Diamonds, Diamonds, Diamonds...

[RedHot25]

Alright, so I think that I'm ready to take the big plunge and buy an engagement ring for the girlfriend.

Now, the fun part - finding the right ring/diamond.

I've been looking at a place on Granville Island in Vancouver to get a ring done (custom), but they are quite slow.

I was at the mall today (Chinook). Was quite impressed with Ben Moss....Peoples was blah, service was absolutely horrible. The other ones were ok...

Anyone have any good suggestions?

I'm looking for a simple classy ring...solataire....white gold. Not flush with band, but not crazy high lifted either. Definately prefer quality over size (I have a 1500 to 2 grand budget or so).

Thanks in advance!

[8 Ball]

I bought my wifes engagment ring at Spence. I would highly recommend them as they really educate you on what to look for when buying. The typical mall jewellery stores won't let you select a diamond based on what cut, clarity ect. you want, just what they have in the display case. It also depends on how much you want to spend.

[browna]

Since you're looking simple, get the talk at Spence, then head out, armed with that info.

Of all places, Costco.

Usually they have simple rings, in a few different price ranges. Most of the time they come in many hundreds cheaper then the same diamond at any jewellery store (Spence or the the likes of Peoples, Birks etc). If you go and get them appriased and they're not worth 120% (or something like that) you can get a full refund. Usually, from what I remember, they deal in higher quality diamonds rather then larger carat.

Birks too had nice stuff, and also usually leaned toward quality vs size of diamonds...but are a tad high $$ wise. in comparing similar rings to paces like Peoples.

Places like Peoples and Spence, try and get the older folks that are either the managers or at least have been there a while, to show you what you want to specifically see as far as cut, size, clarity. Those places can always come down 5-10% on the tag price and, 7% (GST off) too.

Find the ring you want, then ask to put it on hold for day. Think about it, and make sure you're using your head. Its easy to settle on something after you've been looking for a few hours, and b) Its easy to get talked into spending 20-30% more then you wanted pretty easily too.
Weigh that against the alternatives for spending that extra $1000 or whatever (as spending some of that for an extra special proposal (No Jumbotron, please)

[flmsfan2004]

You should check out this store in Northland Village Mall, its called "Jewel Shoppe." A few months ago my mom got her wedding ring upgraded to a larger diamond and a few of the settings changed. She is extremely pleased with the results, the customer service was excellentant and she got to talk to the master jeweller who does the work. Its a small shop so I think they are more eager for peoples business which means you could get a good deal.
Here is the link from northlands website
http://www.northlandvillagemall.ca/S...spx?StoreID=66
Also at northland is Tany's Jewelry.
Also, you should go to market mall (which is like 5 mins away from northland). They have an abundance of Jewelry stores: De Bearji Diamonds, Paris Jewellers, Peoples, Ann Louise Jewellers, Jewels by Maximes, Ben Moss, Mappins and Charm Diamond Centre.

Good luck!!

[HelloHockeyFans]

Have you tried ebay man? There's a nice one going for about $1100 right now, but bidding ends in about a minute, so unless you are viewing this thread now, you'll miss it.

[RedHot25]

Originally posted by HelloHockeyFans@Jun 6 2005, 12:53 AM
Have you tried ebay man? There's a nice one going for about $1100 right now, but bidding ends in about a minute, so unless you are viewing this thread now, you'll miss it.

I'd be a bit nervous buying it over the internet....!

[Eddie Bronze]

They say, diamonds are forever. So, hopefully your marriage will last even longer. Good luck with the engagement. I can give you absolutely ZERO advice since I've never even had a gf, let alone gotten married, but just thought I'd say congrats anyway. I'm sure it's a fairly stressful time.

[habernac]

Like browna said above, I picked an older salesperson at People's. Didn't beat around the bush, got me exactly what I wanted. Told her my budget and she didn't screw around and try to get me to buy something out of my price range. The ring was perfect. I think you'd have a similar experience anywhere, you just have to get a decent salesperson. She gets all my business now (bought the wedding rings there as well as another ring)

[octothorp]

I got my fiance's at Carati in Banker's Hall. I opted to go with intricate workmanship rather than a big stone, and got a good ring with gorgeous filigree detailing. The definite key is to look beyond the stone and find a great ring.

[Buff]

I bought at People's in Lethbridge. They were very helpfull. One lady commented that I was very nervous and that I should think about it and come back (I think she was referring to me thinking about getting enganged). What she didn't know is that my wife's uncle had two stores, and both were in plain view of People's... I didn't want him to see me in there and then start asking questions and having it get back to my wife (girlfriend at the time).

