Top Celebrity Engagement Rings: Part One

With their social status and money, celebrities go all out when it comes to special gifts – and engagement rings are perhaps the most special to feature in the media limelight.  We look at some of the most extravagant and stunning examples taken from our favourite celebrity figures...which do you like best?  Who has the best taste? Have any of them inspired your own designs?

Katie Holmes

Actress Katie Holmes’ 5 carat oval-shaped diamond engagement ring set in platinum and rose gold is reminiscent of art deco rings, with its focus on a large centre stone bedded in an elegant pave setting. The unusual two-tone, platinum-rose gold setting spruces up the antique-style ring, and adds a unique element and contemporary twist to a very popular look.

The proposal

Hollywood start Tom Cruise made his proposal to Katie Holmes at the Eiffel Tower in Paris in June, 2005.

Eva Longoria

Longoria’s engagement ring is something to make all girls jealous; an emerald cut beauty custom designed by Jean Dousset. For the past ten years, Dousset has worked for French jewellery stores and will soon be designing his own line. He also recently opened up his own workshop and divides his time between Paris and L.A.

Eva’s ring holds an impressive 248 diamonds and took a painstaking 116 hours of labour to make. The ring is set in white-gold with a tiffany prong design and weighs in at 5 carats.  It is estimated that the sparkler cost half a million dollars (£346,345). The renowned jeweller apparently fashioned the ring after Eva’s personality; feminine, yet very loyal, loving and strong. Tony liked the personal touch of hand-engraved wedding rings and so a personal message from Tony is enscripted inside the band in the likeness of his handwriting.

The proposal

On November 29, 2006 Tony Parker presented Eva Longoria with an engagement ring designed by Jean Dousset.

Beyonce Knowles

Beyoncé first publicly displayed her wedding ring on the red carpet for Fashion Rocks at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

The singer, 27, secretly married rapper Jay-Z in April 2008.  She flashed an 18 carat flawless emerald-cut solitaire diamond set in platinum by Lorraine Schwartz, which according to the jeweller is valued at more than $5 million dollars (£3.5 million).

Jennifer Anniston

Although this celebrity marriage didn’t last, but Hollywood star Brad Pitt did very well by co-designing this ring with Silvia Damiani.  He wanted the ring to be tactile with the stones to be set on different levels.  The overall shape is akin to the concept of a heart and a symbol of eternity.  This sparkling stunner is estimated have cost around $500,000 (£346,345).

The proposal

The couple shared their engagement with the world during a Sting concert in New York City in 1999, and were married a year later in Malibu, California.

Coleen Rooney

Although the setting is not as flash as it might have been, Wayne Rooney did choose a beautiful £45,000 cushion-cut diamond ring for his beau Coleen. When she turned 21, the Premier league footballer upgraded her ring to a 10-carat, £200,000 Chopard whopper, which she now wears as her engagement ring. The famous couple both have £1 million worth of matching diamond wedding bands from the New York-based Jacob & Co.

The proposal

Ever the romancer, Rooney proposed to Coleen when she was just 17 on the forecourt of a BP garage.

Take a look at part two where we bring you even more of the best celebrity engagement rings!