Six methods that actually work, ranked by how likely they are to get you caught. Plus the reason none of this matters as much as you think.
Guess. Order size 6, which is the most common women’s ring size in North America, and if it is wrong we resize it free — for as long as you own the ring, not once as a favour. The size of the ring is the least permanent thing about this entire decision. Do not let it stop you from proposing.
Every jeweller in the world knows that ring size is the thing that stalls a proposal for three months, and almost none of them will tell you it does not matter.
It stalls people because it feels like the one detail you cannot fix later, and getting it wrong feels like proof you do not know her. Neither of those things is true. A ring is a piece of metal a jeweller can open and close. Resizing a solitaire up or down two sizes is an hour of work, and we do not charge you for it.
So read the rest of this if you want to get it right the first time. But if you are here at midnight talking yourself out of proposing because you do not know whether she is a 6 or a 6.5, close the tab and go and propose.
A plastic sizer, free, in a plain unmarked envelope with no branding on the outside. Nothing on the packaging says jewellery, and nothing arrives by email that she might see on a shared laptop. It takes about a week.
You do not have to buy anything, and we will not chase you afterwards.
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Ranked by reliability, and honest about which ones will get you caught.
The best method by a distance. Take a ring she wears on the correct finger — the fourth finger of the left hand, not her thumb or index, which are one to two sizes larger. Bring it to us or measure the inside diameter yourself in millimetres and check it against the chart below.
Put it back the same day. Take it from a jewellery box she does not open daily, not off the bathroom sink where she will notice within an hour.
If you cannot take the ring out of the house, place it on a piece of paper and draw carefully around the inside edge, then measure that circle across its widest point in millimetres. Photograph it next to a ruler if you want us to check your work.
Less precise than bringing the ring in, but it is usually right to within half a size, and half a size is well inside what we resize for free.
The most underrated option. Her closest friend or her sister almost certainly already knows, and if she does not, she can find out in one conversation that would sound absurd coming from you. People love being trusted with this.
Pick the one who can keep a secret. You know which one that is, and you know which one it is not.
Wrap a strip of paper or a length of string around the finger, mark where it overlaps, measure the length in millimetres. That number is the circumference, which the chart below converts.
Be honest with yourself about whether she is a heavy sleeper. And pull it snug, not tight: string stretches, and a tight measurement gives you a ring that will not go over the knuckle.
Give her an inexpensive ring as an ordinary, unremarkable gift some months ahead. Ask her to try it on. Note what fits. It is a long game, and it works, and it also gives you cover for why you were in a jewellery shop.
Only works if you are planning far enough ahead to have the patience for it.
Worth saying out loud: a great many people already know a proposal is coming and are quietly hoping it comes soon. Asking her size is not the same as spoiling the surprise — she still will not know when, or where, or how.
If the two of you have talked about getting married, this is not cheating. It is the sensible option that everyone is too proud to take.
North American sizes. If you have measured a ring she owns, use the inside diameter. If you have measured her finger with string, use the circumference.
Every ring size chart on the internet tells you to print it at 100% scale and lay her ring on the circles. Printers lie. Scaling defaults, margin settings and paper size will quietly shrink the page by a few percent, which is easily a full size, and you will not notice. If you print anything, check it first by laying a ruler on the page and confirming that 100 mm measures 100 mm. If it does not, do not use it. Ask us for the plastic sizer instead, which cannot be scaled wrong.
This is the part almost nobody mentions, and it is why chasing perfection here is a waste of your evening. Fingers change size constantly, and the swing is bigger than the gap between sizes.
Temperature. Cold fingers shrink, warm fingers swell. A ring measured on a January morning in Calgary and a ring measured in August are not measuring the same finger. Measure at room temperature.
Time of day. Fingers are at their smallest first thing in the morning and largest at the end of the day. Measure in the evening, because a ring that only fits at 7am is a ring that does not fit.
Salt, heat and exercise. A salty meal, a hot bath or a workout can each move a finger by up to half a size for a few hours.
Band width. This one catches people out. A wide band fits tighter than a narrow one at the same size, because it covers more of the finger. If the band is 6 mm or wider, go up a quarter to a half size. Every ring on our site lists its band width, and the solitaires are narrow, so this mostly will not apply.
The dominant hand is usually larger. If she is right-handed, her right ring finger may be a quarter to a half size bigger than her left. Measure the hand the ring will live on.
Knuckles. If her knuckle is noticeably wider than the base of her finger, the ring has to clear the knuckle, and it will then spin at the base. That is a fitting problem, not a sizing one, and it is solved with sizing beads rather than a bigger ring. Tell us and we will sort it.
Guessing is fine.
We resize it free, for life.
Order a 6. It is the most common women’s ring size in North America, and sizes 5 through 7 cover the large majority of adult women. If she is notably tall or has larger hands, order 6.5 or 7. You are not committing to anything — if it is wrong, we resize it free, and you have 100 days to send the whole thing back if you would rather start over.
A plain or solitaire band can usually move two sizes in either direction without any trouble. Rings with stones set all the way around the band — eternity bands, full pavé — often cannot be resized at all, because there is no plain metal to cut into. Every product page tells you which one you are looking at. The solitaires resize easily.
No. Done properly it is invisible. The jeweller cuts the band at the bottom, adds or removes a section of matching gold, solders it, and polishes the seam out. This is routine work, not surgery, and it does not weaken the ring. Solid gold takes it perfectly well, which is one of several reasons we do not use plated metal.
Yes. A plain envelope, no branding on the outside, nothing that reads as a jewellery company. We also will not send you a confirmation email with our name in the subject line unless you ask. We have done this a lot. We know exactly what you are worried about.
Yes. Canada and the United States use the same numeric scale, so a 6 here is a 6 there. The UK and Australia use letters, and most of Europe uses the circumference in millimetres. If you have a size from anywhere else, send it to us and we will convert it rather than have you guess at a conversion table.
No. A ring that is too big is worse than one that is too small, because a loose ring spins, sits crooked with the stone hanging off the side of her finger, and eventually comes off in a coat pocket or a sink. If you are between sizes and the band is narrow, go down. If it will not clear the knuckle, we can open it up in an afternoon.
Order the 6. If it is wrong, we will fix it, and you will have a story about the ring being slightly too big, which is a better story than the one where you waited another four months.
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