Hello.
Didn't know where to put this, so in the end I split it up in 2 and put the pictures in their own thread in the bling section. Link at bottom of this post.
Should start by warning that this will probably be a massive post
Figured someone might find it interesting and I thought you guys deserved it after all the help I've gotten from this great forum. To sum it up I'm a guy buying an engagement ring (including my first diamond) with no prior knowledge in any of these areas. I'll cover my experiences with finding a diamond, finding a vendor, making a ring, recommendations for others in my situation, pictures of diamond/cad/ring/proposal etc. Again, feel free to scroll to bottom for pics if you don't want to read everything. I've tried to break it up into different sections as best I could.
FINDING A DIAMOND (FAILURE)
So yeah, my girlfriend wanted a pear halo ring in white gold or platinum, which turned out to be harder than I expected to arrange. My budget was raised several times as I was experience diamond shrinkage the longer I looked Originally I was going to buy the diamond from james allen, but after viewing their diamonds every day for a couple of months, there was just nothing grabbing my attention. I did have one diamond inspected, but the gemologist pretty much told me it had every issue possible and that he did not recommend it. He did not even attach any pictures/aset or anything. Although sad that the diamond was indeed too good to be true, it was reassuring that I got an honest opinion despite their vested interest in wanting to sell me a diamond. Unfortunately I could not find any other worthy diamond to inspect though. After much research of perfect proportions and the best inclusions etc, I found a 1.57ct G SI2 that looked really good on paper. I tried very hard to find a place that had a picture of it and ended up finding like 10 vendors that had it listed, but no one had pictures. I contacted james allen and asked if they were able to bring in this diamond for inspection despite not being in their listing, but I was told that they were not able to do this because the diamond did not belong to any of their partners.
FINDING A DIAMOND (SUCCESS!)
Anyway, brian gavin had it listed as well, and it was only a couple of hundred more than the cheapest of the other vendors. I had heard a lot of good things about BGD, but had not really looked at them seriously because they were a bit out of my price range. Also, they only had a virtual selection when it came to pear diamonds. I contacted them anyway, and was told they were able to bring it in for assessment. Unfortunately again, they were advised by the diamond provider that it was "not available". It was not sold either (at this stage), so we had to just play the waiting game. She was told that it was eye clean though. I was pretty much updated every day by email, so that was much appreciated. It took almost 2 weeks I think before I was told that it had been sold. Which was a shame, but I was also informed that she had found another pear diamond that she thought would be an excellent choice (this was not listed on their site). It was also a 1.57ct SI2 with twinning wisps funnily enough, but H color (which I was hesitant about as I had set a G minimum in my head). The table/depth was good but not as spot on as the other one, but those things are really just generalizations and are obviously not exact science with pears. It was also slightly wider and $300 cheaper. It did look like it had potential to be very good though so I agreed to have it brought in and inspected. Again it took much longer than expected, but I was kept updated daily and eventually it arrived.
GETTING RING DONE
They had it inspected for me and provided photos/aset and it really did look very nice (and I was told that it was beautiful and eye clean), so I decided to buy it In my initial inquiry over 3 weeks earlier I had asked if they were able to get the ring sorted before my girlfriends birthday, which they were very confident about. Due to the delays sourcing the diamond though, we now had pretty much just 1 week before it had to be sent to be sure it would make it here in time (as we don't live in the US). I again asked if they thought it was possible, even though I had already given up and just ordered some birthday presents instead.. but they told me that they would try their very hardest (but no promises), which was very exciting. So basically we now had 1 week to get a CAD done and approved, an invoice drawn up, an overseas wire transfer set up and go through and the actual ring casted and finished off etc. I obviously did not have time to argue the CAD back and fourth, but luckily I was happy with their first one. It is a plain cathedral style shank with a delicate halo (1pointers) and no wires under the diamond. I considered asking to get the halo angled outwards slightly more, but ended up not doing it. Partly because of time restraints and partly because I was afraid it might make the ring less durable and I was scared that we might knock out some of the melee later on. Which was probably silly, in hindsight I think the extra angle would have looked even more spectacular and I should have at least asked, but it does have a slight angle already and it is still very beautiful. I was obviously going for a plain but stylish approach with focus on the pear, and I think they managed very well. As for the metal, I was happy with white gold, but I wanted a palladium alloy and not a nickel one. I asked about this but was told I could either get nickel alloy or just go platinum, which ended up not costing much more, so I figured why not. They worked very hard, and I am incredibly impressed with their effort/service, and a week later the ring was shipped.
