Engagement Ring Buying Advice

[stewie]

All is finished and done with now. Girl said yes.

Took the advice here and went better quality over size. Round, Cut - Ideal, Color - E, Clarity - Internally Flawless, Fluorescence - Faint, Polish/symmetry - Excellent, Culet - None. She's a thin short gal so went with a .7 which actually looks like a perfect size for her. Had the ring custom made by a jeweler I know.

Was able to score an am pass on Friday at 7am sharp to Golden Ears and went there right when the park opened at 7am on Saturday. Went to east canyon falls and did it there that way nobody would be around. Picked up the dog to prop her up to the wooden railing to make her look at the waterfall, crouched down to put her back down and did it then while I was already down lol.


A big thank you for everyone's advice and input!

[6793026]

anyone with experience with lab diamond + shipping within Canada.

was going to pull the trigger, but I didn't wnat to get it from the US and then have to pay duties on it.

Sites?

[bcrdukes]

Synthetic diamonds (as classified by CBSA) dues not incur duty.

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-co...1-2013-eng.pdf

You will need to pay appropriate provincial taxes however.

[6793026]

Now i'm really tempted. I was going to head down to a store locally. I gotta find one local before I try to order on a US website.

[Special K]

In 2013ish, I bought the diamond from James Allen and brought it up. Note that a diamond ring is subject to duties but a loose diamond is duty free, iirc. A few years later we upgraded her diamond via JA’s trade in program and that was seamless too.

[bcrdukes]

Are you in the GTA now? IF so, there's a place in the Diamond District called I think Valour or something that deals with lab grown diamonds. That should save you a trip.

[6793026]

Bcrdukes: I flew back to van to pack more shit back to Toronto, but secretly I'm also here to shop for a ring in BC and bringing it back to propose. I'll do some research.

Special: thx.. i want to get both ring + setting all at one place; get it done and over with..so just getting the diamond and getting it set elsewhere is too much for me...

As per site I'm researching.

"Taxes and Duties: We collects tax on your behalf, based on the province we ship to. The tax rate will be reflected in your cart at checkout. There are no additional import duties for orders shipped to Canada, so the total amount of your order is always transparent."

PERFECT.

They were nice to send me a ring sizer in the mail. Perfect. This way i just need to meaure her ring size when she's knocked out white girl drunk and I'm good to go lol.

[stewie]

Question for you lads about your wedding band.

Overall I'm not a fan of good. I wear avery thin necklace with a few gold pendants on it, but that sits under my short where nobody can see. Looking for a band for myself now and seem to be finsing myself leaning more towards a carbon fiber ring. Was in a few jewelry stores and was a bit surprised on their prices and how cheap they are. They've minimal metal on them which explains why...

Anyone have any experience with them?
Personal opinions or pro's and con's you've had?

[westopher]

I’m not sure about carbon, but if you work with your hands, have a look at what it takes to get them off. I’ve heard of certain “non traditional “ rings really fucking peoples shit up because they can’t be cut off in an emergency.
I need to go get my finger tattooed cause I was always taking mine in and off and lost like 7 wedding rings haha. I haven’t worn one in like 5 years now.

[stewie]

I no longer have to work with my hands because I'm now sitting at a desk. Took years to get all the calluses off but I've got delicate hands now.
I'd have it just a tad bigger than needed or just drop an lb or two. As is now I remove everything when it comes to sports so I'd be needing to have ot cone off easily. Could always copy what my buddy does - he wears a fake cheap ring and keeps his real ring on a necklace.

[underscore]

I have an inexpensive carbon one, I think it's a pretty common design now but I got it at Costco. I've heard of similar issues with the non-traditional rings like tungsten ones not being able to be cut off in an emergency but irrc the carbon fiber ones can be cut easily or I wouldn't have gotten it. It looks exactly like this.



One thing I noticed is it scratches fairly easily, I forgot to take it off a couple times while working on things and it has a couple marks now but I'm the only person ever close enough to be able to see them. I also noticed that it doesn't react much to temperature whereas my hand does, so I can go from not being able to get it off when I'm hot to it nearly falling off on its own when cold. I've never had any other rings though so idk how metal or wood ones compare in these regards.

I haven't worn it since my youngest was born last year, I was taking it off all the time when working on cars/the house/skiing/etc before too though. I planned to get my finger tattooed as well but I'm coming up on 5 years and still haven't done it yet lol.

[iwantaskyline]

Got an appointment with Diamond deals and a few other jewellers. Anyone have experience with Diamond Deals? https://diamonddeals.ca/

Was referred here by a friend.

I'm also open to bluenile which seems like a really popular option - however it seems like they don't sell lab grown diamonds? My gf and I have spoken about whether a lab grown or the real deal is better and her opinion is she doesn't mind as long as it looks nice and especially wouldn't mind if it can be substantially larger if it's a lab grown.

[bcrdukes]

I do recall Blue Nile offers lab grown diamonds.

You have to juggle between lab grown and real diamonds in terms of your 4Cs and cost. If you land a diamond dealer who can offer something close to a lab grown in terms of cost, then you have a good problem to pick and choose.

