Getting to be that time with my girl.... I've done a little research but I'm still pretty clueless... Looking for advice on Atlanta/Alpharetta area stores that you guys have used and some idea on what to look for. I've been informed that she prefers Princess Cut, white gold or platinum, and no bagettes(spell?)... Solitare I believe is what its called. Budget is approx $1800 to a high of $3000, so I know I'm not going to get anything really nice. But just hoping to get the max for the little money I have... Any help will be appreciated...
Here's a bit of advice, buy the ring from a place that has a jeweler on staff like Jared. A buddy of mine bought his at Zales and they have to send it out to get serviced every time and it's a hassle. He always complains about it as does his wife. Also, clarity is more important than carat. A clear diamond will shine brighter and look better than a larger one with more inclusions. Some girls just care about size but once you start comparing rings to rings, the shiny ones always win out over the big ones.
I went to a lot of places before I purchased my wifes ring. I ended up buying it from Solomon Brothers in Buckhead. I've also purchased all of the wifes jewelery since then from them. They have an awesome staff and they stand behind the products they sell 100%. They are fair and honest and quite frankly the only ones that I trust.
Try D geller and son that is where I bought my fiance's ring from. And like Alex said make sure where ever you buy they have a jeweler on sight....
D Geller and Solomon (and pawn shops ) were on my lists of places... I'm really clueless on the color/clarity.. Here are a few examples of what I've found so far... Can anyone tell me if this is about right or should I be looking for better numbers for the $$ (obviously I'm guessing these prices would go down when I got in and negotiate... http://www.zales.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10762926&kpc=1 http://www.zales.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3528494&kpc=1 http://www.kay.com/webapp/wcs/store...01|10001|-1|161227501|15051|15051.15057.15106 http://www.kay.com/webapp/wcs/store...01|10001|-1|161221801|15051|15051.15057.15106
think I'll sit this one out actually, I will leave this here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTkp9UqVVHs
I'm in the same boat as you but I'm buying from Soloman Brothers as they carry a certain ring I'm looking for. If you go, talk to Lisa Mattingly. She has been super cool and non-pressuring to buy something out of your price range.
^^^That sounds like a good idea, thats 2 votes for Soloman... Do you happen to have an email for her so I can get the ball rolling?
Princess cut looks like this Try Shane & co off Haynes Bridge. I'd go to every one of those stores and shop around.
I got engaged about a year and two months ago. I spent a LOT of time doing research, going to jewelers, looking at diamonds etc. A few things that I found were important bits of information. There are two major gem grading societies, EGL and GIA. GIA is "stricter" and thusly a two different gems that are graded at the same level from the EGL and GIA will be more expensive if it is graded by the GIA (generally). The diamond I got was graded by EGL. Since you know the cut your girl likes you are ahead of the game. Cut is hands down the most important thing on the diamond. I'm looking at the EGL certificate right now for my wifes diamond and it is graded SI2 (small inclusion 2). That's not great when it comes to clarity, but it is an "excellent" cut. So even though there are inclusions it was cut so that those inclusions are not visible. Her diamond is incredibly sparkly. Diamond color grades are given with the diamond upside down. This may sound funny but I'm sure you are going to go to the solomon brothers (I went to them, great staff, didn't get my diamond there) and they will show you how different color gradings look when upside down. But, when turned right side up the color difference is MUCH harder to see between very similar colors. I went with an I. The diamond I got was 1.03 carats. The difference in price between a diamond that is 1.5 carats was significant. But if you put those two diamonds side by side the actual size difference was not that great. Carat is a weight, so it doesn't really tell you how large the diamond will appear in a ring. So a 1 carat diamond that is cut in a certain way can sometimes have a table almost as big as a 1.5 carat diamond. As long as the cut is excellent you can have a diamond that appears larger without spending the cash. With your budget you will be hard pressed to get a 1 carat diamond unless you are going with a solitaire setting. Don't get hung up on this. she will never be able to tell if it is .85 carats or 1 carat. Unless she gets it weighed. This is the band I went with. http://www.georgiadiamond.com/engagement.aspx?PieceId=J6685 Anyways, good luck. Hope I helped a little. PM me with any questions.
