Your guide to choosing the right engagement ring

Choosing an engagement ring used to be a fairly straightforward, almost transactional process. Grooms, sometimes accompanied by their mothers, would walk into a family-run jewellery shop, make a choice, and be done. 

Fast forward to 2025, and it’s a whole different sparkle story. Couples are increasingly designing their rings together and treating the experience like a dress rehearsal for the lifetime of decisions they’ll soon make. “It’s actually beautiful—it turns into a shared ritual. They try pieces together—laugh, disagree, change their minds,” says Kahini Mehta, creative director at Kantilal Chhotalal. And for those who want to keep a little mystery alive? “The groom usually comes with a co-conspirator—sister (of the bride) or her best friend who knows the bride’s taste,” Mehta adds. But when it comes to choosing the right ring, what are some key factors that a couple needs to keep in mind?

First step: quality check

If you’re thinking of a diamond ring then you’ve probably already heard of the 4Cs—cut, clarity, colour, and carat. But don’t stop there. A certification from the Gemological Institute of America, or GIA, ensures that your stone’s beauty is backed by science. After all, what’s more stylish than knowing your forever sparkle is the real deal?

It’s about cut (not just size)

Sure, carat counts. But today, style comes first. Are you a maximalist who loves chunky jewellery? A minimalist who wants something clean and sculptural? Often inspired by celebrity culture (cue Zendaya’s internet-breaking east-west engagement ring), couples are happy to experiment. “There’s a lot of interest in different cuts—oval shapes, old mine cuts, rose cuts,” adds jewellery designer Shruti Chhajer Ranka of Shruti Sushma. “People are choosing stones where the face of the diamond is larger, flatter, and more interesting.”

Trend watching in 2025

When it comes to metals, yellow gold settings are having a moment, lending a vintage warmth to modern silhouettes. Meanwhile, for others, the ultimate flex is the past-present-future ring—three stones symbolising a couple’s journey together. “It has the right amount of bling and it’s easy to maintain, always looks fresh,” says Chhajer Ranka who is a fan of the design. At the same time, there’s a whisper-soft counter-current toward minimalism. “There’s a quiet return to the solitaire," says Mehta. “Not the oversized, flashy kind—but a distilled, architectural form. A single, luminous diamond. A sculpted but understated band. There’s something deeply moving about a design that doesn’t try too hard—it simply is.”

Your ring can evolve with you

The perfect ring today doesn’t have to be the perfect ring forever. Life changes—and your jewellery can too. Chhajer Ranka shares the story of her own engagement ring: “I got them converted into nice studs later and bought myself another 5-carat ring, an oval, when it was my 5th wedding anniversary. It’s the emotion that matters.” Whether it’s upgrading to a bigger stone, resetting the diamond into a new design, or adding birthstones to mark your growing family, personalisation keeps your ring part of your evolving story.

Something that’s truly yours

Personalisation isn’t just about adding diamonds—it’s about weaving your story into the design. Mehta shares one unforgettable project: a couple who lived between New York and Mumbai, who exchanged voice notes, emails, and playlists over the course of their long-distance love. “When the groom came to design the ring, we embedded a secret: the band was inscribed on the inside with the opening line of a poem he wrote for her during their first winter apart. Outside, it looked like a sleek classic solitaire—but inside, a private verse wrapped around her finger.” It’s these intimate touches—the ones no one sees but you—that transform a piece of jewellery into something sacred.