Engagement ring advice - what are the optimal C's?

peachyprice

I'm going to go against the grain here, you most certainly can tell a high quality diamond with the naked eye.

I have a fair few diamond set in rings, pendants and earrings, but only one of them is outstanding, it's VVS1, F colour, excellent cut and oh boy does is shine and sparkle, like none of my others and gets regular comments. I bought it loose, overseas, for 1/3 of the price in the UK.

selement

A round cut for the best sparkle. I helped shop for my ring, I wanted ideally if budget allowed g or better colour and as least vs2 clarity (vs2 shouldn't be visible without magnification). Our budget was small so my diamond is only small but it's lovely and sparkly

I loved choosing my ring but my now husband knew I wanted to. If you know your girlfriend I'll love the surprise then it's a good idea. A solitaire usually can't go wrong as will generally be inoffensive.

Izadora

selement wrote: »

A solitaire usually can't go wrong as will generally be inoffensive.

I really don't like solitaire rings on me and am very glad I got to choose my own as that's what I would've ended up with if my husband had picked one for me.

As other people have said, you'll know whether your fiancee-to-be would prefer to be surprised with a ring or choose her own but definitely try to find out what style of ring she likes if you're going to buy it in advance.

barbarawright

You might want to check she wants a diamond. A lot of people don't

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond

Pollycat

alexalex wrote: »

The rock diamond and lavish cost of engagement rings are somehow held up as an indication of how much your partner loves you. And suddenly the idea that “all you need is love” is thrown out of the window. I believe that engagement rings are very special items of jewelry; in fact, they are more than just jewelry - they are the symbols of commitment where money doesn't matter indeed.

alexalex
Why does your post include a link to a website called "pawnbat" - which appears to be a Canadian website?

LameWolf

Fwiw, when Mr LW and I got engaged, we visited all the jewellers in MK together, and chose something that we both thought looked good, and that I found comfortable to wear.

He would have been happy to spend 4 figures, but I vetoed that idea on the basis that I'd be terrified to wear it in case I lost it. In the end we went for something for less money, that I could happily wear; to me it's the meaning and emotion behind it that counts, not the amount of ££££ forked out.

Tasha312

I went with my partner to look at designs - most of his friends went for solitaires but I personally wanted something more unique. I found that all the usual high street retailers had similar designs, so I searched in hatton garden - very similar to the high street I think - most shops have the same designs in their windows. One jeweller that stood out for us though was Savvy and Sand. Their designs were different to everyone else's and you can select your own diamond with them, which we did.

My partner did all the main diamond bit - I recall them saying cut and colour were important, as this is what you notice first. Cut gives the sparkle and colour is important if you don't want to see a yellow in your diamond.