Pave Halo vs/ Plain Pave Band...

[katrina_33]

The great debate that rages in my mind day and night! ; )

It''s actually a good thing my BF isn''t ready to buy the ring tomorrow, because I wouldn''t know what I actualyl want tomorrow! (and may never will).

The two styles that are probably the most popular right now (and definitely the most popular on Pricescope) are the two I''m torn between - the platinum pave band with a thin pave "halo" surrounding the center, or the thin platinum pave or shared prong eternity band solitaire.

My pros and cons so far -

Halo

Pro: makes center pop more, more defined shape, makes center look totally round, more design interest than plain solitaire

con: calls more attention to itself, probably trendy and may look dated in 10 years

Plain pave / SP band

Pro: delicate, more timeless, easier to pair with band

con: less interesting, less "wow" factor, more common

Thoughts? I know lots of you are probably considering these 2 styles, so let me know your preference / thought process about it!

Thanks!

 

[diamondlil]

There''s even a third choice, Katrina. How about a pave halo with a plain platinum shank coupled with a pave eternity wedding ring. I was just talking to lmurden about this at the Baltimore get-together.

I guess I am pretty biasd about the halo since I just had one made myself. It sure does make my diamond Pop (with a capital P). I had my diamond in a plain solitaire setting before, and all my friends cannot believe it is even the same stone. Now that it is in the halo, it looks soooooooo much bigger than it did before.

I like "Wow" jewelry so the halo suits me, but if you want somthing a little less blingy, I can understand just going with the pave shank solitaire. How large will the center diamond be?

DiamondLil

 

[elepri]

I wanted something more understated and fi really hates those halo designs so wasn''t really seriously considering the halo. However, some of my friends did because the design is more interesting and makes the stone look larger. They also wanted the antique look. They''re also concerned that it might look dated in a few years. Another issue with it is that it covers a lot of the diamond (though i don''t know if it has to) and actually close up makes the stone look smaller, which, according to one of my friends, is very disappointing since it looks so much bigger at a distance. What about having side stones? It''s a different option that allows for a more elaborate design without some of the drawbacks of the halo.

 

[NoonersMom]

I think it''s a matter of personal taste & what looks good on your hands. Will the halo & pave band look dated in 10 years? Possibly. It''s starting to gain traction. Do I love it any less? Absolutely not. It''s about finding a design that fits your personality. I love clean lines & a little something extra, but not overdone. The Ritani EL halo fits me for this reason. It''s simple and clean, but still beautiful.

Think about what your style & tastes are & choose a design around that. I guess that''s the best advise I can give you.

ETA....I am doing a plain platinum wedding band so that it''s not overkill (for me). That also gives the flexibility of being a plane Jane or a "I''ve arrived". lol. Keep those options in mind as well.

 

[FireGoddess]

I think it''s really more a matter of which look you prefer, because that ring is going to be on your hand all the time and you''re the one who''s going to be looking at it the most over the course of your life. And not to make light of our diamond obsessions, but even if the look is dated in 10 years...you could just swap settings! It''s not like you wouldn''t have gotten your money''s worth by that time.

Even if you''re not a setting-swapper, I personally don''t think the look will become dated (though I am biased in loving the look) because it''s actually reproducing an antique design...these rings don''t scream "modern" to me. Some are very reminiscent of art deco design.

As for the halos looking huge from far away but making the stone look smaller at close range, I will say that for the brief time my pear was bezel set, it did make the stone look somewhat smaller. It''s the nature of bezel setting - you are going to cover up more of the stone. One way to get around that (which I did) is to have the center stone prong set above the halo instead of having the stone bezel set flush with the halo. And then POP - the stone looks huge and you''ve got the best of both worlds. I have gotten so many more people ogling my pear (and saying how absolutely huge it is) now that it''s got a halo versus when it was just in a 6 prong solitaire setting. Just my two cents!

