We didn't want to spend a lot on ours either... and since the whole diamond engagement ring thing is nothing more than an ad campaign that has been going on for like 50 years we just opted right the fuck out of it. I decided it would be a lot more meaningful if I made the ring myself. So I bought a couple of gold coins off ebay, hammered them into a flare and punched a hole through the center, polished... viola. They look exactly like "real" commercial rings... you can't tell they were coins at all.... except she got to be there while I was sweating over them... got to help make decisions about how wide to flare the band and what kind of finish we wanted on the metal. It was fun and made the end product very sentimental to both of us.