[if.away]

Here's my little story:

I lived in Calgary where most of my family is and went to the UofC there. Now I live in Ottawa with my fiancee but I proposed in Calgary over Christmas. My fiancee is really cool about the whole ring thing and always offered to split the cost 50/50 should I buy something I deem expensive, but as you will see I never had to do it considering what I got for my budget.

I did a LOT of research at local stores and online stores. Talking to them over the phone, countless emails, spreadsheets, looking at photos and examining every single aspect of the diamonds I was interested in. At first I knew nothing about diamonds, after a few months of research I would dream about them and have my own custom equations of what I consider "real value"...

Locally, there are some awesome diamond stores but their prices are ridiculous + HST in Ontario is 13%. Comparing what I get online vs what I got in the store made it clear for me to go the online route, plus I bought several things from the states including clothes, snowboards and even my car. At that time there where 3 great online vendors from whom I would purchase from:

whiteflash
jamesallen
bluenile

I talked to all 3 of them and originally I wanted to buy the stone from whiteflash, the setting from bluenile and have them assembled locally. That didn't go well because bluenile wouldn't sell just the setting and then there would be no warranty.

I was looking for something very specific. My fiancee does not like the regular round diamond that you see almost everywhere, but she wanted something more halo-esque ala cushion cut and a nice setting that isn't too big/thick.

Eventually I purchased from james allen because they had the specific setting that I knew my GF was in love with and james allen had real life detailed photos of their diamonds. They offerd to modify the setting to match the stone. A good friend of mine purchased from whiteflash the whole ring, which he designed, and he also got a great deal plus the ring is beautiful.

I found a kick ass setting, a great rock(which I wouldn't be able to afford locally) that I selected after viewing detailed zoomed in photos(you can request them - up to 3) and what they said would be a 60 day no questions asked return policy.

I wanted to avoid tax and duty so I shipped it to Montana. When I ordered, around late Nov they had an online sale for like 24 hours that was about 10% if I recall properly. In the end I paid no GST/HST, no duty, no sales tax from the states since they shipped from NYC to MO and I got a discount on top of what I consider a great deal vs local prices.

Everything went without a hitch, my fiancee is extremly happy with the quality and size, it looks gorgeous and all her friends and even strangers on the airplane or coffee shops compliment her on the ring and ask her if it's a "Tacori".

Only I know how little I paid for it compared to what the local "spence" like stores charge and overall I feel like I got a great value for my budget.