 

[beautifuldisaster]

i personally love love love the halo and the pave band!!! love it. that is what i am asking for actually here''s to hoping! i am not worried about it looking dated because its what i wanted, its what caught my eye and made my head turn.

i want my stone to be set up higher, and not bezel. i have seen it this way and it hasn''t made the stone look smaller. it still pops and boy is it purdy!

the ring that i want (and hopefully will get) has an antique look to it anyway and that was what i wanted..some may call it dated, i shall call it antiqued

bottom line, if you love it, get it it will make you happy. i wouldn''t worry about it being dated. i figured i wasn''t getting a halo anywhere else for certain so why not one on my ering?

 

[MissAva]

I dont know that I think pave bans are "plain". And beucae I too worry over the trendy issue I started looking around at others wedding rings/bands. Especially with women older then I am. I think pave will hit the same trendy issues that halo will. I think both are very lovely, I just think they are more popular right now then they will be in a few years. I also think you like the shine of diamonds from the band there are options something like the picture below or like Mara''s (she has way better pictures). These styles are popular with women my mothers age who married 25-35 years ago and they are their orignal wedding sets and we still think of them as pretty modern looking now. I like the idea ofpeople not knwoing when I go my ring, the 70''s or now and I think that general style makes them a great choice for that reason. Really though the most important thing is that you look down at your ring everyday and smile. If it makes you happy who cares if someone else looks at it as say "Katrina got engaged in 2005" there are worse things for people to know then you have had the same man love you for a long time. Go with what makes you happy!

 

[icekid]

i''d say go with whatever you love! either way, you just cannot go wrong. and i''m personally not too worried about the pave bezel look becoming dated, as it''s an antique look in the first place! so it''s already kind of dated. and if it becomes REALLY uncool someday, you could always change the setting

 

[snow_happy]

How about both?

just kidding.

I personally like both designs ESPECIALLY FireGoddess'' pear with halo (

) and the emerald with pave she just posted in the SMTR section. Both very drool worthy. I would say that if you love both designs equally then go with the one that will sustain your happiness the longest. i.e. if you think one is to "trendy" then pick the more traditional one (as long as you like it just as much)

I think both designs are beautiful so it''s a win win situation

 

[FireGoddess]

Aw shucks S-H, thanks.

 

[beautifuldisaster]

ohh i love firegoddess'' ring! so pretty!

 

[snow_happy]

FireGoddess...

It''s true! I have always been partial to RBs but your pear with the halo...MAN! I think it is just to die for. It''s beautiful, elegant,...just simply wonderful!! I know I''m gushing but I really do LOVE your ring

Katrina...

If you are planning on a fancy shape with a pave halo I don''t think you have to worry about trendiness...or even a round brilliant. Again I''d say go with whatever you really like

and let us know what you decide

 

[katrina_33]

I''m going for the halo - they''re always the first rings my eyes travel to in ANY jewelry case, I''ve realized. I''m sure they are trendy and will scream "Mid 2000''s" in a few years (3 out of 7 or so of my friends who have gotten engaged recently got them) but, I don''t care. I really love them the most, and have for the 2 years that I''ve been looking at engagement rings (pathetic, I know). If I hate it in 10 years, I''ll take it from there, but at least I will have really really loved it in the first place!

I''ll keep you guys updated on the process - I''ve been MIA from this thread for a while because there was no real update, but now we are going to go ring shopping just to compare notes on styles I like in a few weekends (when we finish ripping up carpet in our house - ugh) So I''ll post again after that. But still, lots of people dont even join the LIW thread until this point! I joined after we''d started talking engagement, but before any specific conversation had been started about actually getting a ring. i know it will still be a long process from this point on!

 

[diamondlil]

Yay Katrina! I''m so happy for you. Of course, I''m a little partial to the halo myself. I can''t believe how popular the halos are becoming. I just picked up a magazine this morning, and there was another ad for a jeweler and a picture of a giant pave halo ring!!! If that''s what you like, that''s absolute what you should get. Don''t worry too much about 10 years from now and it looking dated -- so many things can and will change between now and then. Keep us posted!

