Planning to propose? Need to find an engagement ring but you don’t know anything about diamonds? We have a guide for you that can make this process easier. It is the basics on how to pick an engagement ring.
You know your girl best and what she will like. Is she subtle or a big stone kind of gal.
Trying to pick an engagement ring?
Carats
First, you have to decide how many carats you want in a ring. The average person gets a carat from 1 to 1.5. You can go lower it all depends on your affordability. Once the carat goes from 0.9 to 1 it becomes more expensive just because you can say it’s 1 carat. So if that isn’t important to you go for less.
Clarity
The clarity scale goes from internally flawless to imperfect.
IF – Internally flawless
VVS1 and VVS2 are very very slightly included
VS1 and VS2 – very slightly included
S1-1 S1-2 – slightly included
I1 I2 I3 – imperfect
Colour
Diamonds can have a speck or look of another colour in them. The aim is to get a colourless diamond and the way that they refer to colour is in alphabets. So D, E, F is colourless. G, H, I, J is near colourless. Slightly tinted are K, L, and M. Very light yellow is N, O, P, Q, R.
You want to stay in the near colourless area. You don’t want there to be hints of a lot of yellow in the diamond.
Cut
In cut, there are different types the comment are round, princess, oval, cushion, and pear. Oval and round probably make the diamond look the biggest. But it depends on each persons style what they prefer. Round is pretty much a classic.
Do you want a halo?
A halo is basically small diamonds around the big diamond. It can overshadow the main diamond at times. You want to go classic so it is something you can wear forever.
Ring colour
The ring itself can either be white gold, platinum, or gold. If you get gold the stone can look more stark due to the contrast. In Canada usually 14k gold is available this means it’s only around 58 percent gold.
Where to get a diamond ring on your search to pick an engagement ring
You don’t want to go somewhere like Tiffany where you are paying a premium for the name and not the diamond. No one is going to care where you got your ring from it is more about the diamond itself and the focus on the colour, carat, cut, and clarity. So go to a place where you can get that.
I tried Michael Hill and peoples they had nearly colourless diamonds but the problem was that the clarity was imperfect. Now mostly you can’t tell that much about clarity unless you have someone in a shop examining it under a microscope. It is hard to tell clarity with the normal eye but you don’t want something imperfect and cluster forming so you need a little bit of clarity.
Costco is the place you can get a good band for your buck. They don’t give lower than VS2 clarity and I in colour. The jewelry boxes are a bit ugly but you can order a nice one from amazon and replace the box.
Now Costco doesn’t sound like a cool place to buy a ring but you can choose the style somewhere else and order it at Costco. In the end, the ring matters not where you got it from.
A ring is expensive so you want to consult your girl’s friend to at least get an idea of what type of ring she would like. You don’t want to get something that she ends up hating. Costco even has a 90-day return policy for rings! For a better selection order online. If it’s more than a carat might be a delay in checking the stone but you will get your money back. They have so many styles online.
With sizing they don’t have half sizes online so you might have to get the ring adjusted a bit.
Plan in advance as ring sizing can take up to 2 weeks!
Figured out the ring situation? You are now ready to propose.
