How much time, effort and money should be put into the selection and purchase of an engagement ring?
How do you pick the style of the diamond and the setting it should be placed in?

To some guys, all the details are not important as long as she gets a ring when you propose to her.

Of course not all guys belong to that school of thought. At namywedding.com, we feel the way you ask your lady for her hand is a very special moment. Throw in the right diamond, with the perfect cut, shape, colour, clarity, carat weight and certification, placed in the right setting and with the right band and even if the girl was thinking of saying no, she could find herself answering in the affirmative in error.

So if it’s this important, how do you get one (or more)?

Pre-School

Money Matters

Your first decision should be your budget. A lot of people assume that you cannot get a good quality diamond ring with a small budget but with the right amount of knowledge and planning, you can get a good diamond engagement ring to make your proposal as special as it should be.

To get your money’s worth, pick the ring setting she will love, and then spend the rest of your budget on a diamond.

What’s her style?

To make your woman happy with her ring your have to know her taste when it comes to jewelry and accessories. You also have to check the practicality of the ring. Does her job allow her to wear flashy jewelry? Will it get caught or stuck in something in her day-to-day activity?

These questions are very important because you don’t want to buy her something that she ends up not wearing.

What if I can’t stretch to a diamond?

Cubic Zirconia is a synthetic stone designed as a cheaper alternative to a real diamond. Only an expert can tell the difference and you could get away with buying this rather than a diamond. However, bear in mind that the lustre may fade over time unlike a real diamond - which is truly timeless.

Ring 101 – The right setting

An engagement ring typically has two parts: the diamond and the setting.
Following our own advice, we will start with the ring setting.

Ring Setting: The ring setting is the band the diamond will be placed in.

This could be one of gold, silver or platinum with platinum being the most expensive and silver the cheapest. Our recommendation is to stick to gold.

Platinum is a rare, strong and expensive metal that lasts a lifetime.
Platinum is the strongest precious metal with the highest level of purity. It is damage resistant, wear resistant and hypoallergenic (relatively unlikely to cause an allergic reaction).

Gold is yellow-orange in its natural state and is usually alloyed with another metal for durability.

The purity, which is measured in Karatage (Karats) “K”, tells how much of the metal is in a piece of jewelry. The Karatage can be 18K (75% gold and 25% pure alloys) or 14K (58.3% gold and 41.7% pure alloys) or 10K with the purest gold being 24k gold i.e. 100% gold.

"White gold" is gold that is purposely alloyed with metals and plated with an extremely hard element called Rhodium, to give the resulting metal an off-white colour.
“Rose gold” is gold that has a pink hue to it, which is created by using a copper alloy.
“Yellow gold” is gotten from natural gold and colour-saturated alloys, which give it a rich shine.

Gold is easy to polish and repair and is resistant to rust and is a softer, more malleable and less expensive metal than platinum.

Silver in its purest state, is relatively soft and must be combined with other metals to give a more durable product.
Sterling silver, which is the most common alloy, consists of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper.

Ring 102 – Diamond in the rough

Now that you have your preferred setting, it is time to pick the rock. This is the delicate part of the selection process, because if done properly will get you a good meal or a kiss (or a combination of the two and a lot more) every time the diamond catches light.
So guys, pay close attention.

1.     Diamond shape

The shape of the diamond is really important and is the first thing to deal with. Find out what shape she prefers (discreetly) and then take it from there.

The very common shapes are round, oval, princess-cut, and emerald-cut. Other popular shapes are Asscher-cut, marquise-cut, radiant-cut, pear-shaped, and heart-shaped diamonds.

2.     Diamond Size

The size of a diamond is determined by combining its carat weight along with other qualities to get a size that suits you budget.

A lot of online jewelers have diamond size charts (a link will be included below) that can give you a general idea of what you should be looking for with respect to size.>

3.     Diamond quality – The four Cs

When buying diamonds, these Cs will help you make the most knowledgeable decision. They are:

Cut

The cut of a diamond is the diamond’s most important characteristic and has the highest influence on the beauty of a diamond. The cut of determines how the diamond sparkles when hit with light.

A diamond can have an ideal cut, a very good cut, a good cut, a fair cut and a poor cut.

Colour

The colour of a diamond actually represents its lack of colour. The whiter a diamond is, the more it is valued and priced.

The colour grade ranges from D to Z, with D being the highest possible grade (which is the best grade) and Z being the lowest grade.

Clarity

All diamonds have tiny imperfections in them. Clarity is the measure of the number and size of these imperfections.

Carat weight

Carat is specifically a measure of a diamond's weight, and if used on its own may not reflect a diamond’s size accurately.

To understand diamond size, carat weight should be considered in conjunction with two other criteria:

– Distance in millimeters across the top of the diamond.

– Diamond's cut grade.

To balance the overall quality of your diamond, a clear understanding of the cut, colour and clarity is needed.

Ring 103 – Where to buy, policies and a box.

You are now armed with the image of you perfect ring and we know you are eager to click buy (if online) or give a detailed description (if buying direct from a jeweler), but step on the brakes for a while and make sure the following things have been checked.

Where to buy

First make sure you choose a good jeweler.

Local: Bands of Bliss

Unveil

Other: Blue Nile (We absolutely love Blue Nile)

Policies

Ensure that the jeweler has a good return policy (so you can use it if you need or want to return the ring for whatever reason).

A box? (Not important if the ring goes in a drink or some other medium)

This part is not rocket science. Just make sure that the ring is placed in an attractive container, so before she sees the ring, the box would have gotten her attention.

You should note that a diamond is the traditional rock of choice for an engagement ring. You could use something else (emerald, sapphire and ruby are viable alternatives) but only if your lady has stated a deeper love for another rock or completely abhors diamonds.

Armed with all this information, picking the ring should be a breeze. So have fun selecting the most important piece of jewelry you will ever buy for your lady and have an even greater time popping the question.

NB: A diamond ring should only be purchased where there is a high probability of ‘Yes’ as an answer.

Sources: Wiki How

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