DiamondLil

 

[MissAva]

Yippee! I am glad you have decided to follow your gut, it is your ring. Does you SO like halo''s as well? Dont forget to take a camera with you so you can post pictures of the rings you have tried on.

 

[Mara]

i wanted to chime in and say i don''t think that the solitaire pave look is too common at all. and no im not just saying that because of my own rings...

in my real life in the 2+ years i have had my e-ring and 1 year since having my entire set i have only once ever come across anyone else wearing something similar. i have heard a story here or there about how so and so has something similar...but only actually ever seen someone wearing a set once.

keep in mind PS is not typical...and while we see a pave or halo ring a day on here nowadays...we are still a very tiny % of the world. i haven''t seen ONE halo yet in real life either! go figure.

just figured i''d throw that in...PS has a way of skewing things sometimes!

 

[kanne]

mara- your rings are incredibly stunning. Good point about the pricescope crowd (the .01%ers). I''ve seen halos and pave w/solitare in NYC shops (Michael C Fina), but by and large, I''ve noticed that the most popular style is the trusted and true tiffany solitare setting. Can''t go wrong with a classic (although personally it''s not my choice..only becuase it does not have a low profile and would snag everthing...). But diamonds are diamonds..I''d get used to it..I GUESS. lol!

With the halo thing tho, it''s good to be careful...IMO there''s good and bad halo. Bad halo can really wreck a nice diamond.

 

[diamondlil]

Date: 5/10/2005 2:18:22 AM
Author: Mara
i wanted to chime in and say i don't think that the solitaire pave look is too common at all. and no im not just saying that because of my own rings...

in my real life in the 2+ years i have had my e-ring and 1 year since having my entire set i have only once ever come across anyone else wearing something similar. i have heard a story here or there about how so and so has something similar...but only actually ever seen someone wearing a set once.

keep in mind PS is not typical...and while we see a pave or halo ring a day on here nowadays...we are still a very tiny % of the world. i haven't seen ONE halo yet in real life either! go figure.

just figured i'd throw that in...PS has a way of skewing things sometimes!

I totally agree, Mara. Although I have seen quite a few pave-halo rings here at PS, in magazine advertisements and in upscale jewelry stores, since I got mine, I have NOT EVEN ONCE seen anyone else wearing one. I have to continually remind myself that we PSers are a very tiny percentage of ring buyers.

DiamondLil

 

[elepri]

I seem to see more halo rings than non-halo pave rings. I definitely see halos just about every day, particularly on all the newly engaged. It''s funny, because i work at a couple of Manhattan preschools and I haven''t seen one halo ring there on the preschoolers'' moms. But three of my friends who got engaged in the past year or so chose halo rings. Maybe it a regional thing but at least in New York it''s definitely a trend and a pretty recent one.

 

[FireGoddess]

It''s a very good point made by Mara and reiterated since. My pear halo ring was ogled at a bridal shop a few weeks ago (I was helping my future SIL with her dress fitting)...all the salesgirls rushed over to see it after the first woman grabbed my hand, and they all said that none of them had ever seen a setting like that before and asked where I found it. I told them it was a custom job, which is likely why they hadn''t seen any like it.

This past weekend I went to Borders and plopped down in the cafe with a vanilla chai tea and a stack of bridal magazines (I''m in a wedding in the fall---and let''s be honest--I like to look at them even if I''m not in an upcoming wedding!) and halo rings were on every single advertisement page in the magazine. I even saw a few ads that had pear halos...something I had never seen in a mag before (but would have made my, and diamondlil''s lives much easier if we''d had these to show our jewelers in the first place!!!). They''re all over the ads as the big new desirable trendy thing, but I haven''t seen anyone wearing any in real life.

