Designing engagement/wedding rings -- tell me your good and bad experiences, tips, etc. Where did you go?

Question

My boyfriend and I want to design our own rings, but there are so many companies out there - sharing your experience with me would be helpful! Thanks! ...and was it worth it? was it more expensive than you thought?

Answer 1

Designing your own engagement rings is MUCH better than buying a pre-set ring, as you can specifically choose the diamond that you are interested in and so forth. The trick is to just know what you're looking for.

I'd highly recommend Blue Nile, Mondera, or Diamond.com. I run a free diamond search service at marriage-proposal-ideas.com/diamondsearch.html, so I deal with tons of online diamond merchants and know what the best deals are.

As far as an exact design, I'd say that if you get a really nice diamond, you should get a four prong setting to expose as much of the diamond as possible. If you decide to have sidestones, don't have them be so large that they take the glory away from the center stone.

Personally, I think that a white gold setting with a colorless (D to F or so) diamond that is a GIA graded excellent cut (or very good if it's not a round diamond) will look amazing.

If you need help picking one out, I'd be happy to help free of charge -- we don't sell any diamonds ourselves, and we just search other online jewelry sites for you.

Answer 2

We went to Carlyle and Co to a trunk show. They had $4 million in diamonds right there. I was looking for a specific diamond and many places did not carry as perfect a stone as I wanted. The trunk show allowed me to look at several diamonds that met my
requirements. We checked it out under the microscope and bought the loose stone. However, we also needed a custom setting.

Carlyle had a guy they used to make their custom settings so we used their person. I loved having the sales lady who was at trunk show b/c she knew what type of diamond we wanted and when the custom setting came in and the diamond accents were inferior and yellowish, she immediately returned it. She didnt call us first, we didn't have to complain, she just knew that our stone would not sit next to those accent stones. The NY store they were using said they did not have accent diamonds of the right color/cut and Carlyle actually found a new person to custom make my setting for me. It took a while (3 mo) before we had the entire ring but I found the service to be great.

I have also custom ordered a ring out of a catelog--so while it was special ordered and made for each individual order, it is not custom designed--at a silversmiths. It came quickly, as priced, and was beautiful. He still wears it today.

I have a friend who are custom goldsmiths. She makes sure that every question she has is answered before she starts crafting it. She wants it to be perfect for her customers and ends up spending about 2-3 hours discussing every option with them to make sure the fit, width, etc is perfect.

Both were definitely worth it and both were the exact price I was told. Even though with Carlyle and Co I know they lost money. Even when that contract fell through and the last minute they had to contact someone new, they did not raise the price on me at all. I recommend getting everything in writing though and don't be rushed. If it comes in and it isn't exactly what you agreed on, don't feel bad sending it back. You'll hate if you spend the rest of your life wishing you had. But don't order on such a tight timeline that you have no other choice. Go to a respectable jeweler though and discuss with them carefully the quality you are wanting. Go to several trunk shows though. They usually have over 500 settings. If you can't find it, you'll at least have a lot of ideas of exactly what you want.

There is something about a custom ring. I love that I will never see another bride with my ring. Hope these tips helped!

Answer 3

My husband and I designed our own rings; it was a fantastic experience. We went to a local jeweler in his hometown, who spent hours with us, working through all of the details so that they turned out exactly as we wanted them to.

We had looked into getting them through online companies, but were disappointed by the lack of options that they offered. We had a specific design in mind, with non-English engravings, and most places online didn't have those options.

It was probably a bit more expensive than if we had bought rings, but for us, it was totally worth it. We know that we have a unique set that no one else has -- just like our love is unique.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Answer 4

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