First and foremost, thank you Pricescoper''s for all of your invaluable, fast and dependable answers and knowledge whenever I needed a quick answer, had an ignorant question or was fishing for some reassurance on the latest ideal image I was debating about. I absolutely could not have gone from the start all the way to the end without all of you and this forum!
I''ll make this quick and brief, but I wanted to give a quick recap of my buying experience with Shannon and Issac at Dimend Scassi in Chicago. Plus, I get to show you what I ended up with!
My experience started with a handful of emails out to a few online retailers and a few local retailers, all highly regarded on Pricescope. Whiteflash and Dimend Scaasi were the only 2 to respond not only in an extremely timely fashion, but very professionally and inviting, making me feel very confident in them, and also making it very difficult to choose one over the other. Ultimately, I ended up opting to stay local and going with Dimend Scaasi, but I need to mention how Bob at Whiteflash was outstanding in his immediate responses and assistance in helping me understand everything from basic diamond knowledge to design over email conversations. It really was a great experience.
After lurking on Pricescope for some time and trying to read as much as possible about diamonds, I was ready to make an appointment and actually go see some diamonds! Shannon at Dimend Scaasi had immediately returned an email I sent asking to setup an appointment and within a few days she had a handful of stones ranging in color and clarity. I spent a few hours there learning about the differences between cut, color, clarity and diamonds in general - it was really great to be able to physically see stones and really test my eyes and my knowledge from just hanging out at Pricescope. We discussed what I was looking for in regards to a setting and a timeline and Shannon was very helpful and laid back about the entire process - there was absolutely no pressure to buy anything and I never felt like I was obligated to do business with them.
To make a long story short, I spent the next several weeks searching for the right stone through their online database. I found 1 right away, but it ended up being on hold by another customer and ultimately bought. Shannon would email me every few days with her recommendations but I was never able to commit to any of them. We eventually had gone through them all and I was left with a feeling that I wouldn''t be able to continue looking for a stone with them....until...I got an email one early morning from Shannon with the subject line, ''I Found It!''. She had just gotten in an Infinity that she was sure would be perfect for me (wait, I mean for my (now) fiance!). I knew from hanging out here that if I was looking for the BEST cut, I had found it. And after looking through many stones previously, there was no way I was going to find a better stone, and she was right.
At this point, I was only half way done - designing the ring and approving the wax was next. I thought this was going to be tough since I knew exactly how the ring needed to look, from the curvature of the half bezel, to the width of the ring, to the shade of the gold and I already felt sorry for the jeweler that had to deal with me. Shannon and I went over the design and within 1 week I had a wax. After a few changes, it went into casting and it was done within another week! It couldn''t have gone smoother.
A few days later, an 8 hour plane ride to Paris and a train to Versailles, I was engaged. Pics below! Thanks again everyone!!!
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