Puppy4248
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2013
- Messages
- 132
I’d like to share the 3.6 F SI1 (eye clean) round solitaire that I assisted my sister’s fiancé in creating for a surprise engagement! Feeling very lucky to have worked with the A-team (thank you, Pricescope!) – starting with Todd Gray, who referred me to PS’ very own Layla/Gypsy at HPD, and finally Chris Anadiotis at Brilliantly Engaged for the setting. Truly, a dream team. But first, pictures!
Since my future brother-in-law wanted the sparkliest round possible, I reached out to Todd Gray for peace of mind, who is indeed my match with respect to near immediate responsiveness/speed of emailing! He is terrific – knowledgeable, not pushy, just so willing to be helpful in any way he can. Even called a vendor for a rough custom quote for me. When we could not find the specifics my future brother-in-law was looking for in current inventory, Todd kindly referred a couple options for the custom route, and I ultimately chose to reach out to HPD.
As the universe would have it, it was our very own Gypsy/Layla at HPD who ended up assisting – I was ecstatic to be in good hands yet again! I so appreciate her working within our timeline, bringing her expertise and sharp eye on everything from maximizing budget to recommended settings for durability and design. She is very sweet and responsive as well. We ended up getting a cut-to-order from HPD/CBI, deciding on a rough stone off the exchange to be cut. That was one of the most exciting experiences of my life (and it’s not even MY ring LOL), they give you expected parameters but as HPD/CBI would rather under promise and over deliver, the diamond may end up finishing even higher in anticipated grade, while your price quote remains firm. Now THAT’S a quality company. They finished well under time, higher in carat weight, and the wonderful Jamie at HPD worked to ship it over to us for insurance purposes. Long story short but to emphasize how great everyone at HPD is – Layla bent over backwards to help me with the bajillion questions I had, and at one point I desperately posted re: insurance on the general forum over Thanksgiving or Christmas since I didn’t want to bother her on a holiday, and I somehow got a response from Wink, who was cooking the holiday entrée but logged into PS… because that’s what diamond lovers do. Amazing. Thank you to Layla and the whole HPD team.
And last but definitely not least, Chris at Brilliantly Engaged…we went with BE for the setting because my sister fell in love with their settings on Instagram, and so I thought it would be special for her to actually have something from them. Even though we didn’t get the diamond from BE, Chris still showed the same respect/responsiveness/eagerness to help as if we had. He mailed over two mock ups cross country, and when it turned out my little sister wanted something a little different and to customize, he patiently reviewed all my powerpoints to get all the details just right. I appreciate his input on shank widths to make the ring both dainty and durable at the same time. Impressively, despite the back and forth on design (that’s on me), when it came to making the ring it took the BE team just four days. That’s seriously impressive timing, and the ring came out more beautiful than my future brother-in-law, my sister, or I could have ever imagined.
So thank you to TODD GRAY, LAYLA/TEAM AT HPD, CBI, and CHRIS/BRILLIANTLY ENGAGED, for the gorgeous and SPARKLY ring, and for working hard to get it to us with days to spare prior to the proposal!!
And just for fun, here is a pic of the solitaire on a play date with my original Puppy4248 ring, the square emerald with tapered baguettes. Making rings sure is fun
Since my future brother-in-law wanted the sparkliest round possible, I reached out to Todd Gray for peace of mind, who is indeed my match with respect to near immediate responsiveness/speed of emailing! He is terrific – knowledgeable, not pushy, just so willing to be helpful in any way he can. Even called a vendor for a rough custom quote for me. When we could not find the specifics my future brother-in-law was looking for in current inventory, Todd kindly referred a couple options for the custom route, and I ultimately chose to reach out to HPD.
As the universe would have it, it was our very own Gypsy/Layla at HPD who ended up assisting – I was ecstatic to be in good hands yet again! I so appreciate her working within our timeline, bringing her expertise and sharp eye on everything from maximizing budget to recommended settings for durability and design. She is very sweet and responsive as well. We ended up getting a cut-to-order from HPD/CBI, deciding on a rough stone off the exchange to be cut. That was one of the most exciting experiences of my life (and it’s not even MY ring LOL), they give you expected parameters but as HPD/CBI would rather under promise and over deliver, the diamond may end up finishing even higher in anticipated grade, while your price quote remains firm. Now THAT’S a quality company. They finished well under time, higher in carat weight, and the wonderful Jamie at HPD worked to ship it over to us for insurance purposes. Long story short but to emphasize how great everyone at HPD is – Layla bent over backwards to help me with the bajillion questions I had, and at one point I desperately posted re: insurance on the general forum over Thanksgiving or Christmas since I didn’t want to bother her on a holiday, and I somehow got a response from Wink, who was cooking the holiday entrée but logged into PS… because that’s what diamond lovers do. Amazing. Thank you to Layla and the whole HPD team.
And last but definitely not least, Chris at Brilliantly Engaged…we went with BE for the setting because my sister fell in love with their settings on Instagram, and so I thought it would be special for her to actually have something from them. Even though we didn’t get the diamond from BE, Chris still showed the same respect/responsiveness/eagerness to help as if we had. He mailed over two mock ups cross country, and when it turned out my little sister wanted something a little different and to customize, he patiently reviewed all my powerpoints to get all the details just right. I appreciate his input on shank widths to make the ring both dainty and durable at the same time. Impressively, despite the back and forth on design (that’s on me), when it came to making the ring it took the BE team just four days. That’s seriously impressive timing, and the ring came out more beautiful than my future brother-in-law, my sister, or I could have ever imagined.
So thank you to TODD GRAY, LAYLA/TEAM AT HPD, CBI, and CHRIS/BRILLIANTLY ENGAGED, for the gorgeous and SPARKLY ring, and for working hard to get it to us with days to spare prior to the proposal!!
And just for fun, here is a pic of the solitaire on a play date with my original Puppy4248 ring, the square emerald with tapered baguettes. Making rings sure is fun
Congrats to your sister! 
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