There's aloe of good info that I won't rehash in here but I will suggest solomon bros and d.geller. I went to both and ended up getting her ring from d.geller because they were willing to wheel and deal. They make no mistake that they aren't fancy in their showrooms but they are knowledgeable and willing to work with your budget. I got an ascher cut 1.66 yada,yada,yada for about 6000 in a simple 4 prong setting. They told me to get it appraised later and if it didn't get appraised at $10k+ they would take it back. I had it independantly appraised and it came back at $12k. D.geller also will clean it and resecure the setting on the spot, free of charge, any time. They will have my business in the future. Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
^^ Yerrow, sounds like you got a great deal, I will check out D. Geller as well... ^^ Matto, I like the ring you got, thats awesome! Since I was told Princess cut with no stones on the sides, its sounding like thats good for me as far as pricing goes. I'd be happy with 3/4 Carat, and that sounds about where I'll be with my budget. Most of the ones I've seen so far are eithe SI2 or one grade less, with both H & I on the color.. Is color just a preference, or is one actually better?? More votes for solomon as well.. Looks like I'll be heading there in short order..
I can only say to spring for platinum, or at least palladium. We were told that the white gold would fade and tarnish a lot faster, and didn't pay much attention, but after our year+ engagement my lady's white gold engagement ring looks very different than her white gold wedding band. As for stones, I don't know much. My grandmother left me her engagement ring so I just transplanted it into a new band. We were trying to design our own setting at Jewelry Artisans, and I don't suggest you follow that example. They were terrible to work with and when we finally got everything out of their hands went to Decatur City Jewelers and had it done. I can say that Solomon Brothers has done me good, though, too. My other grandmother left me a ring with four small diamonds and they turned it into very nice earrings for my mom and my wife.
^^ Well... I was thinking white gold due to budget restraints... figured the diamond was more important than the ring... No?
Buy Cheap!!! Save that money on car mods....LOL! No save it for the honeymoon!!! Upgrade later from Shane.
IMO, it would really depend on your girl's taste. You could buy a cubic and have her pick out the exact one that fits your budget after she says yes.
Allready sold my STI.. Leggie not worth modding Yeah, thats why I'm not spending that much on the ring... Gotta figure out how I'm gonna pay for the wedding/honeymoon myself :|.
I know pretty much what she wants allready... I figure I'll get her this one, and we can get a better one in 10 years or something...
Speaking from experience, screw the wedding. Courthouse it, then have a big-ass party. Everyone will enjoy that just as much, and you'll save some scratch to use on the honeymoon. Our wedding was nice, but that was a lot of money that would've been better spent on our house. Or a new turbo and intercooler.
^^ Well... Most of my girls family is in Vegas (including her Grandma, who can't fly).. So, I'll more than likely be getting married there. Not courthouse... I'm thinking Elvis wedding, can't be too expensive . Grandma has a big house so we could have a reception there (not 100% on that, but its not going to be that many people so I don't see why we'd need a hall). Honeymoon hasn't been determined... But I don't see having a whole lot of money left after the wedding/reception... So, I'm guessing honeymoon will also be in Vegas....
At least take it from most of the married guys experience. If I could turn back time, I'd spend my $15k on a house. Wife agreed years later after talking. Oh well what's done is done. Learn from everyone. You could have a small wedding at a park with just immediate small family. My sister spent $500 on a wedding, $1000 honeymoon in keywest and the rest of $25k on remodeling their house and porsche. LOL!
You can always re-polish white gold and get the imperfections out. You can't do that with Platinum. Try http://www.hajewelry.com/ as well. That is where I got my wife's diamond. My cousin owns a wholesale Jewelery store in the Apparel Mart and she couldn't even compete with the prices of the diamond itself. I was dead set on Platinum but my cousin talked me out of it. I took the stone to her to have it placed in the setting but got the stone from H&A. Same as everyone else, they were very professional and not pressuring and gave me the best deal they could in my price range.