So, it''s true that on PS many have gone halo crazy...but in the real world....they''re still very unique!

 

[Mara]

Also I recall when I got engaged and even before when I would ogle catalogs...the MB halo rings were just SOOO amazing and I had never seen anything like that before.

I tend to think that people feel like what is in a magazine ad many times is not for 'them'...rather a celebrity bride can have a halo or pave but a regular ole' Sally would not consider it for themselves. Does that make sense? I feel that way many times about lots of jewelry and clothes I see in magazines!

However, us Pscopers are a bit more nutty than the average engaged or abouttobeengaged gal...so I think we get more spectacular items many times than the average gal! Plus I think msot of us would agree it's easier to go nuts when you have PS friends supporting you AND vendors giving you affordable pricing!

So yes I see the ads all the time too and I recall first seeing those amazing MB ads about 3-4 years ago (even before getting engaged) but I have never seen anything like that in person (MB halos)...just on PS!!

That's part of why I like having my different eternity bands...it may be all over the mags and I have seen sets in high-end stores, but I have only seen one in real life on a hand.

 

[katrina_33]

Yeah, the Michael B trois collection was the first time I ever saw those halo rings, and it was in ads about 2 - 3 years ago. Then I started seeing them EVERYWHERE in store windows. It seems every jewelry store in LA has at least one in the window. Then I started seeing them in a broad range of designer lines and mag ads from almost every company. THEN I had 3 friends in a row get engaged with them this past year. It''s definitely been a slow progression, but I think it''s reaching the tipping point, especially in NY and LA.

Oh well, they''re popular for a good darn reason!

I went to a jewelry store alone today to scope it out. They carry Precision Set, Martin Flyer, Harry Kotlar, etc, so it was a good place to check out. The precision set rings were not to my liking in person. Their halo rings were too chunky and bulky, and also looked too precise if that makes any sense, like they were made all by computer (which they are actually.) I was really attached to those, but good thing I found out now I''m not into them so I can move on! I''m trying to narrow my field to about 5 - 7 stores to take the poor BF to. I don''t think he has any real opinions on jewelry now, but he probably will discover some once we''re there looking. Watch, I bet he''ll just hate halo rings or something with my luck! They had a ring at this store by Harry Kotlar, a beautiful pave band with no halo - I can''t describe what is so special about it, but it was just SO delicate and lovely and well crafted - totally by hand. It was also $5,000 for the setting. A little steeper than I''d hoped. But better than the $6900 halo setting I looked at at Peter Norman last weekend! Jeesh!

I got an idealscope and have been playing with some interlaps I have to try to learn to use it. It''s tricky to get a consistent image. My bf seems to resist the idea of using it. He says he thinks cut is the same as color or clarity, where in a real world viewing situation you don''t notice the differences so much. I said, color is only graded face down against a master set, but mounted in a ring it''s so hard to tell, and why buy what you can''t really see in real life, same with clarity, I''m not going to walk around with a loupe to look at my ring, so why do I care what''s there at 10x mag. I was having a hard time explaining why the idealscope is different. I was telling him that everything looks good under jewelry store lights, but the idealscope will help predict how good it will look in everyday lighting, and it will make a real world difference if a stone is well vs poorly cut, etc, but I think he''ll need to see some examples in person to really understand.

We''re looking not this coming weekend, but the one after, until then I''ll be going out on my own to pick which stores I want to take him to.

Wish me luck!

PS, is it appropriate to take a camera and ask to photograph setting you try on? It seems like jewlery stores might be suspiscous, but if you all think it''s OK, I''ll go for it!

Thanks for the support. THis is truly a saga!

