Ring Shopping

[fundmark19]

Blue Nile is awesome. Highly recommend using them

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

My advice would honestly be to wait a little bit if your budget is only $1000. This is the girl you're going to commit the rest of your life to. You don't need to drop 10 grand on a rock, but given that she isn't going to take that thing off for much between now and death/divorce, splurge a little bit.

Go for quality, not quantity as well. She's going to be looking at the thing once every eight seconds between the time you give it to her and the time you guys get married, so the less opportunity for her to discover some flaw that's going to knaw at her and wonder if you cheaped out on the physical manifestation of your love for her the better.

Save a little bit more money, go to Tiffany in Chinook, sit down with one of their staff and let them show you exactly what you're paying for. You can get some pretty spectacular offerings for less than 3K. Which seems like a lot (and it's not like I'm rolling it it either mate, 13K in student loan debts) but I'll say it again: girl you wanna spend the rest of your life with. Don't lowball this one. It's not a CBA proposal.

Best of luck, sir.

edit: oops, sorry I didn't read that you didnt' want to order online.

I disagree with Tiffany. They're diamonds are even more overpriced than normal diamonds, because they claim their diamonds are the best of the best. Not worth it IMO.

Check out http://www.bluenile.ca
You can choose your own diamond, setting, and matching wedding band.
The diamonds are usually cheaper than if you were to buy from a store, because jewellery mark-up is absolutely insane. Plus bluenile diamonds are usually GIA certified (meaning that the diamonds are graded by the GIA, which ensures that the cut, clarity, color are accurate. Some stores will carry diamonds graded by other labs (privately owned, who are making money to grade diamonds) so the accuracy could be compromised.

Get to know your 4 C's:
(listed in order of importance IMO)
1. Carat (size) - this is what most people will see, and so it is usually the most important factor for most women.
2. Cut - a smaller well cut diamond will actually shine brighter than a larger, lower quality diamond, making it look larger than it is from afar.
Color
3. Color - you want to stay in the H-G-F region for color (the closer to D you get, the more expensive it gets). The color of the diamond shows how "clear" the diamond is. H colored diamonds will look slightly cloudy when compared to an F. The cloudiness will make the diamond look dull and dirty, and thus it will shine less.
4. Clarity - This factor is mostly overrated. Clarity doesn't make a huge difference as long as you stay middle of the road. Clarity is only very apparent if the diamond is huge, and if you look at the diamond through a microscope.

Spence diamonds is a good place to get educated. You can also read more about the 4 C's here: http://www.bluenile.com/ca/diamonds/diamond-education

For a budget of $1500, here's an example of an option you could go with:
http://www.bluenile.com/ca/build-you...s+style&shape=

Blue nile does ship to canada, however, it will get stuck in customs, and you will have to pay duties for it. Guaranteed, it will be better bang for your buck than anything you can find in a jewellery store in the mall.

FYI, I just got married about a month ago, and I spent a few months researching engagement rings last year, so if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Here is another website similar to blue nile if you wanted to go for some designer engagement rings (Tacori, Scott Kay, Simon G, etc):
http://www.since1910.com/

[me_dennis]

nm

[Reaper]

I bought my wife's ring at Spence before the really horrible commercials started. The way they appraise their diamonds is very advantageous if you ever need to put in an insurance claim for loss or theft (my wife lost her watch and both her rings by doing something stupid and we ended up with a more valuable diamond in her replacement ring than we originally purchased).

[me_dennis]

One more note, I ended up getting my wife's ring from Jewels by Maxime's in Chinook. I dealt with Matthew (owner's son). They were the only store to offer Tacori in Calgary, and initially I was looking to order online, but the service they provided for me was nothing short of spectacular. Matthew was very helpful in finding me the perfect stone, and he brought in a few diamonds for me to view. My only problem with ordering online is I can't see and hold what I'm paying for, so being able to physically hold and see the diamond made a big difference to me. I was able to see the difference between the colors and clarity. It really helped me to make my final decision on which diamond to select.

