B&M Question

[g00mba]

Last year I popped the question and she said yes. The big day is drawing near... July 12th, so it is time to get serious about wedding bands.

Her E-ring was shown in this post:
E-Ring Pics

My fiance and I have our minds pretty much set on what we want:

Female Band:
We went to Robbins Bros this past weekend and found a band that she really liked:
Robbins Bros Band
Changes to this band would include the following:

* Round Brilliant (perhaps H&A''s) cut diamonds instead of the princess cuts shown with this ring
o 5 stones
o .5 ctw. (0.1 carat per stone)
o F, G, H, I color
o SI through VS2
o Well cut diamonds that have proper proportions
o Have 5 stones that match nicely
* Keep the narrow part of the shank near the stones (more of a feminine look)
* It is hard to see, but after the narrowed part the ring becomes fairly wide with an indent in the middle. We don''t want this feature of the ring.
o After the Narrow part of the ring we would like it to remain the same size all the way around... slightly thinner than her engagement ring.
* Most likely a platinum setting



Male Band:
The male wedding band will be a combination of this:
Bevel with Princess
and
Band with Trillion Positions

Pretty much the first picture but instead of princess cuts it would have trillion cuts and have them face the opposite way for adjacent stones.

* 6-8 Trillion Cuts
* 0.5 to 3/4 ctw. ~0.07 to 0.12 Carat per stone
* Near Colorless
* VS2 through SI clarity
* 6mm to 7mm wide ring with bevel
* Plat or Palladium (depends on $$$)
* Size 12

If the price is too much for the male band mentioned above I could do something similar to this or another idea I have:
Other Ring Idea


Now on to prices and questions:

I guess the first thing to say is that we live in the Chicagoland area.

Right now the Robbins Bros price escapes me so I''ll send an email to our consultant. Other than that, they offer tons of extra stuff such as: insurance, lifetime maintenance, lifetime warranty... etc, which some big B&M stores have and adds more cost to the wedding band. We can ask to have these extra''s dropped for a price reduction. This didn''t really concern me with the e-ring as the complete customization and diamond variety and prices at GoG are amazing! So... the e-ring is insured.

GoG is getting a quote ready for us, as this is where the e-ring came from

, which we were both very pleased with.

We went down Jewelers Row on Wabash, in particular to the Jewelery Mall on the 7th floor to a place called Wedding Bands & Co.. Granted we went to a ton of jewelers in the mall and along Wabash. Koorosh the ring designer there seems to be very personable and friendly, both my fiance and I enjoy dealing with him. Koorosh designs in CAD as you can see from the website, which will allow him to model the e-ring for comparison with the wedding band and also let us make many iterations of the wedding bands. Prices at Wedding Bands & Co:

* Her ring

* Plat / 5 Round / Very Good Cut / VS / F for $3000
* Plat / 5 Round H&A / Very good Cut / VS / F for $3500

* His ring

* Plat / 8 Trillion / SI / G for $4500
* Plat / 6 Trillion / SI / G for $3800
* Palladium / 6 Trillion / SI / G for $2100



Questions:
Is it really worth the extra stuff at Robins Bros? I will obviously get insurance for the wedding bands and we aren''t crazy tough on our rings.

Has anyone here heard about or dealt directly with Wedding Bands & Co. in Chicago? Any good, not so good, or bad reviews about this place?

I''ve been told that diamonds around the sizes mentioned above don''t really get GIA or other certifications? Is this true (I''m still very much the diamond n00b). Any advice when dealing with smaller diamonds?

Do the prices listed so far seem reasonable? They do to me...

Any pros/cons for Plat vs. Palladium for "his ring"?




The advice I have received here in the past has been great and is appreciated. I will update this thread when I get more info

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My impression of the band for her is that she liked the band, but it isn''t at all what she really wants! You want to change the setting and the shape of stones. I think you absolutely need to find one like she really likes in order to try it on and make sure it fits with her e-ring. It is risky to have something custom made that may or may not fit well with her e-ring. The height of the stones matter, you don''t want the diamonds on the band to hit any part of the e-ring, etc.

You might want to look at the wedding bands on the Facets/Signed pieces site. They might have one she likes, and you could send for a couple and see what works since they have a 30 day return policy.

 

[g00mba]

Great advice

I think she and I have tried tons of rings now. We started looking at wedding bands on and off since she got the e-ring. The many different rings we have tried include different types of stones, different amount of stones, different sized stones, different settings, different height in the settings, etc.

She really liked 5 Rounds with about 0.5 ctw. After that it was time to look for the setting.

The first post was a culmination of all these trials. Many jewelers suggested shaving down her e-ring to make room for a wedding band... we have strayed away from those people as that would weaken her e-ring and we aren''t too fond of that idea. The picture from Robbins Bros shows what we were really looking for in the setting mainly the prongs. The amount of stones, and size of stones is also good... just the wrong cut.

There is going to be a gap between the e-ring and wedding band which she is ok with. The final setting will have the stones set low so that they rub each other the least amount possible. A bent ring would make for less rubbing, but isn''t what she likes.


Diamondseeker2006 - What site are you referring to? Can you post a link?



Everyone - Any other advice on the questions in the first post?

Thanks!