Recession hits New York brides (peacock wedding dress?)

Recession hits New York brides
Published: April 12, 2009 at 1:29 PM


NEW YORK, April 12 (UPI) -- Brides in New York appear to be among the victims of the recession, with retailers saying more grooms are buying cubic zirconia rings instead of diamonds.

New York Diamond District retailers said an increasing number of would-be husbands are purchasing the fake diamonds for their brides' engagement rings to save money during the economic downturn, the New York Post reported Sunday.

'There are people who will buy a setting and put a CZ in it for now, hoping to replace it later,' private jeweler Shella Eckhouse said of the recent trend.

Luxury jeweler Kara Ackerman said some of those grooms not purchasing cubic zirconia settings are instead turning to one-carat diamond rings instead of the more traditional and expensive two-carat rings.

'The budget used to be $65,000. Now it's closer to $10,000,' she said.

Ackerman added that not all brides appear to be happy with the cost-cutting measures of their potential spouses.

'The women are little hostile about it,' Ackerman told the Post. 'They have been waiting a long time for a ring!'

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/04/12/Recession-hits-New-York-brides/UPI-78221239557343/

Re: Recession hits New York brides

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

Re: Recession hits New York brides

OMG that's horrible!! I think I would just tell my FH to not give me a ring until he could afford a real diamond instead of a CZ. I would still marry him b/c I love him, but giving a CZ to wear is just insulting. I think the only time it's okay to give a CZ is if you know the setting she wants, but you want to pick out the center stone together. Then if you replace it with the real one afterwards it's okay, but if he means for you to actually wear the CZ I would be so upset. How embarrassing would that be if someone actually told you your ring was fake?!? So bad! Better to get smaller than fake!

Re: Recession hits New York brides

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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iTA

Re: Recession hits New York brides

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Posted by megan_gallagher


'The budget used to be $65,000. Now it's closer to $10,000,' she said.

Ackerman added that not all brides appear to be happy with the cost-cutting measures of their potential spouses.

'The women are little hostile about it,' Ackerman told the Post. 'They have been waiting a long time for a ring!'

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$65k on a ring? my whole wedding and ring was less than that!

I love this: 'The women are little hostile about it,' Ackerman told the Post. 'They have been waiting a long time for a ring!'

It's a freaking recession, would they rather get married or rather get a diamond?! Leave it to the post.

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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It's not insane if you have the budget for it. Different people have different budgets to work with. I think it's just different, but not crazy. Plenty of people spend even more than that. JMO, but I think it's fine if you can afford it.

Re: Recession hits New York brides

wow....i think i would prefer him to wait until he can buy what he likes to see me in....to me its all about the thought that he put in it but I think CZ is an insult

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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same here

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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UMMMM.....I have to agree with you! My FH didnt spend near $10,000.00! That's crazy to begin with!

Re: Recession hits New York brides

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Posted by Nitania13

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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It's not insane if you have the budget for it. Different people have different budgets to work with. I think it's just different, but not crazy. Plenty of people spend even more than that. JMO, but I think it's fine if you can afford it.

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I guess if you can afford it then yeah. But its insane to me cause 65,000 is a years pay for some people. But I guess it wouldnt put a dent in anyones account who really could afford it.

I dont think any man should lie and try to pass a CZ off as real to their future wife. But if we couldnt afford a real ring I would have taken a CZ anyday as long as it meant I was marrying my hubby. Thats just me though.

I wouldnt go so far as calling a CZ an insult. Isnt it the thought behind the ring thats most important? Because a ring is fake it totally cancels out the fact that this man wants to marry you?? Cmon. Thats silly

Re: Recession hits New York brides

$65,000 on a ring!!!!!!!



haha that's awesome if one could afford it!

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Posted by Songstress

I dont think any man should lie and try to pass a CZ off as real to their future wife. But if we couldnt afford a real ring I would have taken a CZ anyday as long as it meant I was marrying my hubby. Thats just me though.

