2022 is like the Gold Rush for weddings. It's the busiest wedding season in 40 years. There are already a record-setting 2.5 million weddings scheduled to take place in 2022.

It's the most weddings in one year since 1984, causing what some have been calling a Wedding Boom. The boom is just getting started, too, according to some projections.

This nuptial boom is in part due to the fact of the world re-opening in the wake of the global pandemic. Life during lockdown has caused many of us to examine our lives and what we think is important. 

Whatever your reasoning may be, if you're going to spring the question, you're going to need an engagement ring. The good news is an engagement ring doesn't need to have the Crown Jewels to be perfect. Sometimes simple pretty engagement rings are best.

To help you pick the perfect engagement ring for your favorite person, we've put together a few tips to help you find a gorgeous, elegant engagement ring that's simple and stunning.

1. Gauge Their Tastes

The first and most important rule of engagement ring shopping is to remember it's for them. With so many associations and so much bound together in what an engagement ring stands for, it's easy to get caught up in the glitz and the glamor of it all. 

After all, we love our partners more than anything, right? Our love is the size of the moon. Surely, we need to pick out a princess cut 24-karat diamond to prove it?

While you can't ever truly go wrong with a princess cut diamond - they are timeless, after all - it's still not necessarily the best pick for your particular partner. 

The best and easiest way to try and get a sense of their actual tastes is to browse, window shop, and daydream with them. Sometimes you might want to be a bit covert. Other times, directness might be more to your benefit. 

You know your partner better than anybody, so you know best how to get a sense of their style. 

If you're wanting the engagement ring to be more of a surprise, you might try and drop subtle questions into the conversation. You might ask your partner their thoughts on Megan Markle's engagement ring over dinner or drinks, for instance. Bonus, in that it's also a fun topic of conversation that gets a lot of people going! 

If you play your cards right, you might even learn additional info about how your partner feels about engagements, proposals, marriage in general, and dream weddings. 

2. Decide On A Budget

Let's go ahead and clear up one of the main myths about buying an engagement ring. Despite the popular narrative, an engagement ring doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. The cost of a ring isn't necessarily reflective of your feelings for your partner. 

That's the main thing to remember. There's every kind of engagement ring out there, for every type of love and partnership and available at every price point. 

Once you start digging around, you'll be amazed how many simple pretty engagement rings are out there. This means you can find the perfect ring while still keeping the engagement ring cost low. 

So try your best to not let your thinking be shaped too much by other people's opinions. When you're saving up for an engagement ring, decide on a budget that you're comfortable with, that makes sense for your lifestyle and relationship.

After all, perhaps you'd rather not spend a mint on an engagement ring, preferring to take you and your partner to a tropical paradise for your honeymoon instead!

3. Ask Friends and Family

Again, one of the challenges of procuring an engagement ring is having it still be a surprise. And even if you have the most candid, open, communicative relationship on the planet - where you share long, involved, interactive wish lists for even the smallest holidays - there's still not a guarantee that you're going to get a straight answer from your partner. 

Things dealing with love, relationships, and especially weddings, are notoriously complicated and fraught. For many brides-to-be, they've been dreaming about this day since early childhood. So the person sharing the Amazon wishlist with you is not necessarily the same person who will be emotionally responding to the engagement ring they receive. 

To truly find out your fiancee-to-be's dream ring, you should try and ask people that have known them for a long time. Ask their families, if they're in their lives, or long-term friends and see if any of them have any insights about what kind of an engagement ring they'd prefer. 

In their day-to-day lives, your partner might pride themselves on their frugalness and practicality. Talking to their middle school or high school friends, however, might reveal that they've secretly always pined for the engagement ring from Princess Diaries 2.

Or they might tell you they've never heard them mention it once. Your partner might be offended at spending two months' wages on an engagement ring when a simple engagement ring would do - and the balance could've been put towards a week in the Maldives.

Looking For Simple Pretty Engagement Rings?

You've come to the right place! At Black Diamonds New York, we pride ourselves on having the perfect piece for every occasion and every type of love. So whether you're looking for simple pretty engagement rings or elaborate conversation pieces, you'll find them here! 

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