Having said that, if you and your fiancée are happy with the cost and how the ring looks, go for it. Some savings can be had with lab grown diamonds and truthfully, with inflation and all, put the savings towards other important things like wedding funds and whatnot. Just remember, as others have posted in this page and the past few pages - larger does not mean better. Size and proportion also make a huge difference on how a ring looks when worn, so keep that in mind. Good luck, happy shopping, and keep us posted!

[roastpuff]

Good luck on your search, and yeah, bigger isn't better. Had a friend show off her 1ct+ engagement ring recently and the stone was dull, no luster, no shine... just a big clear-ish rock. I kept my mouth shut but then looked at my wife's ring, big difference in diamond quality even though the rock is 2/3rds the size maybe.

For wedding bands, I started using a silicone outdoorsy one. I find that I didn't quite like the feel of a gold/metal band, this one doesn't quite bother me as much.

[Euro7r]

I bought mines from Blue Nile 10 months ago. The overall selection process itself on the website is quite straight forward, the only thing challenging is the sizing. They sent me one of those ring sizer ruler that wraps around your finger to get the ring size, when I received the ring it was still loose. It was off by like 0.25, it made such a big difference. Yeah I could have sent it back to get it resized, but I didn't want to take the risk of sending a $5000 engagement ring in the mail and potentially it getting lost or damaged.
I ended up getting her one of those plastic ring sizer adjuster that wraps around the bottom of the ring, so it holds snug in her finger. This is the drawback buying online versus buying locally in store.

Wedding ring/band, went locally this time so we can ensure exact perfect fitment. Minichiello Jewellers in downtown. Glad her finger is tiny, can keep cost low LOL. Things add up fast hahaha.

[bcrdukes]

If you plan on having kids, it's okay to have some space on the ring because naturally, your soon to be wife's hands/fingers will swell due to natural changes to her body and while bearing your child, so just keep that in mind.

[RiceIntegraRS]

My wife choosed the band and the shape of diamond she liked but i choosed everything else. If i were to do it all over again, i would probably sacrifice the Clarity i went with and put that money towards getting a slighty bigger diamond. In the end, girls will be girls and they will always compare diamond sizes and u dont want to ur wife to have a substainly smaller diamond compared to her friends. Luckily for me, me and my buddies all got married at the same time and we all got our wives around the same size diamond. But i do know 2 wives in particular who were not entirely happy with the rings they received and they rarely ever wear them. Its not a coincidence that the diamonds were noticeably smaller than the rest.

[6793026]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

If you plan on having kids, it's okay to have some space on the ring because naturally, your soon to be wife's hands/fingers will swell due to natural changes to her body and while bearing your child, so just keep that in mind.

i just found a person who said just come back in and we'll resize it... not worth the hassle righ tnow to get a ring that's too big.

[6793026]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

I bought mines from Blue Nile 10 months ago. The overall selection process itself on the website is quite straight forward, the only thing challenging is the sizing. They sent me one of those ring sizer ruler that wraps around your finger to get the ring size, when I received the ring it was still loose. It was off by like 0.25, it made such a big difference. Yeah I could have sent it back to get it resized, but I didn't want to take the risk of sending a $5000 engagement ring in the mail and potentially it getting lost or damaged.
I ended up getting her one of those plastic ring sizer adjuster that wraps around the bottom of the ring, so it holds snug in her finger. This is the drawback buying online versus buying locally in store.

Wedding ring/band, went locally this time so we can ensure exact perfect fitment. Minichiello Jewellers in downtown. Glad her finger is tiny, can keep cost low LOL. Things add up fast hahaha.

had this issue. I was pressed for time. Don't worry. The girl would be 1000% happy that you got the ring. Just go take it to the jeweler to get it resized. They said it woudl take 1 week. Just CALL round town, find an actual jewler who does it on the spot.

If you're at a small town, the smart jeweler will say, if you're scared, I'll just take the diamond off, you keep the diamond and we'll resize it and we can re-set it once its done. This was a great suggestion (if you dont' have a direct relatoinship with a jeweler).

we met a hands on guy and he did it for us in under 15 mins while watching him work

[Hondaracer]

I went to the diamond deals when I was looking before going with blue Nile. Their diamonds were trash compared to blue Nile for what you got for the cost.

5 years later and my wife’s diamond still gets compliments all the time, the fire is still crazy especially when it’s been cleaned, it will catch the light even on cloudy days etc

[lilaznviper]

i bought my engagement ring from MJ Jewellers https://mjjewellers.ca/

sat down with the sales person and was able to learn all about diamonds. no pressure to buy from them either.

sales person brought out a couple of diamonds for me to pick in my price range when i decided i wanted to go with them. Was also able to do a custom band from them as well. also got our wedding bands from them as well.

[FOREVER]

Forgot if I chimed in here LOL

Bought a engagement ring for le gf/finance/etcetc from a guy my friend used (literally hole in the wall, with a GEOCITIES website)

S/O is pretty plain jane, asked her about her opinions about real/lab grown and she didn't really care as long as it was plain and simple.


Ended up with a simple band,1.23 carat lab grown diamond, on a white gold band for about $8000 cash


Initially I wanted a high spec'd .7carat mined diamond at the same price range (8-10k) but the guy shilled me on lab grown

[bcrdukes]

Bump for HonestTea

[!Aznboi128]

This thread keeps getting more and more expensive.

[RiceIntegraRS]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Bump for HonestTea

did i miss something?