How to Buy Diamond Engagement Rings

How to Buy Diamond Engagement Rings by Mindy Landa

There is much to consider when purchasing a diamond - especially diamond engagement rings! The tradition of presenting a woman with a diamond engagement ring when proposing began in 1477 when Archduke Maximilian presented a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy - and in most cases, the woman you plan to propose to will expect a ring to accompany that proposal!

First,do a little detective work to find out what your fiance would like to have. After all, she will be wearing it for a very long time. So you can subtly get her opinion on the subject by suggesting that a friend is seeking your help in picking out a ring for his fiance and ask your fiance's opinion. She will most likely describe to you exactly what she would like. You could also enlist her friend, sister, mother, etc, to go shopping with her and see what she tries on at the jewelry store. Or the friend could start up a conversation about engagement rings and what's popular and what you fiance's opinion is on the subject.

Next, determine how much ring you can afford. Most people use the two or three months salary rule. This means that the ring should cost the equivalent of two months of your current salary. Because you have other bills to pay, saving up this amount of money may take quite a bit of time. You should consider financing. Simply go to the jeweler of your choice and tell them that you plan to buy an engagement ring, and that financing will be necessary. Go ahead and get the credit check out of the way, find out what your payments will be, and how much of a down payment is required. Make sure that the jewelry store you buy the ring from will allow you to return the ring, if that is required, or allow your girlfriend to exchange it for another if she isn't happy with it!

You will want to take into consideration how your fiance feels about jewelry. If she's really into jewelry, you will want to get her as much ring as you possible can.Say she's not into wearing jewelry so much.You could get her a less expensive ring with a lower profile (not so raised off the finger and not so flashy) and she will be very pleased. Just take notice on how much and what type jewelry she wears and what her opinions are on the subject and use your best judgement.

Quality is very important. There is a great range of color, clarity, carat weights and cuts. All these aspects of diamond engagement ring buying can be very confusing and intimidating if you don't know much about it. Perfect diamonds are very, very rare, extemely expensive and difficult to find. Poor quality diamonds are a lot cheaper and more common but the sparkle and beauty of them is obviously diminished. Color ranges from D-Z and then the fancy colors such as blue, pink, yellow, etc. D color will be the highest quality, the clearest,and highest priced Quality decreases as you move down this alphabet scale until you get to the fancy colors in which the price rises again.The color of the diamond changes from colorless to yellow to brownish as you get to Z. You generally want to get a color somewhere between F and I or colorless to near colorless to stay in a better price and quality range.Fancy colors are not traditional for engagement rings but again it's a matter of preference.

Clarity ranges from Perfect to imperfect. Perfect diamond have no flaws and are the most expensive and least available. Imperfect diamonds have eye visable flaws such as black carbon spots, cloudiness, and crystal like imperfections. The in-betweens are VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2,and SI3. You will most practically and affordably want to stay in-between in the SI range. The diamonds in this range are eye clean and attractive.

Carat weight and cut are a matter of personal preference. The higher the carat weight, the bigger the diamond. And as far as cut,which is the shape of the diamond, there is a variety of shapes available which can be viewed on the education page of this website. Princess cut or square cut is the most popular diamond shape these days.

The different metals you have to choose from for the setting and the band of the ring are white gold, yellow gold and platinum. Platinum is the rarest and most expensive of the precious metals. Some ladies prefer white gold, some prefer platinum and so on. White gold is in highest demand over yellow gold as of recent. Platinum is, of course, the most sought after due to it's rarity but it is not the most affordable due to recent price rises in the platinum market.

There is also the matter of which style...solitaire, solitaire with side diamonds, cluster, 3 stone rings and so on. 3 Stone Diamond Engagement Rings are extremely popular. There is a variety of this type ring in various carat weights, yellow or white gold, platinum and different cuts (shapes) available to choose from here at Ashley Henning Fine Jewelry. Feel free to browse around.

If you have any questions or you are looking for something we don't have listed, please contact us and we will find it for you. We will be happy to help you with such an important purchase.

About Autthor
Mindy Landa Ashley Henning Fine Jewelry 114 Raintree Circle Jacksonville, NC 28540 Mindy@AshleyHenningFineJewelry.com (910)795-4177