This Common Engagement Ring Shopping Mistake Will Cost You

With this ring, I thee dread. Getting hitched should be a celebration of love and partnership. But if couples aren't careful, they can end up spending their honeymoon fund on rings — as well as some sanity. Perfect-choice panic can soar when shopping for a ring one may wear forever, not to mention one that will be posted to social media for the scrutiny of the masses. Pressure makes diamonds, but it can also make shopping for diamond rings feel like a financial free-for-all. Often, those shopping for a diamond engagement ring lose focus on what really matters once a certain pack of price-point influencers get involved: the four Cs.

Cut, clarity, color, and carat are the well-known four Cs of diamonds. These qualities determine a diamond's size, weight, sparkle, and price. An obsession with supersizing a certain one of the four Cs can cloud even the clearest judgment when ring shopping. But keeping an eye on another can mean the difference between a brilliant stone or a dull rock, and possibly a significant savings.

A diamond's technical specs are important to consider when talking with your jeweler about what you're in the market for, however, focusing only on the four Cs might make your rings your biggest wedding money-waster. So how can you sail the high Cs without ending up underwater?

While a diamond's beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some key elements can make that diamond more or less beautiful — and costly. A diamond's carat weight is listed in standard milligrams. The heavier the diamond, the pricier it will be. Bigger can seem better when it comes to sparkling rocks, but know this isn't always the case. Instead of breaking your budget for a "magic" carat weight at a round number, ask to see options at weights a shade lower than more popular sizes. A lighter carat weight like .98 may look just like a 1.0 to the naked eye, and cost a little less as well.

A diamond's color (or lack thereof), meanwhile, is listed in letters, in descending order from D to Z, representing the color quality. A perfect diamond according to the Gemological Institute of America's grading scale is purely colorless. For example, a diamond with a Z grade would be obviously yellow, while a high-level D grade would be a colorless, or white diamond (Elizabeth Taylor's favorite).

With this said, before you strain your eyes stressing over the diamond-color-purity alphabet, know that much of a diamond's color range isn't immediately visible to the naked eye. In fact, a lower (and less expensive) grade of diamond may end up being your own diamond in the rough. The same goes for a diamond's clarity, a measure that denotes how transparent a diamond is, and how difficult (or easy) it is to see the flaws the stone may contain.

A diamond's cut affects how it reflects light, as well as how a diamond's color appears to the naked eye. Cut helps bring a gemstone to life and the design around that stone together. And, for those ring shoppers on a budget, focusing on the cut can help maximize that budget's potential for a beautiful stone and setting. (Speaking of a budget, here's how much of your income you should spend on an engagement ring.)

Sitting across from a jeweler, or even clicking around online, can put shoppers into a zone where nothing else matters except growing numbers and perfect grades. Obsessing over the four Cs might get you a great ring within your price range, or might get you in over your head. Aside from stone qualities, there's one C that you should focus on more, and it also happens to be the hallmark of a strong relationship. This fifth C of ring shopping is communication.

Communicate with your partner about the kind of ring they want to wear. What are their absolute deal-breakers? What input do they want from you on ring design? What is their ring size? Do they even want a diamond? Communicating with your partner about what they want, as well as maximum spend, can, in turn, help you communicate with vendors. After all, the wearing and sharing of these rings is what ends up making them priceless — not just the gemstones they're festooned with. And, just as adding a personal touch to your wedding can save you money, keeping your wedding rings personal can as well.