RECEIVING RING - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I received the ring 2 days before planned proposal, but as we live together etc, it was a little bit hard for me to view the ring properly. I had a quick look at the office in the evening, and I freaked out a little as the color looked off (all I could see was yellow) and I couldn't really see the diamonds in the halo either (in my head I thought it could just as well have been a thin metal halo and it would have looked he same). Panic ensued and I didn't know what to do (besides starting a thread about it of course, which helped me calm down ). ANYWAY, after being able to view it properly, I changed my mind. It actually looks very nice and white in most lights, and in worst cases it still only looks slightly warm but still very beautiful. Especially after she started wearing it I have come to really like it and am very glad I did not get bigger diamonds in the halo as it is just perfect. It is very sparkly as well, both main diamond and halo, and we are both not the slightest bothered by the color anymore (which is really quite white and nothing like what my first impression had been for some reason). It's actually quite perfect
PROPOSAL
Got a bit ahead of myself, so the next step was the proposal obviously. I pretended to go to work but took the day off to clean and decorate the house etc. I also got the ring insurance sorted (so she could wear it straight away) and hired a helium tank and filled the house with balloons. In total I had 100 plain balloons on the ceiling and another 30 or so nicer ones around the house, including a "marry me" balloon. So yeah, I basically intercepted her when she came home and asked her to marry me. She was very excited and impressed both with proposal and ring, and there was a lot of phone calls and excitement and screaming going on for a while I had also booked a dinner for later at a nice restaurant in which the ring looked _amazing_ by the candle light. After obsessing about the ring/diamond for so long, I spent most of the dinner looking at the ring and how it sparkled haha. I am very happy with how it turned out and couldn't have asked for more.
OPINIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS / MISC
As you could imagine, I could not recommend brian gavin enough. Incredible service and beautiful rings at competitive prices etc. Compared to james allen, which I would still recommend and I definitely had nothing but good experiences with, my custom made ring only cost a few hundred more than the equivalent one on their site (and mine is a lot nicer to be honest, plus I was able to get it custom made to my specifications). Probably try not to leave it as late as me though as it would have been nice to have some time to try and give it some personal touches. In which case I would probably have at least gotten a CAD done with a steeper angled halo and their opinion about how it would affect durability etc. Might still have gone with what I got, but it's obviously an opportunity you should take advantage off.
As for other people looking at fancy cuts with or without halo, I would recommend to not go lower than G though(maybe even F if you are color sensitive and very concerned about the slightest trace of yellow/warmth), especially if you are a clueless guy like me buying a diamond for the first time for someone else (even though I'm sure many will disagree). Even though mine turned out OK in the end, it was very stressful and your expectations might be a bit all over the place like it was for me. Especially if you set it in a halo as there will be a bit of a contrast with the smaller diamonds regardless. But again, very subjective and if she likes warm diamonds you can of course go lower. I had very limited availability to decent local jewelry stores, and the ones we did look at did not help a lot as all diamonds looked very similar in the store with their fantastic lightning regardless of specs and color etc, and we were not able to take them out in sunlight or anything like that.. so your experiences may wary if you are able to see more diamonds in real life.
Another thing I would beware of is getting a pear that is too long or cut too highly (giving it more of a triangle appearance if I can exaggerate). Initially I really liked this thinner/longer style, but after extensive googling for pear halos, they just don't look nice in a halo. Although I have no problem with them as a solitaire, it just needs that rounder look to to make the halo look nice or it just looks weird. In my opinion of course, but google carefully if you are considering this.
PICTURES
I put all the pictures (along with diamonds specs) in a different thread in the bling forum, so follow this link for lots of photos:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-halo-engagement-ring-diamond-cad-ring-proposal-photos.173913/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-halo-engagement-ring-diamond-cad-ring-proposal-photos.173913/[/URL]
Here's a preview anyway:
Didn't know where to put this, so in the end I split it up in 2 and put the pictures in their own thread in the bling section. Link at bottom of this post.
