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Engagement Rings

It is in your best interest to at least consider an online store. Local places just can't keep a lot of stones in stock and it hugely complicates the process.

I visited multiple local places looking for cushions and their selection was awful. I waited for more options multiple times and it just wasn't worth it. For rounds, you might be fine but anything else is a toss up.

I ended up buying the diamond online and getting it set locally at a cad shop. It was overall a good experience and one that got me far more for my money.

Also if you're going the round route, ask the dealer for an idealscope and ASET image. Some will even offer them for non-round stones. It was like pulling teeth to get any of my local stores to do this.

James Allen
Whiteflash
Engagement Rings Direct
Good Old Gold

The store names are mostly ridiculous but these stores are a dream to work with compared to local places.
 
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on this note, i've heard that "fancy" shape stones (like ovals or pears) tend to look bigger than they actually are. my cousin has a pear shape and it looks GIGANTIC even though it's only around a carat. I'd want an oval shaped diamond for the same reason.

Marquise, Radiant, Pear, Oval, and Trillon cuts look the biggest for their carat weight. Princess, Emerald, Asscher and Cushions face up small, so keep that in mind if she's into size. I'm not judging because I wanted a pretty sizeable diamond myself. I like halos a lot and they really add finger coverage. They can be very tasteful when well done. AKA not bought at a crappy mall store where they don't know anything about diamonds let alone quality bench work.
 
What kind of setting does she like? Just in what I've seen on other girls' hands, you can cheat the size of the stone a little bit (in favor of a nicer measure on all the other C's) and have something that looks "impressive" by doing a halo setting... Personally I'm not a fan, but if your girl likes that look that may be an option to keep the first-glance wow factor.

She prefers solitaire, but halo would be OK too. I'm not as big a fan of the halo, but I'm not the one who's wearing it! And she wants a round cut.

Shop around and find a good local jeweler that will be patient with you so you can ask a lot of questions. The difference between a carat and 0.9 a carat is essentially indistinguishable, FWIW. So you'll get the benefit of size but not the price premium. (All 1-carat diamonds are priced higher than scale just because they're 1 carat.) And nobody is going to call you or her out about the size if you just say it's a carat.

Another thing to consider is the setting -- certain settings make the stones look bigger or smaller. My wife's setting is a solitaire with six prongs, which really makes it stand out. I was really taken aback when I picked it up at the jeweler.

Of all the ways to grade a diamond, if you're going to pay a premium for one, I'd go with cut. That's where I paid extra, and random people will stop my wife to comment how much her ring sparkles.

Anyhow, again, just talk to a bunch of jewelers and find someone who seems trustworthy and patient and go from there.

Yeah, my current plan is to get something around .9, and then upgrade in the other areas, get platinum instead of white gold, etc. Planning to go look at stuff tomorrow afternoon. Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, but I'm always worried someone's going to scam me, so I'm trying to do my due diligence.
 
http://www.diamdb.com/compare/1ct-pear-vs-1ct-round/

I forgot to link that. You can put in diamonds of the different cuts and weights and it will show you how it looks on a hand and what kind of finger coverage it will give. If you know your GF's ring size, you can change the hand on the model to be her finger size for accuracy. The example linked shows that a 1 carat pear has 9% more surface than a 1 carat round.
 
Take them to the jewelry store to find out what they like and what kind of setting. So many dudes just wing it and they are so so so dumb.

You don't have to make a special trip, you can just be at the mall and suggest popping in
 
Yeah, knock it down by 0.1 carat and the prices drop considerably. Just tell everyone it's a carat and move on. Unless she demands to see the certificate or something, but then you need to reevaluate some life choices.

Hahaha - yeah, she's not that type at all. It's actually the second go-round for her; the first guy bought her a MASSIVE rock but, like, put it all on a credit card, so you can figure out how that went. And she's pretty reasonable about it. If we waiting a year I could definitely up the budget, but we'd like to have kids sooner rather than later, so getting married next summer is the best option for us.
 
Cost drop when you move to the cheapest .9 carat diamond:
Lowest priced 1 carat diamonds on bluenile by cut:

Round - 3800 - 2599
Princess - 2792 - 2187
Emerald - 2100 - 1686
Asscher - 2672 - 2025
Marquise - 2696 - 1699
Oval - 2332 - 2174
Cushion - 2513 - 1507

These are all lousy stones for the other factors (J color, SI2 clarity) and you'll have to buy the ring itself too. $3k is going to be tough for a "big" rock.

Again, these are the worst stones you can realistically buy (J/good/SI2), but dropping in size will save some dough.
 
From what I've seen, a platinum setting will easily eat up about 1/5 to 1/3 of your $3K budget. I'd go white gold for now, up the specs on the stone with the savings, and then upgrade the setting later if it's that important to her. Upgrading the setting will be less sentimental (and less expensive) than upgrading the stone later, but that's just my 0.02
 
It is in your best interest to at least consider an online store. Local places just can't keep a lot of stones in stock and it hugely complicates the process.

I visited multiple local places looking for cushions and their selection was awful. I waited for more options multiple times and it just wasn't worth it. For rounds, you might be fine but anything else is a toss up.

I ended up buying the diamond online and getting it set locally at a cad shop. It was overall a good experience and one that got me far more for my money.

Also if you're going the round route, ask the dealer for an idealscope and ASET image. Some will even offer them for non-round stones. It was like pulling teeth to get any of my local stores to do this.

James Allen
Whiteflash
Engagement Rings Direct
Good Old Gold

The store names are mostly ridiculous but these stores are a dream to work with compared to local places.

This x 1000. You can get a good stone shopping locally, but you'll most likely overpay for a piece of crap. Most jewelry store employees know nothing about diamonds either. Frankly, talk to your gf about shapes she likes and style of settings she likes then go to Pricescope.com and ask for assistance on their Rocky Talk page. You list you budget and the kind of ring your looking for and people find high quality stones and settings in your budget. Some people there are in the industry others are just hobbyists, but they know this stuff inside and out. And it's free help.
 
Shout out to having a family member be childhood best friends with a jeweler. Bro got his girl's ring for $1300-$1500. Valued at $5300. Of course, I don't think it would sell for $5300. But it'd sell for a lot more than what he paid. Keeping that connection in my back pocket till it's time.
 
When I bought my wife's ring it was from scraping together as much money as I could working part time. I told my boss at the time that I was using my money to buy her a ring and he looked at me like I was crazy. I told him it was a good investment. He said, bmoney, you are broke as hell. A good investment is one that you can sell at a later date for MORE money. Good luck with that one.
 
Don't have time to go back through 12 pages, but if it hasn't been said already - Blue Nile. Great app, great service, and a beautiful ring.
 
No offense to the GF but I don't know very many people who would be cool with wearing a ring from a marriage that didn't work (though my brother an his wife had my mom's diamond reset and their marriage seems to be going strong at 6.5 years (but then my parents did last 8)

My old roommate (the man known as Whore) was dumped by his fiancé in favor of another fraternity brother. Whore talked the new beau into buying the engagement ring since she had picked it out, but the gal nixed that idea. I don't think that relationship worked out, either.
 
Diamonds are a lousy investment. That said I spent about 2.5 months gross salary on my wife's. And I got a nice discount from a family friend.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
 
I think that the standard advice is not to exceed 3 months' gross salary- but I did as there was no such thing as Blue Nile, etc 25 years ago.
 
I have a strange fear of picking out a diamond and the jeweler switching it out for one of lesser value during the mounting phase. Does/did anyone else have this fear / think about it?
 
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