Don't worry about size....clarity and cut makes the most difference and is more visible. I have bought two engagement rings in the past. The first was from a local jeweler...what a mistake. The one my wife has came from Blue Nile. I did a lot of research on the 4 C's and picked a half carat but with the best clarity, color, and cut. She gets more compliments on her ring than anyone else we know. The clarity and cut makes the stone shimmer and shine. Take your time and shop around. Make sure you get the certified Gem chart with it. Don't take the jewelers word for it....make sure you see the proof.
The hubby got mine from Shane Co. They are awesome. They'll educate you on the 4 C's so you can make a good decision. I get soooo many compliments on my ring all the time. And if there is ever anything that goes wrong with the ring, i.e. she bangs it really hard and the prong gets loose (happened to me once) or she needs it resized, cleaned, etc. they do it for FREE... a lot of places will charge you extra for that. And they do it onsite. You can also get updated appraisals for free as the ring increases in value. They will treat you well. We've gone into Jared before and they don't give the same level of customer service.
yeah my friend (i'm his best man) bought his fiance's ring at Shane Co. pretty much the same story here. I went with him a couple of times and the level of customer service at Shane Co. was outstanding. IIRC they basically have some pre-made sets, or you can build your own set (what he did) by picking a band and stones and mixing and matching. He got a pretty good deal and the lifetime warranty (cleaning, repair, etc) can't be beat.
By sti360hp at 2011-06-16 Purchased ring today (finally).... Went to Buckhead Diamond at the recomendation of several people. I think I did fairly well. Wanted to get a little better on the clarity, but there seemed to be a huge jump to go up even to S1... Let alone in the V's... That being said, its a beautiful stone and I'm happy with the purchase. Mom and Pop shop.. they are very nice people and it was a good buying experience. Felt a lot more comfortable there than going to a big chain... No details on the proposal yet, should be happening soon though! Sorry for the crappy picture... My Evo would NOT lock onto the diamond.. Tried a crackberry too, kept coming out blurry. Carat: 1.01 color: G Clarity: S2 ring is 14k white gold Paid $2000
^^ Not to worried about the actual proposal... more worried her Mom is going to blab before I can get it done... While sober she's fine, but get one too many glasses of chardenay(spell?) in her while my girl is over there and things get shaky... Going to Helen on the 28th to do it. Got my girl thinking this is just a "we are both burned the fuck out from work, lets get outta dodge for a minute" plan... So, If I can only make it 10 days..... tick, tock, tick....
Nice. I don't get why everyone feels that they should tell the girl's parents. Like their parent have a say in it to begin with. But that's just me....I sure didn't ask my wife's parents....lol.
^^ Her Mom was actually very helpful at getting some details for me on what type of ring, size etc... She also gave me a diamond earing she had lost the match to to put towards the ring... So, kinda had to keep her in the loop.
Her Dad passed when she was 15.. so it made it even more important that I talk to her Mom... Didn't have to, but thought it was be in good taste....
I know when I was getting one for my fiance, I went to 10 different stores to look for one. Eventually ended up finding something nice, not over done.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_8 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E401 Safari/6533.18.5) It's a southern thing
I went simple as well, but then again... Thats what she wanted anyways. I bought at the 1st place I went, but had several recommends and compaired with several stores websites (Kayes, Jared, Shane Co)... I got more diamond/ring for $2200 than those sites where selling for $4000-5000... I was happy...
Funny thing is, I bought the ring set from the first store I visited. As soon as I walked in, it caught my eye. I told the owner to hold it for me that I would be back. Sure enough, after visiting several other major jeweler stores in the area, I came back and got the ring.
^^ Yeah, I suppose I should have done the same thing... But the ring was so awesome and the cut/clarity were very nice for the price... I don't think I would have done better elsewhere. I also liked the small mom/pop shop... I have a feeling Zales would have seen me coming and had their way with me...