Should start by warning that this will probably be a massive post
Figured someone might find it interesting and I thought you guys deserved it after all the help I've gotten from this great forum. To sum it up I'm a guy buying an engagement ring (including my first diamond) with no prior knowledge in any of these areas. I'll cover my experiences with finding a diamond, finding a vendor, making a ring, recommendations for others in my situation, pictures of diamond/cad/ring/proposal etc. Again, feel free to scroll to bottom for pics if you don't want to read everything. I've tried to break it up into different sections as best I could.FINDING A DIAMOND (FAILURE)
So yeah, my girlfriend wanted a pear halo ring in white gold or platinum, which turned out to be harder than I expected to arrange. My budget was raised several times as I was experience diamond shrinkage the longer I looked
Originally I was going to buy the diamond from james allen, but after viewing their diamonds every day for a couple of months, there was just nothing grabbing my attention. I did have one diamond inspected, but the gemologist pretty much told me it had every issue possible and that he did not recommend it. He did not even attach any pictures/aset or anything. Although sad that the diamond was indeed too good to be true, it was reassuring that I got an honest opinion despite their vested interest in wanting to sell me a diamond. Unfortunately I could not find any other worthy diamond to inspect though. After much research of perfect proportions and the best inclusions etc, I found a 1.57ct G SI2 that looked really good on paper. I tried very hard to find a place that had a picture of it and ended up finding like 10 vendors that had it listed, but no one had pictures. I contacted james allen and asked if they were able to bring in this diamond for inspection despite not being in their listing, but I was told that they were not able to do this because the diamond did not belong to any of their partners.FINDING A DIAMOND (SUCCESS!)
Anyway, brian gavin had it listed as well, and it was only a couple of hundred more than the cheapest of the other vendors. I had heard a lot of good things about BGD, but had not really looked at them seriously because they were a bit out of my price range. Also, they only had a virtual selection when it came to pear diamonds. I contacted them anyway, and was told they were able to bring it in for assessment. Unfortunately again, they were advised by the diamond provider that it was "not available". It was not sold either (at this stage), so we had to just play the waiting game. She was told that it was eye clean though. I was pretty much updated every day by email, so that was much appreciated. It took almost 2 weeks I think before I was told that it had been sold. Which was a shame, but I was also informed that she had found another pear diamond that she thought would be an excellent choice (this was not listed on their site). It was also a 1.57ct SI2 with twinning wisps funnily enough, but H color (which I was hesitant about as I had set a G minimum in my head). The table/depth was good but not as spot on as the other one, but those things are really just generalizations and are obviously not exact science with pears. It was also slightly wider and $300 cheaper. It did look like it had potential to be very good though so I agreed to have it brought in and inspected. Again it took much longer than expected, but I was kept updated daily and eventually it arrived.
GETTING RING DONE
They had it inspected for me and provided photos/aset and it really did look very nice (and I was told that it was beautiful and eye clean), so I decided to buy it
In my initial inquiry over 3 weeks earlier I had asked if they were able to get the ring sorted before my girlfriends birthday, which they were very confident about. Due to the delays sourcing the diamond though, we now had pretty much just 1 week before it had to be sent to be sure it would make it here in time (as we don't live in the US). I again asked if they thought it was possible, even though I had already given up and just ordered some birthday presents instead.. but they told me that they would try their very hardest (but no promises), which was very exciting. So basically we now had 1 week to get a CAD done and approved, an invoice drawn up, an overseas wire transfer set up and go through and the actual ring casted and finished off etc. I obviously did not have time to argue the CAD back and fourth, but luckily I was happy with their first one. It is a plain cathedral style shank with a delicate halo (1pointers) and no wires under the diamond. I considered asking to get the halo angled outwards slightly more, but ended up not doing it. Partly because of time restraints and partly because I was afraid it might make the ring less durable and I was scared that we might knock out some of the melee later on. Which was probably silly, in hindsight I think the extra angle would have looked even more spectacular and I should have at least asked, but it does have a slight angle already and it is still very beautiful. I was obviously going for a plain but stylish approach with focus on the pear, and I think they managed very well. As for the metal, I was happy with white gold, but I wanted a palladium alloy and not a nickel