personally though, I know a lot of men fear going with their perspective wife ring shopping, but it really is the best way, in my opinion. Here are a few reasons:
1. You're perspective wife knows how much you make, and unless she's more about the rock than you, she'll be more realistic.
2. You never know what women think are beautiful. Never. Don't ever suspect, don't ever guess, and if you do, include a receipt (outside the realm of rings).
3. A ring always looks different on your woman compared to the jeweler trying to show you, on yourself, on a piece of plastic, or staring at it and imaging it on her hand. A ring for one woman doesn't neccessarily look good for another, and a ring like this is something your woman will look at forever. So get something she likes.

Also, my brother in law didn't buy the biggest stone, but when telling my mother, his line was "it's not the biggest, but with her pretty and petitie hands, it'll look big!" I thought that was rather cute.