The Water Cooler

Avoid mall jewelers or any other chain store. Know exactly what you want, and haggle on the diamonds and the setting separately. Diamonds are so grossly overpriced there is alot of room to negotiate. Play 2 jewelers against each other, letting each one know that you are looking at the other. Some MIGHT even let you avoid taxes if you pay cash.

You might want to play around on bluenile.com and try building the ring you want. You can also learn a lot about diamonds on that website. I got my fiancé her ring off that website and saved at least $300 and the ring exceeded my expectations. My best friend got his at Diamonds Direct on 280 and said he would highly recommend them to anyone in the Birmingham area.

Diamonds Direct and its not even close.

^^^This. I went to bluenile.com to get an idea of what I wanted and I bought from Diamonds Direct off 280. They were extremely helpful.

This is similar to what I did. Found a few jewelers that friends knew one in New York and the other actually in Israel and I had them both literally Fedex the stones and then I negotiated. I went and had all the stones appraised which the jewelers actually both told me to do and then I picked out one and mailed a check and the other stones back. Kind of crazy trustful but I am pretty sure they knew who I was and were I lived and if I tried to keep the stones, I wouldn't have made if long.

Anyway, even these direct jewelers are trying to make at least 2x and the stores go for another 2.5x. It's ridiculous. You just have to find a couple merchants with room to negotiate because their spread is incredibly high and inventory is always a challenge so if you catch them at a good time they might dump the product. Not sure if you could do that with your budget (don't mean that in a bad way at all),

If you don't mind driving just a few minutes up 65 then I suggest Jeff Dennis Jewelers in Gardendale. He's a good man that has good prices, I buy all my wife's jewelry from him. You might remember him from his Iron Bowl promotion where he refunded everyone's purchases from the week leading up to the game because there was a shutout.

Levy's!

Diamond's Direct...I bought my wife's ring there and it was a pleasant experience.

They have someone to do that for them, but it should only take a few days to do. I was in a little bit of a hurry to get mine done and I think I was able to pick it up 4 or 5 days later. Just let them know if you have a certain date you need it by and they may be able to rush it if thats the direction you go in.

In addition to what others have said....make sure you get at least a carat at that cost. Don't settle for anything smaller. (0.95 or so is fine as no one will know the difference - but just be close to that size)

I'm sure you know about the 4 c's, but make sure the color and size are where you need them to be. Anything mid-range or better is fine. The average person isn't going to know or care that you got the clearest, brightest, shiniest diamond in the world, but they'll be able to spot total crap.

Most respectable jewelers won't sell you anything below a certain point anyways.

Also - this sounds crazy, but if she has smaller fingers don't buy an enormous rock. You may think you're balling out by getting her a 2 carat stone (although with your budget that is unlikely -and that's fine) but if she has thin fingers it will look silly on her and you'll be wasting a lot of money.

See if you can haggle them down on the setting and the wedding band. Buy matching bands together and negotiate the hell out of it, but talk them down on the bands. And as noted, buy the stone and everything else separately.

Give them a few days of the silent treatment if you have time and let them know you'll walk away. Go into the store 2-3 times over the course of a month or two and let them know you're serious but you can wait them out if needed.

If you don't care on price/value, that's fine....but if you want to save money or get more for your money, I'd haggle with them.

Additionally - some folks will finance with zero interest through Chase, Wells Fargo, etc. now. If $$ is an issue, that may give you some wiggle room to spend more and defer some of the expense. Wouldn't recommend you do any plans with interest, but if you can buy 24-36 months that may help with other planning or get more bang. Sometimes the length of plan is contingent on what you spend.