Here in Lethbridge People's was the only store that would listen to me. I told one lady at another store that I can't spend more than $2000 and she never showed me a thing under $4000. If they ain't showing you what you want leave. Most likely you weren't meant to buy the ring from that store, or at least that salesperson.

[Reaper]

I'm going to second the Spence option.

I bought my wife's engagement ring and our wedding bands there.

They were very helpful and went out of their way for me (I wanted a discontinued style and they went to the effort of having it made up for me).

[Indi]

Originally posted by browna@Jun 6 2005, 12:02 AM
Since you're looking simple, get the talk at Spence, then head out, armed with that info.

Of all places, Costco.

Usually they have simple rings, in a few different price ranges. Most of the time they come in many hundreds cheaper then the same diamond at any jewellery store (Spence or the the likes of Peoples, Birks etc). If you go and get them appriased and they're not worth 120% (or something like that) you can get a full refund. Usually, from what I remember, they deal in higher quality diamonds rather then larger carat.

Birks too had nice stuff, and also usually leaned toward quality vs size of diamonds...but are a tad high $$ wise. in comparing similar rings to paces like Peoples.

Places like Peoples and Spence, try and get the older folks that are either the managers or at least have been there a while, to show you what you want to specifically see as far as cut, size, clarity. Those places can always come down 5-10% on the tag price and, 7% (GST off) too.

Find the ring you want, then ask to put it on hold for day. Think about it, and make sure you're using your head. Its easy to settle on something after you've been looking for a few hours, and b) Its easy to get talked into spending 20-30% more then you wanted pretty easily too.
Weigh that against the alternatives for spending that extra $1000 or whatever (as spending some of that for an extra special proposal (No Jumbotron, please)

I concur about the Costco thing...they guarantee their diamonds to be worth something like +20% of what you paid for it. I took my wifes ring in to get appraised, the first appraiser would not do it as he said that the diamonds "were too perfect" for the price I paid for them....he suggested that I was trying to pull a fast one on him!! The next guy said that they were top quality diamonds, the appraisal came out at around double from what I paid for the ring....pretty good turnover!!

You can absolutely not loose with Costco!

jc

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Congrats man.

You've got some great suggestions already but if you want to consider something different look at a custom ring.

We got ours done at Hunter Davidson. There are other places around town of course but I hd a great experience there. I doubt it's as good a deal as you can get at costco and other places but it was a lot of fun picking out the stone & design and knowing my wife's ring is made just for her. We ended up getting our wedding bands there too.

[Claeren]

There is always the Tiffany's (Most famous location in NYC, but there are other locations and the internet... ) option too... you can get a smaller/more affordable stone but the inside of the band will be ingraved with 'Tiffany's', as will the box, and girls go ga-ga over that sort of thing. Nothing better then telling your girlfriends her boyfriend/fiancee went to the work of getting the ring from Tiffany's even if it is not a $20,000+ hunk of rock....


Claeren.

[RedHot25]

Originally posted by Bend it like Bourgeois@Jun 6 2005, 01:57 PM
Congrats man.

You've got some great suggestions already but if you want to consider something different look at a custom ring.

We got ours done at Hunter Davidson. There are other places around town of course but I hd a great experience there. I doubt it's as good a deal as you can get at costco and other places but it was a lot of fun picking out the stone & design and knowing my wife's ring is made just for her. We ended up getting our wedding bands there too.

Thanks, everybody...I do agree with the great suggestions here. You guys have been a GREAT help. If I could, I would buy you all a beer for it!

Regarding a custom ring, that's the way that I am heading towards. However, I have been checking the "traditional stores" as a way to do my reearch, etc...and who knows, if something really just jumps out at me, I might get it.

That said - any particular "hints" for a custom made ring? Was it a lot more expensive, or...? A friend told me of another custom store (near bow trail maybe I think?) Said it was GREAT....I just can't remember the name at the moment. Ugh! Oh well (anyone know what I am talking about?).

I'm still a bit partial to the Vancouver thing (shop on Granville Island), as I'm a bit cheesy on the symbolic side of things. (we have been/will be 3 places by the time I propose - met in Calgary, moved to Vancouver, and now on our way to Halifax). So hence the idea of something from each part (e.g. ring from Van, proposal in Halifax, etc...).


Once again, though, thanks everyone - its really appreciated!!!

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Tough to say.

You can put 2 rings side by side that to me look pretty similar but they might be very different prices depending on the stones. I'm no jeweller.

I think most custom work tends to be 18K gold and I think most store stock is 14k, so that factors in too.

Compared to most of my friends getting married around the same time I paid more. I'm going to guess 25% more. But I'm not sure how much of that was for 'custom' and how much was materials. It could also vary a lot store to store.

Guess I'm not much help