Deciding on the bling….

Chris and I discussed wedding dates this past March. We decided on March 7th, 2009, in honor of my late grandparents (their anniversary date). Chris agreed, which much hesitation, because he wants to get married sooner than this. So, he has been saving for the ring for about 3 years now, and wanted to start looking around.

Like most girls, just the idea of ring shopping got me giddy! I began doing my research. Knowing very little about rings, only that my personal style is the antique, vintage feel; I needed to decipher the 4 C’s of rings (color, clarity, carat, and cut), and the perfect balance that would be best for both us and our budget. (*The new C added to the list of four recently, the Cost)

I immediately feel in love with an Old European 2 carat antique stone. I found it on Ebay and could not comfort the honey-to-be that buying a ring over the internet is safe. Old European cuts are typically round, from around the 1920’s and are harder to come across than one might think. In recent years, the large stones were purchased to be re-cut into a more modern shape, (think brilliant round). This cut is known for the fire (depth and sparkle) that is offers, and tends to be larger than modern cut stones, due to the crude, hand-cut style.

Now, I live in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Metroplex. One might think an antique ring should be readily available. I scoured the internet for jewelers that would be able to meet this peculiar demand of an Old European cut. Only to turn up two. Skibell Jewelers and Chatham Jewelers Chatham Jewelers.

Here’s what I know:

After speaking to Rebecca Chatham, she offered me great advice on how to better prepare prior to meeting with jewelers.

1) Create a collage (idea board) of rings you like, including ring settings as well as shapes. Pick your top three shapes: mine were Old European, Ascher, and Cushion
2) Decide on your budget. Get an idea of how much you can afford and whether you need to make payments. It is unfair to allow the jeweler to pull out a stone/ring that is $10,000, when your honey-to-be has $3,000.
3) Be open minded. We went in thinking we knew exactly what we (I) wanted. A European-cut stone in an antique setting from around the 1920’s. Well, when she pulled out the Radiant-cut square stone and plopped her down in a vintage 1950’s setting. I fell in love all over again….

My biggest recommendation, know as much as you can gather on the internet about stones before you go shopping. There is no feeling worse than fearing that you are getting the taken by the man behind the counter.

A family jeweler offered these three tips:

Shoot for a balance between quality and size – a good quality stone will hold it’s value over time. Don’t allow a huge, flawed/colored stone to win you over based solely on the size of that bling.

Stick above J for color (any lower and it becomes noticeable) and clarity of VS1.

Happy hunting! Don’t loose hope – you will know when you find the right ring, just as you did when you found the right boy!