Bling Basics

You can’t have a wedding without jewelry. An engagement ring sets the wedding in motion, and wedding bands show the world you’re married. A deeper look into the engagement and wedding jewelry shows just how much decision making goes into those purchases. TheKnot.com’s 2011 Engagement & Jewelry Study surveyed more than 10,000 brides and 1,000 grooms engaged or married in the past year. Here’s a look at the state of the bling: The average engagement ring costs $5,200. The average carat size is 1 carat for the center stone, 1.4 carats total stones. The most popular engagement ring shapes are Round (53 percent) and Princess (30 percent). The most popular engagement ring metal is white gold, at 73 percent. It takes grooms an average of three months to find the engagement ring. The average wedding band cost is $1,126 for brides, $491 for grooms. White gold also is the most popular wedding band metal for brides at 70 percent, though just 34 percent of grooms go for the white gold. Most couples try to keep costs in check, with only 12 percent spending more than $8,000 on an engagement ring. The average luxury wedding ring costs $13,500; the average wedding ring costs is $1,560 for brides, $731 for grooms.