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I agree and feel the same way. I'm surprised by anyone who'd rather wait for a diamond than wear a CZ and get married sooner if that's all they could afford.

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Posted by snwb08

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Posted by Songstress

I dont think any man should lie and try to pass a CZ off as real to their future wife. But if we couldnt afford a real ring I would have taken a CZ anyday as long as it meant I was marrying my hubby. Thats just me though.

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I agree and feel the same way. I'm surprised by anyone who'd rather wait for a diamond than wear a CZ and get married sooner if that's all they could afford.

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Seriously. I even considered getting a fake wedding band cause we were having so much trouble by the time the wedding came around. Luckily we came across a few extra dollars. But my wedding band did not cost much.

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Posted by Songstress

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Posted by Nitania13

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Posted by Songstress

Recession or no recession. Our budget for my e-ring was even less than 10,000. $65,000?? on a ring? Insane to me.

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It's not insane if you have the budget for it. Different people have different budgets to work with. I think it's just different, but not crazy. Plenty of people spend even more than that. JMO, but I think it's fine if you can afford it.

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I guess if you can afford it then yeah. But its insane to me cause 65,000 is a years pay for some people. But I guess it wouldnt put a dent in anyones account who really could afford it.

I dont think any man should lie and try to pass a CZ off as real to their future wife. But if we couldnt afford a real ring I would have taken a CZ anyday as long as it meant I was marrying my hubby. Thats just me though.

I wouldnt go so far as calling a CZ an insult. Isnt it the thought behind the ring thats most important? Because a ring is fake it totally cancels out the fact that this man wants to marry you?? Cmon. Thats silly

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I agree with most of what you say. I would just rather no ring rather than a fake one. I would marry my FH even if he couldn't afford a ring. If he told me he couldn't afford one and offered a CZ I'd probably just tell him no and to wait until we could afford one. I'm just not one for wearing fake things. It's one thing if you have costume jewelry on that's obviously fake, but I would never wear a fake item and try to pass it off as real. It's just not my style.

Re: Recession hits New York brides

I just think that a CZ should definitely not be passed off as a diamond to a woman. Shouldn't start off your future with a lie

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Posted by MarjorieFrank

I just think that a CZ should definitely not be passed off as a diamond to a woman. Shouldn't start off your future with a lie

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I would feel sorry if a man felt like he had to lie to his girl about it.

Re: Recession hits New York brides

Well, I wouldn't say that I wouldn't marry FH if he couldn't afford a diamond. I would just use a band instead of getting a e-ring b/c to me it doesn't make any sense to buy something just for now and replace it later when he has money. JMO.....at the end of the day the weddng band o me is the most impt b/c its the one that goes closest to ur heart

Re: Recession hits New York brides

I agree......if he would do that he should let u know

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Posted by MarjorieFrank

I just think that a CZ should definitely not be passed off as a diamond to a woman. Shouldn't start off your future with a lie

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Re: Recession hits New York brides

My husband proposed to me w/o an engagement diamond ring and brought me a white gold band and promised to give me one when he could afford one. Although, I received it about 6 months before our wedding day, it did get to me but I understand that diamond rings aren't cheap. Flip the picture around for a sec. and put yourself in a guy's shoes. If you had to come up suddenly with 3K+, where would you get all that money to put down for the ring? Unfortunately, most jewelry stores only offer discount paid by cash. Pay with the plastic and you could end up stuck paying off the interest. The article might had use an expensive price tag that a customer who could afford expensive ring at that store. It sounds better to put 65K as opposed to saying typically, our customers have a budget of 3K+. The high price tag makes their store appear more inclusive and a higher-end retail. Since we're hitting recession, I don't think that form of advertisement works anymore.

Re: Recession hits New York brides

Funny story.
FH and I were walking through Nordstroms about a month ago, and we passed by a rounder with a bunch of CZ rings....I was like ' holy cow, those are big'! And Fh goes, well if you said something sooner, I would have bought you the CZ!

It was pretty funny that I was admiring them.. I LOVE my ring, but it was still funny.