The day you have been waiting for has finally arrived. He has asked and you have said yes. Now, unless you are lucky enough for money to be no object, you may discover that the engagement ring of your dreams and your budget are not in the same league. Never mind, when designing your own engagement ring, you may well be able to minimize some costs to still end up with the engagement ring you have your heart set on.

There are several ways in which you can reduce the cost of a custom made engagement ring:

* Metal. The metal that you select to have your ring crafted from can significantly impact on the final price. Platinum, while a hard wearing and high quality metal, can cost almost twice as much as the equivalent in gold. If you admire the platinum look you can always have your ring made up in white gold, and then have it rhodium plated for a similar appearance.

* Diamond size and quality. The price of a diamond is governed by these factors: the size, the cut, the clarity, and the color. By juggling around with these, you can dramatically alter the price tag. If you have your heart set on an enormous solitaire ring, does the diamond have to be internally flawless? Will you notice if it is not? A good custom jeweler should be able to position tiny flaws in the outer edges of your diamond under a claw or the setting. This sort of clever ring making can still produce the same visual result but with a much smaller price.

Sometimes just dropping down one color can significantly impact on the diamond price as well. If you have your heart set on a ring with plenty of bling you can alternatively have many smaller diamonds incorporated into the setting. Massed smaller diamonds will never cost the same as a single stone of the equivalent weight.

* The setting. Some settings can actually make your diamond appear bigger. By incorporating white gold or platinum around your diamond, the stone will look larger. A clever jeweler will be able to guide you in the right direction with this.

* Intricate working and engraving can make an engagement ring appear much more impressive. There are even some patterns that can be worked into settings and the shanks of the ring that can appear to be tiny diamonds, but aren't. These sorts of workings can add a lot of texture and visual appeal to an otherwise simple style of engagement ring.

By designing your own engagement ring you will be able to decide where you want any trade offs to be to keep your engagement ring within your budget. A great jeweler should be able to present you with various options on diamonds until you hit upon the stones that are going to work for your ring.

Companies like Tacori actually provide engagement rings made without a center stone, allowing you to select a diamond from within your budget to finish your engagement ring off.