When it came to the engagement ring, Maxime's offers a lifetime service of cleaning the ring. My wife usually drops her ring off every time she's in the mall, and in 15 mins the ring is shined, cleaned, and good as new. Even a week of wear will accumulate lots of hand lotions, makeup, dust, fingerprints, etc, and a cleaning makes a huge difference in the way the diamond shines.

Another word of advice, make sure your ring is insured from the moment you pick it up! Most home insurances will cover up to a certain limit for jewellery, if you two live in the same household. If not, get it insured under your house insurance until you propose, and ask her to put it on her house insurance asap after the proposal. Some insurance policies cover "mysterious disappearances" which includes theft, loss, etc.

One of my friend's wife, a week after the proposal, had taken her ring off to put on hand lotion in the airport washroom and forgot it on the sink and when she turned back it was gone. A few thousand dollars down the drain (pun intended).

When it comes down to the budget, i'm sure you have thought it all through, but someone had mentioned that you will have a lot of other stuff to be paying for. Trust me, weddings are damn expensive. It can easily cost you at least $10,000 for a wedding. You will need to pay for the dress, wedding bands, photographers ($$$), venue, food, ceremony/church rental, alcohol, bridal party gifts, decorations, invitations, rehearsal dinner, wedding party favors, musicians, marriage officiant, honeymoon, marriage license/certificates, and the list goes on!

I don't want to overwhelm you or anything, but it all depends on how long you plan on giving yourselves to plan the wedding. It will be expensive, stressful, and frustrating, but once the big day comes, you both will be so happy that you will want to relive the big day over and over again. I know I do.

Congratulations on the big step, and good luck!

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by JonDuke

Might sound weird, but Costco actually has some decent quality diamonds for good prices.
$1000 honestly isn;t going to get you much as far as quality goes.
Sacrifice size for cut, clarity and color though. A smaller rock with less flaws is better than a bigger one with them.

Was just going to say this, every time we walk by that display case my girlfriend hints about how nice the rings are at Costco.. I don't get what she is after, but maybe this can help you find an engagement ring for your gir...l...frii..e... oh god... oh no... it all makes sense now... what have i done.. run...

[morgin]

http://www.pricescope.com/forum/

Read, read read. When you are done, read some more.

Also I find http://www.jamesallen.com/ is good for looking at different style settings.

[rd_aaron]

Even though you don't want to do online, I'm going to say www.bluenile.ca as well. Awesome buying experience and way way more bang for your buck compared to Spence. I went into Spence and the diamonds they showed me were nearly 1.5x the price of a nearly identical diamond on bluenile.

Also, I ordered on a Sunday, and had the ring in my hands by Thursday. They also offer free resizing, which we did, and from the day we sent it til we got it back was about a week.

Just way better selection, the fact you can customize it exactly how you want, and the price makes bluenile #1 in my books. You could check out www.brilliantearth.com too.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

My advice would honestly be to wait a little bit if your budget is only $1000. This is the girl you're going to commit the rest of your life to. You don't need to drop 10 grand on a rock, but given that she isn't going to take that thing off for much between now and death/divorce, splurge a little bit.

Go for quality, not quantity as well. She's going to be looking at the thing once every eight seconds between the time you give it to her and the time you guys get married, so the less opportunity for her to discover some flaw that's going to knaw at her and wonder if you cheaped out on the physical manifestation of your love for her the better.

Save a little bit more money, go to Tiffany in Chinook, sit down with one of their staff and let them show you exactly what you're paying for. You can get some pretty spectacular offerings for less than 3K. Which seems like a lot (and it's not like I'm rolling it it either mate, 13K in student loan debts) but I'll say it again: girl you wanna spend the rest of your life with. Don't lowball this one. It's not a CBA proposal.

Best of luck, sir.

I'm going to assume this is a joke. If not, it should be. Telling him $1k isn't enough to show his love and then suggesting Tiffany's is moronic at best.


