Some shapes punch over their weight class when it comes to face-up appearance. 

This, most of the time, is related to the way some precise shapes are cut, let me explain.

The bottom part of the picture below is called *pavilion*.

Depending on which shape the diamond cutters are cutting, they will have either a deeper (on the left) or shallower pavilion. (on the right below)

The shallower the pavilion - the more spread the stone will be, and therefore the face-up appearance will be bigger.

This applies to some shapes like Pear shape, Oval, Marquise, and what we call in the industry - Trilliant cut, which is actually a triangle shape.

If you choose to go for something else than a traditional solitaire style of the engagement ring, you could consider getting a slightly smaller center stone, below these numbers, like 1ct, 0.9ct, and 0.75ct.

This will, for the marginal difference in size, free a nice chunk of your budget.

You could then buy more of these bigger than normal looking gemstones to set them around your center stone.

As an example, you could set around your Oval center stone another pair of Ovals:

Or if you get a center stone with a smaller face-up appearance, like an Emerald cut, you could then balance the equation by putting 2 Trilliant cuts outside your center stone.

Not only are there quite a few combinations between center stone and side stones that will give you a massive and impressive face-up appearance, but you can also go for small melees to go around these center stones.

Melees - small 1mm round diamonds like in the picture below:

Adding this up to this already impressive face-up appearance will make it even better!

And then, boom! 

Pay less and get more!