The ultimate engagement ring guide for every type of bride

For the extravagant bride: Harry Winston

One Harry Winston diamond is good, but seven are even better. That's the magic number in the brand's Pear Shaped Cluster ring, which sees a beautiful pear-cut central diamond surrounded on each side by three smaller, but no less sparkling, stones.

The ring is part of Harry Winston's Cluster collection, which was designed by the 'king of diamonds' in the 1940s and inspired by a snow-dusted holly wreath.

While the diamonds are arranged at seemingly random angles, they are in fact meticulously positioned so that the light reflects at just the right angle, while platinum is kept to a minimum in order to allow light to flood into, around and out of the stones.

The result? Maximum brilliance and sparkle, for brides who want their ring noticed from the other side of the street. Price on application, harrywinston.com

For the boho bride: Spinelli Kilcollin

Spinelli Kilcollin’s ingenious Galaxy rings launched in 2010, but came to the attention of fashion editors worldwide thanks to a custom-made diamond version in 2012. After their own wedding in LA, the husband-and-wife team moved into engagement ring territory by adding solitaire diamonds or coloured stones into the mix of interconnecting bands.

There are eight pre-designed styles; or brides-to-be can while away the hours choosing their perfect combination of sizes, metals and gemstone finishes, with the resulting band worn stacked up on the ring finger or spread across multiple fingers.

Plus there’s always the option to add an extra ring to celebrate each married-life milestone. Price on application, spinellikilcollin.com

For the traditional bride: De Beers 

With a name synonymous with diamonds, it’s no surprise that De Beers has one of the most comprehensive ranges of engagement rings on the market. Its latest design, the DB Darling, is a new addition to the now 20-strong DB Classic collection.

Ostensibly inspired by Antonio Canova’s 18th-century sculpture which depicts Cupid (god of love) embracing Psyche (goddess of the soul), the ring features a round brilliant white diamond on a fully-set band of three rows of micropavé diamonds.

The result is the illusion of diamonds covering every millimetre of the ring, giving extraordinary sparkle from every angle, while making sure that an equally dazzling wedding band can sit snugly up against it. Price on application, debeers.com

For the minimalist bride: Sophie Bille Brahe

Danish jewellery designer and poster girl for Scandi minimalism Sophie Bille Brahe has a knack for making the simplest shapes uniquely her own. For spring-summer 2018 she's applied her pared-back aesthetic to a range of bridal jewellery named, appropriately enough, Le Mariage.

The collection features gently curving bands of satiny gold and pavé diamonds, with pear or brilliant-cut stones seeming to float above, beneath or between them: a lesson in less-is-more.

It also includes delicate bracelets strung with freshwater pearls, and mini hoop earrings strung with heart-shaped diamonds: perfect for the big event, and every day thereafter. From £2,480, doverstreetmarket.com

For the alternative bride: Ruth Tomlinson

London-based jewellery designer Ruth Tomlinson's designs are instantly recognisable and intensely coveted by a certain breed of jewellery aficionados whose tastes are slightly left of centre. Her organic Encrustrations pieces, which see gemstones arranged seemingly at random between barnacle-like granules of gold, make for beautifully unique alternative engagement rings.

Best of all, Tomlinson offers a bespoke service in which a client's own diamonds can be re-set into one of her contemporary creations, ideal for brides-to-be with family stones, or indeed wives considering giving their existing engagement ring a revamp. ruthtomlinson.co.uk

For the colour-loving bride: Pragnell

There’s no rule that says engagement rings have to be white diamonds, and the popularity of coloured stones has rocketed in recent years. The latest Masterpieces collection from Stratford-Upon-Avon family jeweller Pragnell includes two such stones: a 2.54-carat oval Burmese ruby and a 2.62-carat cushion-cut Burmese sapphire, selected by a member of the family for their exceptional colour and quality.

Simply yet meticulously set in warm yellow gold in a rubover setting, the minimal design lets the stones sing. There’s also an oval-cut white diamond option for the more traditional bride. From £20,000; pragnell.co.uk

For the rock’n’roll bride: Jemma Wynne x Stone & Strand

The Big Apple is always ripe with jewellery brands lesser known on these shores, and is therefore a good bet if she’s after an engagement ring unlike anything her friends will be sporting. The collaboration between New York-based jewellery brand Jemma Wynne and the city’s online jewellery boutique Stone & Strand provides exactly that.

Six exclusive ring designs range from simple-with-a-twist (a brilliant-cut diamond on a double-band of diamond pavé) to decidedly alternative: a brilliant-cut stone set on one end of the brand’s signature open rings, or surrounded by a double hexagonal halo. All are finished in blackened 18-carat white gold, lending a rock’n’roll edge. From £1,960; stoneandstrand.com

For the glamorous bride: Bulgari

With its reputation for boldly colourful jewellery, Bulgari isn’t the first brand that springs to mind when you think “engagement ring”. But fittingly for a brand founded in Rome, its engagement ring offering is imbued with a sense of Italian exuberance and glamour.

Accompanied by a campaign depicting an elegant Roman wedding, the Incontro d’Amore features pavé diamonds along its gently curving split shank, which spirals up to display a brilliant-cut stone. From £16,100, bulgari.com

For the romantic bride: Boodles

First launched in 2015, Boodles’ Mosaic collection pays tribute to the geometric patterns found in art and architecture across history. And because three diamonds are better than one, this model sees three elegant Ashoka diamonds - the patented cut exclusive to Boodles in the UK - suspended from pavé-diamond openwork, allowing light to flood into each stone’s 62 facets.

The ring is complemented by a range of bridal jewellery also featuring these distinctive, elongated rectangular stones, while elsewhere in the Mosaic the prettily graphic motifs are set with rare coloured diamonds. From £16,600; boodles.com