Everything You Should Know About Buying An Engagement Ring
Are you thinking about buying an engagement ring? Do you know if your partner wants an F-color emerald cut with VS2 clarity and a four-prong setting? Did none of those words make sense?
If the answer is yes, then here's our guide to everything you need to know before buying an engagement ring.
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.
The 'it" Phil Collins refers to here is, of course, Engagement Season.
Friends, lovers, it's nearly upon us. And while it won't reach a fever pitch until the holiday twinkle lights come out, prep work for these impending engagements is in full swing.
If you're lucky enough to have found the one person who loves Nicholas Cage movies as much as you do, it's time for the next big step on the road to wedded bliss: The Ring. (No, not that ring.)
Maybe your boo has been dreaming of their ring since childhood. Maybe they don't have a clue what they want. Either way, y'all have some decisions to make, and the fine folks at James Allen (a.k.a. the world's largest privately held online diamond retailer) are here to help you figure it all out.
How Much Should I Pay?
The "Three Month Rule" is often accepted as the standard budgeting guide. As in, an engagement ring should cost you three months' salary. But wake up sheeple! That was invented by diamond giant De Beers to make sure customers were still spending money on rings during the Great Depression. The truth is there are no rules. Just pick a budget that you can afford and stick to it.
How Can I Get The Biggest Bling For My Buck?
Apart from successfully orchestrating a jewelry heist or inheriting a family heirloom, buying online is the single best way to save money.
It's Direct To Consumers
Because online retailers don't have any overhead costs, you can save up to 50% what you would spend for the exact same ring in a physical store. Seriously, 50%! That's should be enough to convince you right there.
There's A Better Selection
Instead of choosing from the finite selection of whatever the brick-and-mortar store by your house has in stock, sites like James Allen have literally thousands of more choices that you can check out 24/7. Plus, JamesAllen.com has (non-commissioned) diamond experts who can help walk you through the process. They even have the option to interact with your favorite diamonds in real-time while they walk you through the diamond attributes in Super Zoom magnification.
There Are More Resources
Since an engagement ring is one of the most significant (read: $$$) purchases you'll ever make, of course, you want to know exactly what you're getting. And that, surprisingly, doesn't always happen at the jewelry store. When you look through a jeweler's loupe, it's impossible to see every imperfection. On the other hand, when you work with a trustworthy engagement ring e-tailer *cough cough James Allen* you can see actual 360° HD videos of the diamonds photographed on their website, zoomed in much closer than you'd be able to see with jewelry store magnification.
If that doesn't seem like a big deal, think about this: just because two diamonds have the same certification, it doesn't mean they'll look the same. And, inevitably, there will be one that looks more beautiful to you than the other. You're spending all this money, so you might as well make sure you're getting the best ring you can.
What Are The Four C's?
Here's where it really pays to do your research. If you want to get a great diamond, you need to learn about diamonds. That's where the Four C's come in.
The Four C's are the industry grade standard by which every diamond is graded — and priced.
Every diamond is judged by their: clarity, color, cut and carat. Ultimately, these standards give you more control. If you want a bigger size, you can sacrifice a little in color or clarity, so long as you (sorta) know what you're talking about:
Clarity
Clarity refers to the stones imperfections or "inclusions" which are tiny mineral deposits and fractures in the diamond. The scales ranges from F (for flawless) to I3 (for the most imperfections.)
Most of these inclusions are too small to see without magnification, but if you want to be 100% sure that your diamond will be completely clean of "eye-visible" inclusions, stick with diamonds graded "VS2" or higher. Diamonds with SI1 and SI2 ratings have slight imperfections, but will still sparkle.
Confused yet? Shout out to James Allen for their 24/7 question hotline. They got you.
Color
A diamond's color (in the Four C's sense) isn't about whether it's a black diamond or a pink diamond or that blue diamond Rose tossed off the Titanic. (Which was hella rare by the way.) It's referring to the coloring of a white diamond, from totally colorless to yellow.
Organized in a tier system, the clearest diamonds are scored as D,E or F. The next tier of near-colorless diamonds are G-J, and it goes all the way down to Z. Color is considered the most forgiving quality, so there's a lot of wiggle room here to get a get a bigger, sparklier diamond at the cost of a little discoloring.
Cut
The cut of a diamond refers to both its shape AND how effectively it returns light.
Shape:
If you were ever going to loop in your partner, your partner's friends or your partner's family in this process, here's your chance, because the ideal diamond shape all comes down to personal preference. Round, emerald, heart, cushion, princess, pear….there's a lot to choose from.
Here's a helpful rundown of all the different styles, if at this point you are bug-eyed with confusion.
Brilliance:
A well-cut diamond is a sparkly diamond. This is what the cut of a diamond is so important because a poorly cut diamond can appear dark and lifeless. Plus, expertly cut diamonds also tend to appear larger than diamonds of the same carat weight.
Carat
We're almost done! And you've definitely heard of this last one. A carat is the weight of the diamond. The more weight, the more carat.
Fun fact: prior to the twentieth century, diamonds were measured using carob seeds, which were small, uniform and served as an ideal counter weight. Over time "carob" evolved to "carat" and that's how we got the word we still use today! The more you know.
The average size for an engagement ring is right around one carat. But if you're looking to really ball out, the biggest diamond in the world is 3,106.75 carat. Just putting it out there.
How Can I Get A Conflict-Free Diamond?
Conflict-free diamonds are gems that aren't obtained in association with human rights abuses, child labor, violence or environmental degradation. And if you saw Blood Diamond, Leo DiCaprio's 2006 film about the diamond trade in the Sierra Leone civil war, you know that roughly 25 percent of diamonds are sold to finance war crimes. Not exactly what you want sitting on your finger as a symbol of love.
James Allen is fully committed to knowing and supporting exactly where their diamonds come from, so every diamond they sell is certified conflict-free. That means not only are they in compliance with the Patriot Act, the Kimberley Process, and UN resolutions, they reject diamonds from governments that sell them to bankroll their conflicts.
TL;DR: Sticking with James Allen ensures all your diamonds will be completely conflict-free.
Wow, did you just become a diamond expert?
Not really. BUT you do know way more about getting the perfect ring than you did before reading this.
Finding an engagement ring is a journey— one that you will definitely have more questions about along the way. Do yourself a favor and check out James Allen. They walk you through everything you need to know about finding and financing your right ring, and they even have a newsletter that drops all that knowledge right in your inbox.
There you have it folks, everything you need to know about buying an engagement ring. And as the old saying goes: First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes eating fiber and flossing regularly because you're an adult now. Cheers!
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JamesAllen.com is one of the largest online retailers specializing in diamonds and engagement rings. They offer over 100,000 conflict-free diamonds, all displayed in 360° HD, plus hundreds of ring settings across all styles. Get started designing her dream engagement ring today.