 

[JessesGrl]

when I picked out my setting back in early october, I did not even think of a "halo" style. I had originally seen an art deco engagement ring w/a saphire halo in an antique store on the cape and I adored it!!! When we went shopping I too was drawn to the halo setting, and knew I wanted it immediately!!!! It was so funny b/c my fiance and I kept commenting how unique it was and how no one would have it...well boy was I WRONG...now it''s a TREND! Not what I wanted, but I love it and I get comments allllll the time on how beautiful it is. I would recommend that you get the stone set above the halo instead of bezel...that is what I have and I think it makes it "pop". But again, I am bias!!

 

[MissAva]

I think it would depend on how many pictures you take. I think that if at every store you took a picture of your favorite and then wrote down the pertinent information that would be fine. That would make them feel like you enjoyed the ring so much you would really like to have a clear memory. If you took picutres of more then three I think they might be more concered. Good Luck and definately post those pics so we can have some more eye candy.

 

[icekid]

JessesGrl- that''s actually what i am planning to do! i decided i didn''t like the stone to sit exactly flush with the halo, ie bezel set. so i think i am going to have it prong set and slightly up above the halo. FireGoddess'' ring is a really good example of that, i think. i love the way it looks in her ring. i actually emailed a pic of her ring to my bf to show to whiteflash so they know what i want. i wish he would let me talk to them. it would be sooo much easier. he thinks i am changing my mind constantly, when in reality he doesn''t really understand everything i want so he doesn''t remember it. sigh.. boys!

 

[katrina_33]

Yep, I definitely want prong set and not a true bezel. I hate bezel set center stones for some reason. It''s such a subtle thing, but it makes a huge difference in my mind. Go figure! They don''t seem engagement ring-y to me, and in fact almost seem more like a class ring or something, even though it would look exactly the same to all but the closest up! Also hides some of the center stone.

 

[Mara]

when i was shopping i brought my camera and some stores let me take pix and some didn''t....

so i guess just bring the camera and ask...and then see. or if you really need a picture and are afraid they will say no, snap it real quick...hehee.

i hate that some designers won''t let you take pix of some wedding dresses on you, how are you supposed to remember what it looks like? one store was adamant and it was a very exp dress and i just wanted to be able to see something at home to remember, so while the gal was out finding me a veil, i had my friend stand watch and i snapped a few quick pix.

ended up not buying the dress but i loved it. guess they were worried about knockoffs, but to be honest i had a pic of it in a magazine and if i really wanted to knock it off, that mag pic would have more detail for me than the dress on me in a blurry far-away shot! but whatever makes them feel good i guess. i just wonder how many sales are lost!

 

[JessesGrl]

here is an example of halo w/stone not bezel set

 

[appletini]

*bump*

I''m having the same delimma. Originally the BF and I both liked the halo, then he changed his mind and didn''t like it. One of his friends got engaged a few weeks ago and the new fiancee has a halo (its a copy of one of the tiffany legacy rings). Now that she has one I don''t want all his friends wives to think I copied her. But since I''m now the last gf in his group, they all told him that he was screwed b/c they knew the other girls ring is similar to what I want.

Thanks to allycat''s inquiry about the WF band width for pave, I realized that my 3 sided pave non-halo ring design that I was going to settle for would be too thick. So after whinning to the BF, he said that if I really wanted the halo, I could have it. Plus I want my stone to be prong set and not bezel (the other girl has a bezel set cushion). Now I''m trying to decide if I want a round or octagonal halo (although since BF is the one handling everything he will probably pick the round anyway). Now I''m looking for new pics to upadate my packet with (the BF must have all the details so that he doesn''t mess anything up).

I''m sure I''ll still be waiting a little while, but I think I finally have to make up my mind for good.

 

[pea]

Date: 5/4/2005 5:24:09 PM
Author: diamondlil
There''s even a third choice, Katrina. How about a pave halo with a plain platinum shank coupled with a pave eternity wedding ring. I was just talking to lmurden about this at the Baltimore get-together.

Ooh, I like the sound of that! Could you point me to any threads or websites that might have pics of such rings? Please and thanks!