Despite the traditional focus on winter as “proposal season,” new data suggests engagement planning and spending picks up significantly in spring. Search volumes for jewellers rise by 38% in April, indicating increased consumer intent ahead of summer engagements.
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Recent analysis from Dawsons Auctioneers highlights a disconnect between perception and reality when it comes to proposals, both in terms of location and financial commitment.
Proposals skew private, not public
While social media often emphasizes elaborate, destination-style proposals, the data shows a more restrained reality. The most common place to propose is at home, accounting for 23.7% of engagements. Outdoor locations such as parks and gardens follow at 18.4%, with beaches at 12.4%.
More public or high-cost settings, such as restaurants (5.6%) or travel-heavy locations like mountains (3.9%), make up a smaller share. The findings suggest that, for most couples, proposals are less about spectacle and more about convenience, familiarity, and cost control.
From a financial perspective, this trend aligns with broader consumer behavior, where discretionary spending is being more carefully managed amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures. In 2025, traditional jewellery markets saw significant declines, being one of the luxury spending categories immediately subject to spending cut-offs in times of crisis.
Spending patterns show wide disparity
The financial data reveals a similarly uneven picture when it comes to engagement ring spending.
Although the average engagement ring price stands at £2,575.90, this figure is skewed by higher-end purchases. In reality, 51% of buyers spend under £500, making it by far the most common price band.
Mid-range spending is also significant:
- £500–£1,000: 15.3%
- £1,000–£2,000: 15.6%
- £2,000–£5,000: 12.9%
Only 5.2% of buyers spend more than £5,000, though these purchases heavily influence the overall average.
Higher spend linked to higher satisfaction
The data indicates a correlation between price and reported satisfaction. Positive sentiment rises steadily with spending, from 66.4% for rings under £500 to nearly 80% for rings above £5,000.
However, the findings also suggest that non-financial factors play a role. Inherited rings, for example, show slightly higher sentiment scores than newly purchased ones, pointing to the value placed on personal significance and history.
Jonathan Pratt, Managing Director of Dawsons Auctioneers, commented:
“What is clear is that the UK has a much higher positive sentiment towards expensive engagement rings. Rings that cost over £5,000 are viewed most positively, reflecting traditional views that engagement rings should signal financial stability, typically costing about one to three months’ salary.
While advice has relaxed on the old adage that a ring has to cost up to three months’ salary, the data definitely shows some correlation between a higher price point and a more satisfied customer, showing that while you should only buy what you can afford, it can be risky to buy cheap.
Our data also reveals that inherited rings carry a marginally higher positive sentiment than new purchases. This tells us that consumers highly value storytelling and history in their jewellery, too”
A shift toward pragmatic decision-making
Taken together, the data points to a more pragmatic approach to engagements. Consumers appear to be balancing emotional significance with financial constraints, opting for lower-cost settings and, in many cases, lower-priced rings, while still associating higher spending with perceived value and satisfaction.
The result is a market defined less by tradition and more by trade-offs, where affordability, personal meaning, and expectations of value increasingly shape how couples approach one of life’s most significant financial and emotional decisions.
