Buying a Diamond Ring

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   You've watched your girlfriend shop for clothes. While you were sitting in the store on those comfy sofas that are provided for boyfriends/husbands, you've noticed how meticulous and methodological your girlfriend can be while shopping. She pores over the selections, views them one by one, then together at the same time. She compares the prices, the fabric, the color. And this is just for clothes! How in heaven's name will you ever be able to select the perfect diamond ring for her?

STEP ONE: Get Help

   In many relationships, the marriage proposal does not come as a surprise. Many couples start looking at rings together before the proposal making it easier for the groom-to-be to select the perfect ring. In other cases, the hopefully-soon-to-be-bride's start dropping hints -- pausing in front of jewelry stores and pointing to some "interesting" rings, or leaving dog-eared jewelry catalogs open on the bathroom sink, etc. You might even be reading this guide not from our website, but because you picked up a printed version of it off of the top of the (mysteriously enough) car engine under the hood (if so, look for highlighting or asterisks). If you don't have that luxury, you can ask for help and opinions from the bride's friends, sisters, and even mothers (theirs and/or yours).

STEP TWO: Determine Your Price Range

   Sometime ago, a marketing genius issued forth a dictum -- engagement rings are to be worth in value equal to two months of a person's salary. For some reason or another, many people perceived this as dogma. It is not. It is merely a guide. Spend according to your means. If you can afford to purchase a ring of greater value, then do so if you wish. If you can not abide by the guideline, then lower your price range. Don't worry -- the officiant of your wedding ceremony will not whip out a scale to weigh the diamond before agreeing to conduct the ceremony. And your fiancé won't either. Hopefully.

STEP THREE: Select a Style

1. The Solitaire: a single stone set in a plain metal mounting. This is the most basic style and should be chosen should you not know which style your bride would prefer. Bride's can easily embellish it later according to their taste with band wraps and inserts. Additionally, it goes well with plain wedding bands.

2. The Bridal Set: a single large stone in the center of the ring with smaller stones around it. The wedding band comes as part of the set and it easily slips in the bottom of the ring.

3. The Multi-Stone Ring: a single larger band that has multiple stones placed upon it.

STEP FOUR: Select a Shape

The center stone can come in many different shapes...

1. Round or Brilliant - a circular shape, this is the most basic and traditional.
2. Oval - an elongated circle
3. Pear - resembles a tear drop, it is pointed on one end and rounded on the other
4. Marquise - pointed on both ends
5. Heart - shaped like a, well, heart
6. Princess - box, or square.
7. Emerald cut - rectangular shaped
8. Trillion - triangle shaped

STEP FIVE: Select the Quality of the Diamond (The Four C's)

   The quality of the diamond is based on the "Four C's" -- Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat-Weight. The interrelationships of these characteristics greatly affect the price of the diamond.

Cut:

   Cut refers to the placement and proportion of "facets," or small, flat, polished surfaces, onto a diamond by a master cutter (a fully cut diamond has 58 facets). Colorless diamonds act as a prism. It accepts light into the stone, bounces it from one facet to another, and sends it back out in a dazzling array (also known as its "fire"). The artistry and technical knowledge the master cutter applies while placing the facets on the diamond greatly affects the value.

Color:

   Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow -- some of which are more expensive than the others. With the exception of blue, pink, and red diamonds (which are in the "fancycolors" category of diamonds), "colorless" diamonds are the most valuable. They are also traditionally used as the engagement diamond. As mentioned before, the diamond's beauty lies in the fact that it acts as a prism. But the presence of color seriously limits the diamond's ability to act as one, thus, the less color the better. The Gemological Institute of America created an alphabetical grading scale for the degree of color in a "colorless" diamond. The scale goes from "D" (least amount of color) to "Z" (yellow color). Anything over a "Z" rating falls into the "fancycolors" category.

Clarity:

   Again, you want a clear diamond to allow the light to pass through the diamond with the least amount of obstructions. Besides color, another obstruction would be interior and exterior inclusions (also known as carbon spots or flaws), minute traces of minerals trapped in a diamond during the crystallization process. Clarity refers to the number, color, size, and position of these inclusions.

Clarity has its own scale:

Carat-Weight:

   The size of a diamond is determined by its weight in carats. A carat is equal to 0.2 grams and is divided into 100 points. So a diamond of 75 points is .75 carats or 3/4 of a carat. Be careful not to choose a diamond on carat-weight alone. Two diamonds with the same carat-weight may have vastly differing values due to the other factors previously discussed (cut/color/clarity). So don't pick a diamond based primarily on its size. Think of the overall quality.

STEP SIX: Select a Setting

1. yellow gold - traditional
2. white gold
3. platinum

STEP SEVEN: Select the Ring Finger Size

   Wouldn't it be awful if you chose the perfect diamond, but the ring won't fit on her finger? There are many ways to obtain her ring size. The most obvious is to take her with you to the jewelry store, or simply ask her what her size is. You can also try placing one of her rings over your fingers (or one of her friend's) and seeing if it fits on any of them. If it does, get a ring that fits that finger. Third, "borrow" one of her rings and take it with you to the store.

   Whew. You're finished. And if you thought that was hard, wait until the next step... asking her to marry you!

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