5 Ways to Get Him To Buy The Engagement Ring You Want

It's funny how a piece of jewelry women obsess over is so often left to a man's judgment.

And yet, most of the time the prospective groom manages to surprise his girlfriend with just the right ring. And it even fits!

This does not happen by accident.

Women have been devising subtle and not-so-subtle ways to get the engagement ring they want for ages.

Do you just tell your guy exactly what you like? Or are hints enough? Here are 5 tactics for leading your man to the perfect engagement ring.

Tactic1 - Plant hints: You want it to be a surprise. Or at least, you want to appear surprised when you open that box (or cupcake, as the case may be). That means you'll have to leave hints. And if you're hinting, you're probably better off sacrificing subtlety for clarity. For example, one lady admits she ripped pictures of rings from magazines and left them around her future husband's apartment. She also "accidentally" left behind a ring she wears on her ring finger. How convenient! Now he knew her ring size and her style, and they never had to have a conversation about it.

Tactic 2 - Go "what if" shopping: Michelle Velasquez of proposal planning company The Heart Bandits told Brides Magazine you can go "what if" shopping. Briefly stop by a jewelry store window, point out what you like, and move on. Chances are you'll probably have to do some maneuvering to get yourself in front of those store windows, especially before they close and move all the jewelry out of the displays. And then you'll have to act all casual about suddenly noticing (Oh, hey!) there are rings in the vicinity. And (Oh, gee!) you just happen to really like that one, right there. No big deal, just the perfect ring you've been obsessing over ...

Tactic 3 - Leave your rings around for sizing and inspiration: This tactic is super subtle and may work best for women who like jewelry, but don't have one particular setting in mind. But you can just make sure your boyfriend knows where you keep your jewelry in case he wants to independently do his own ring style/size intelligence work. This assumes he can extrapolate your style based on other examples, which is not a skill all men have. A guy could, theoretically, look through your rings and trace the size on some paper. You know, if he were clever. And if he knew exactly where to look. And if you kept pen and paper visibly nearby.

Tactic 4 - Just tell him what you want: And then, there's the most direct approach. If you're already pretty darn sure you're getting engaged, you might as well tell your about-to-be fiance exactly what you want. And a surprising number of women do this, down to the cut, setting, and metal. A lot of men appreciate this because it takes out all the guess work and pressure. There are different ways women do this. But the most popular is to send a screen shot or a link to a ring you like. Then you can say anything from "this is the exact ring I want" to "doesn't have to be this ring, but bring this image to the jeweler." Get your finger sized, too, so you can provide that information as well.

Tactic 5 - Pick out your dream ring together after he proposes: You don't have to have your ultimate engagement ring when you first get engaged. Some of the women actually got it after the proposal -- in one case, nearly a year after the wedding. Even if the ring he picks out isn't exactly what you have in mind, you can always alter it later. One woman's future mother-in-law had her mother's diamond put in a setting for her son's proposal. The bride later had it reset more to her liking. "I feel like there shouldn't be any shame in doing it yourself," she says. "And we shouldn't expect guys to take a crash course in diamond grades and precious metals in order to pop the question."

That goes for all of these tips. Don't expect your future husband to read your mind or to suddenly take up a keen interest in jewelry just so he can find you the perfect engagement ring.

Clearly the engagement itself matters far more than any single piece of jewelry.

But if you do have your heart set on something specific, you should find the best way to get your message across.