one. I asked about this but was told I could either get nickel alloy or just go platinum, which ended up not costing much more, so I figured why not. They worked very hard, and I am incredibly impressed with their effort/service, and a week later the ring was shipped.RECEIVING RING - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I received the ring 2 days before planned proposal, but as we live together etc, it was a little bit hard for me to view the ring properly. I had a quick look at the office in the evening, and I freaked out a little as the color looked off (all I could see was yellow) and I couldn't really see the diamonds in the halo either (in my head I thought it could just as well have been a thin metal halo and it would have looked he same). Panic ensued and I didn't know what to do (besides starting a thread about it of course, which helped me calm down
). ANYWAY, after being able to view it properly, I changed my mind. It actually looks very nice and white in most lights, and in worst cases it still only looks slightly warm but still very beautiful. Especially after she started wearing it I have come to really like it and am very glad I did not get bigger diamonds in the halo as it is just perfect. It is very sparkly as well, both main diamond and halo, and we are both not the slightest bothered by the color anymore (which is really quite white and nothing like what my first impression had been for some reason). It's actually quite perfect PROPOSAL
Got a bit ahead of myself, so the next step was the proposal obviously. I pretended to go to work but took the day off to clean and decorate the house etc. I also got the ring insurance sorted (so she could wear it straight away) and hired a helium tank and filled the house with balloons. In total I had 100 plain balloons on the ceiling and another 30 or so nicer ones around the house, including a "marry me" balloon. So yeah, I basically intercepted her when she came home and asked her to marry me. She was very excited and impressed both with proposal and ring, and there was a lot of phone calls and excitement and screaming going on for a while
I had also booked a dinner for later at a nice restaurant in which the ring looked _amazing_ by the candle light. After obsessing about the ring/diamond for so long, I spent most of the dinner looking at the ring and how it sparkled haha. I am very happy with how it turned out and couldn't have asked for more.OPINIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS / MISC
As you could imagine, I could not recommend brian gavin enough. Incredible service and beautiful rings at competitive prices etc. Compared to james allen, which I would still recommend and I definitely had nothing but good experiences with, my custom made ring only cost a few hundred more than the equivalent one on their site (and mine is a lot nicer to be honest, plus I was able to get it custom made to my specifications). Probably try not to leave it as late as me though as it would have been nice to have some time to try and give it some personal touches. In which case I would probably have at least gotten a CAD done with a steeper angled halo and their opinion about how it would affect durability etc. Might still have gone with what I got, but it's obviously an opportunity you should take advantage off.
As for other people looking at fancy cuts with or without halo, I would recommend to not go lower than G though(maybe even F if you are color sensitive and very concerned about the slightest trace of yellow/warmth), especially if you are a clueless guy like me buying a diamond for the first time for someone else (even though I'm sure many will disagree). Even though mine turned out OK in the end, it was very stressful and your expectations might be a bit all over the place like it was for me. Especially if you set it in a halo as there will be a bit of a contrast with the smaller diamonds regardless. But again, very subjective and if she likes warm diamonds you can of course go lower. I had very limited availability to decent local jewelry stores, and the ones we did look at did not help a lot as all diamonds looked very similar in the store with their fantastic lightning regardless of specs and color etc, and we were not able to take them out in sunlight or anything like that.. so your experiences may wary if you are able to see more diamonds in real life.
Another thing I would beware of is getting a pear that is too long or cut too highly (giving it more of a triangle appearance if I can exaggerate). Initially I really liked this thinner/longer style, but after extensive googling for pear halos, they just don't look nice in a halo. Although I have no problem with them as a solitaire, it just needs that rounder look to to make the halo look nice or it just looks weird. In my opinion of course, but google carefully if you are considering this.
PICTURES
I put all the pictures (along with diamonds specs) in a different thread in the bling forum, so follow this link for lots of photos:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-halo-engagement-ring-diamond-cad-ring-proposal-photos.173913/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-halo-engagement-ring-diamond-cad-ring-proposal-photos.173913/[/URL]
Here's a preview anyway:
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