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Engagement ring(updated with pic of loose diamond)

slightlyhuman

slightlyhuman

Lifer
Alright guys, in the market to put some hardware on my SO’s ring finger.

I’ve been creeping on her pinterest quite a bit lately and have taken her out several times. She wants me to pick it out. I have a pretty good idea of what she wants and damn good idea of what she doesn't want.

I’m at a crossroads at this point… Whether to go with an actual walk-in jewelry shop or mess with a “broker” type option. I have a few buddies that used a guy here in my town, with great results. They told him what they wanted, he puts it together(I suppose design/etc) and bam, done.

Has anyone gone this route before? It seems like I would get more bang for my buck, so to speak. However, I’m not afraid of going to a walk-in and going from there.
I have $4k in hand now to go towards the hardware, and I’m perfectly fine with financing the rest if I find something that’s more than what I have in hand. I’m wanting to get as close to a carat as possible.

Just looking here to see the routes others took when they were in my shoes with the chance to pick it out themselves.

Any help aside from “don’t do it”, I’m all ears :beer;

EDIT:

Really happy with what I got from the guy. I just got it back yesterday. Proposing this weekend. I've got a buddy with a plane that's going to take us up for a little trip around then fly over my parents land where I have 14 6' letters asking her to marry me. Been cutting wood all week, just got everything done as of last night.

Cell phone pic of ring:

IMG_20141030_155811362.jpg


Me next to a letter:
IMG_20141027_194953824.jpg



post proposal edit

Took her up in the plane and she never had a clue until we were right above it and saw the letters. I haven't had time to go through both go pros(one on the wing, the other in the cab with me) but here's a quick shot of what she saw. I should have capitalized the "r" but oh well, she said yes:wub:

http://vimeo.com/110702374

10384195_810586253257_5042448530368751041_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
I went to a walk-in store and paid a premium to have the flexibility to come in and change to an entirely different setting/style/etc if my then-fiancee didn't like it. Luckily, she loved it so the only issue was getting it resized.
 
blackdogdeek said:
I went to a walk-in store and paid a premium to have the flexibility to come in and change to an entirely different setting/style/etc if my then-fiancee didn't like it. Luckily, she loved it so the only issue was getting it resized.
Click to expand...
400% mark up. Sister owns 2 jewelry stores.
 
Is this guys someone who could price you out something without too much trouble? You might be able to have him do that so you could compare with the online competition

highland145 said:
400% mark up. Sister owns 2 jewelry stores.
Click to expand...

I see screwing people out of money runs in the family
 
Don't go to anyone that has a complete "Design your own" process unless she is prepared to be involved in the design process. I guaran-fuckin-tee you don't know (and never will) 100% every detail of what she does and doesn't like on ring designs.
 
I have a friend who spent $13,000 on his.




And they are still together so hey I guess you get what you pay for.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Yeah, you keep going on that notion of money buys happiness.
Click to expand...


I would say that's an exaggeration, but in this case maybe it did?



Girls usually don't leave a guy who's 28 and can drop that kind of cash. That said, I would never consider doing what he did and I told him he was stupid a year ago when he did. Maybe I was the stupid one?
 
Be wary of bluenile settings, lots of chinese stuff. Unless you don't care.

The broker option sounds better since you seem to give a crap, the local mall type stores have all been pretty terrible in my experience. It seemed to be mostly stamped out crap that I've seen 100 girls each have.

Some stuff to keep in mind...

Some stones look WAY bigger or smaller, depending on cut. More importantly they also throw out a ton more light if cut well. So I wouldn't get hung up on carot. If this "broker" knows his stuff he could hopefully guide you to a properly cut / well performing stone over just the size. It is too difficult for a layman to really grasp the measurements required and their ratios, it's not hard to actually see the difference though.

I was seriously impressed with how much nicer well cut stones show off light than bigger, worse cut stones.

Since you want what we did, here's what I did.

Found out some stuff she liked.
Did mega amounts of research.
Went to NYC and visited two dealer type guys. I viewed new stones and old stones(GF liked antique style)
Settled on a new cushion, cut to the antique style(this is growing in popularity). Got this from a guy who has a "special" line of higher performing antique style cushions.
Put a deposit on the stone.
Found a design I liked from a designer in L.A. who does antique style stones/rings.(ring was actually made in NYC as her umm...ring guy is there).

So I put in a lot of leg work and for a bit more money than I normally would have spent, I got something waaaaay better looking then what I was first shooting for. We are both super happy with it and the ring still blows me away almost 1 year later.
 
slightlyhuman said:
Alright guys, in the market to put some hardware on my SO’s ring finger.

I’ve been creeping on her pinterest quite a bit lately and have taken her out several times. She wants me to pick it out. I have a pretty good idea of what she wants and damn good idea of what she doesn't want.

I’m at a crossroads at this point… Whether to go with an actual walk-in jewelry shop or mess with a “broker” type option. I have a few buddies that used a guy here in my town, with great results. They told him what they wanted, he puts it together(I suppose design/etc) and bam, done.

Has anyone gone this route before? It seems like I would get more bang for my buck, so to speak. However, I’m not afraid of going to a walk-in and going from there.
I have $4k in hand now to go towards the hardware, and I’m perfectly fine with financing the rest if I find something that’s more than what I have in hand. I’m wanting to get as close to a carat as possible.

Just looking here to see the routes others took when they were in my shoes with the chance to pick it out themselves.

Any help aside from “don’t do it”, I’m all ears :beer;
Click to expand...

I took the route shopping around in retail stores with the then-GF and found what she liked/wanted. I then went to a custom jeweler who's been in the diamond/jewelry business for 35+ years. He was able to custom make a ring just like a popular (and expensive) name brand ring for a fraction of the price. I basically got the band for 70% of what I would have paid for the retail branded version.

Also, he only charged me like $200 more to have platinum whereas in stores, they wanted $1K to go from 18K white gold to Platinum.

I also got the diamond from him. He gave me a pretty good price on the diamond as well, though not as deep of a discount as the band. Overall, I saved several thousands of dollars going this route.
 
Schfifty Five said:
I took the route shopping around in retail stores with the then-GF and found what she liked/wanted. I then went to a custom jeweler who's been in the diamond/jewelry business for 35+ years. He was able to custom make a ring just like a popular (and expensive) name brand ring for a fraction of the price. I basically got the band for 70% of what I would have paid for the retail branded version.

Also, he only charged me like $200 more to have platinum whereas in stores, they wanted $1K to go from 18K white gold to Platinum.

I also got the diamond from him. He gave me a pretty good price on the diamond as well, though not as deep of a discount as the band. Overall, I saved several thousands of dollars going this route.
Click to expand...

Good call! Always seems better to stay away from retail except for ideas.
 
I went with large jeweler and good thing too.
She had multiple loose diamonds (infinity band) and a loose main stone numerous times.
They finally changed the whole ring out and no loose stones so far.
I like that we get free cleanings and upkeep for life.
It at least makes me feel a little better about the huge cost.
 
Congrats man!

goodoldgold. They'll email you videos of your finalist rocks next to one another. Plus they guarantee 75% back if things don't work out (lifetime guarantee). I had a really good experience with them.
 
RearAdmiral said:
You just opened a world of hurt for this guy.
Click to expand...

not really, chances are unless you are part of our collection that thinks making a ring out of a paperclip and some stones found at a flea market qualifies as an engagement ring...

I know a lot about diamonds and some other precious rocks.
 
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