Anyways, there are a ton of great online retailers.

bluenile.ca
brian gavin diamonds (I bought mine here)
whiteflash.com


Also check out pricescope.com for some information on what to look for.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

This place looks like it will give you a good deal:

http://www.idonowidont.com/home

Awesome name as well.

Funny, I sold my ex's engagement ring on there.

Bought the new future Mrs. RTTR's ring off Adiamor.com comes with IGL cert. The best part was I took it into a local gemologist in Calgary and they appraised it much higher then what I paid. I was looking at Blue Nile but couldn't find the particular baguette style I wanted so Adiamor it was

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by JonDuke

Might sound weird, but Costco actually has some decent quality diamonds for good prices.
$1000 honestly isn;t going to get you much as far as quality goes.
Sacrifice size for cut, clarity and color though. A smaller rock with less flaws is better than a bigger one with them.

Does Costco do ring sizing as well or would you have to take that to a jeweler to do?

[mykalberta]

Has anyone ever tried the "propose with a fake and then go shopping with her later for it". I have thought about this method but am not really sure if this works or if its better to go the traditional route.

[moncton golden flames]

www.brilliantearth.com

i bought a stone from this site and had it mounted on an existing ring i had (my grandmothers) by a guy here in town.

i believe i got a great deal on a 0.33 carat, internally flawless diamond.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by return to the red

Funny, I sold my ex's engagement ring on there.

Bought the new future Mrs. RTTR's ring off Adiamor.com comes with IGL cert. The best part was I took it into a local gemologist in Calgary and they appraised it much higher then what I paid. I was looking at Blue Nile but couldn't find the particular baguette style I wanted so Adiamor it was

Any ring will always be appraised higher than you bought it for. I read somewhere that a "good deal" will be a ring that appraises at 2x what you paid for it.

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Any ring will always be appraised higher than you bought it for. I read somewhere that a "good deal" will be a ring that appraises at 2x what you paid for it.

This is true. An appraisal is more for insurance purposes. It is meant to account for escalation in diamond/gold/silver prices in the future in case you do need to get it replaced. You will never sell the ring for as much as the appraisal says.

[sevenarms]

I'd definitely second Blue Nile. They're rings are amazing and for half the cost of what Spence charges.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Any ring will always be appraised higher than you bought it for. I read somewhere that a "good deal" will be a ring that appraises at 2x what you paid for it.

I'm aware of that, but it came with an IGL cert from Adiamor for $xxxx appraised. The local guy that does IGL cert's appraised much higher both at a wholesale and retail level.

This is true. An appraisal is more for insurance purposes. It is meant to account for escalation in diamond/gold/silver prices in the future in case you do need to get it replaced. You will never sell the ring for as much as the appraisal says.

Unless you sell it on IdonowIdon't, in which case I got nearly 90 percent of what the appraisal said

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Any ring will always be appraised higher than you bought it for. I read somewhere that a "good deal" will be a ring that appraises at 2x what you paid for it.

Yeah appraisals are a total joke. The worst part, is if you decide to insure the ring under your home policy, its based off the jacked up appraisal so your premiums hurt.

[Vox]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Has anyone ever tried the "propose with a fake and then go shopping with her later for it". I have thought about this method but am not really sure if this works or if its better to go the traditional route.

Yep. Surprised her one morning by flying her to New York, proposed in Central Park with a fake ring I got from a Jeweler here in town, then went shopping for rings up and down 5th Ave, at Tiffany's, Debeers, etc. Found some ring ideas we liked, bought a diamond back in Calgary and had the original Jeweler make the ring.

The downside of it all: A golf tournament in which I was supposed to golf with Jarome Iginla got rain delayed to the day I flew her out. To this day I don't think I got the brownie points I should have earned for picking the proposal over the golf . . .

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Yeah appraisals are a total joke. The worst part, is if you decide to insure the ring under your home policy, its based off the jacked up appraisal so your premiums hurt.

meh $150 per year is no biggie when it comes to having the insurance in case something happens.