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Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess Cut

D

Dynamite

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 20, 2013
Messages
9
Hello everyone,

I am new here and I am looking to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend for between $2,000 - $3,000. She likes pave setting, framed diamonds with the princess cut. We went to a few stores in the mall (peoples, diamond company etc). I started looking online but there are so many options that I am not quite sure what to look for, and what is good. I was a bit burnt out by the search until I found this site, which others say is good for finding information on engagement rings.

Currently, I live in Toronto, Canada, and I wanted to know what places would be good to get a good deal on a nice diamond ring, and also any tips this community can provide as to what to look for. I would prefer local stores but I am also open to online shopping.

Here are two images of rings she said she liked while we were at People's
image_1.png
image__1_.png
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Are you saying you want a princess cut center?

What kind of prices did you find on those settings. That first setting alone would probably
be over $2k which would only leave $1k for the center stone.

You might check out gaberial settings at www.idjewelryonline.com... Id jewelry usually is a good value. Your
Budget isn't bad but those settings that she likes are expensive.


http://idjewelryonline.com/eringitems.php?cPath=42_133

Edit...click on Princess shape on the left hand side and it will show you some nice halo settings. I'm on my kindle and
It wont copy the link for me (blast it) .
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Local stores are almost always going to have higher prices and lower quality than you can find at reputable online retailers.

Here are three settings at James Allen that might be options:
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/halo/14k-white-gold-pave-halo-and-shank-diamond-engagement-ring-princess-center-item-17433
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/halo/14k-white-gold-diamond-split-shank-double-halo-pave-engagement-ring-item-17845
http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/halo/14k-white-gold-pave-halo-shoulders-engagement-ring-princess-center-item-17489

And a nice stone that could go in any one of them:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/0.61-carat-i-color-si1-clarity-sku-237657

With your budget and the desires of your girlfriend, you pretty much have to spend 1-1.5k on the diamond and 1.5-2k on the setting (you just can't get a halfway decent pave halo setting for less). You should look for H/I color, Si1/Si2 clarity. This will get you half a carat to a little over half a carat. A lot of people on this forum have James Allen settings and diamonds.

ID Jewelry would also be a good bet.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Thanks guys, I guess I can increase my budget a bit to 3.5 - 4K if need be. From what I am seeing it seems like I would have to use online stores. I've always heard people say that its better to get them locally because the jewellers are more open to bargaining, have any of you found this to be true?
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

In my experience online prices are always more competitive. Whilst online vendors won't haggle with you like they would in a shop, the base prices are usually cheaper that the 'haggled' price.

If you want a double halo setting you are going to need that increased budget. Previous posters are correct, you'd be looking at 2k for the setting and 2k for a center diamond. If you dont want to spend that much, then you could look to a single halo/frame around the stone than you might be able to get the setting around 1.5k.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

People usually find online stones/settings to be less expensive. I'm not saying you cant find a jeweler out there that has something
that would be cheaper but your wants are very specific.

With your new budget should should be able to get close to what your GF wants. User Distracts already posted this combo
which I'm pretty sure they will do with a princess. It fits your budget. I have added some new stones that fit your new budget.
With JA you can pick your top 3 stones and request aset images to see how well they are returning light. Post those images
for opinions.

http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/halo/14k-white-gold-diamond-split-shank-double-halo-pave-engagement-ring-item-17845

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/0.61-carat-i-color-si1-clarity-sku-237657
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/0.61-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-243638
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/0.73-carat-i-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-245669

The last 2 have a lot of contrast in them...asets may not be that hot. I was trying to find you a larger stone
but cant find any with nice patterns. Also tried to find you higher color (G/H) but couldnt find much there in
a nice size stone either.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Dynamite|1377054391|3507029 said:
I've always heard people say that its better to get them locally because the jewellers are more open to bargaining, have any of you found this to be true?
Click to expand...

Yes, the local jewelers are more open to bargaining, but the stuff is priced higher to begin with. So that ring above, you can get out the door at JA for 3k. It might be priced at 5k at a local jeweler and they'd let you bargain 1k off... which is still 1k more than the JA ring. They have much higher overhead expenses so their final price has to be higher too. So yes, local jewelers are more open to bargaining, but you need to pay attention to the final price in concrete numbers, not just the percent off, and how the quality compares to what you can get from a reputable online dealer. Trust me, we ALL want to patronize our local stores, but when they are twice the price of online, usually with lower quality, our decision is pretty much made for us.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Sounds great everyone! I will be sticking to online then. I can do it all in the comfort of my home!

Of all the rings she has been looking at there is one that stands out to her:
http://www.peoplesjewellers.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12547001

However, after contacting this website, and doing some more research, I came to realize that Peoples/Zales diamonds cannot compare to the ones found at James Allen i.e. the certification they used is in house and not as credible as GIA certifications used elsewhere. She really likes the ring but I worry I would not be getting the best bang for my buck. Any suggestions on next steps?
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

I would either try to tease out what exact elements she likes about that ring or else show her the James Allen rings and Gabriel & Co rings and see what she likes from there. If you shop from ID Jewelry, you could get probably around a .7ct diamond (maybe larger) and a halo or double halo from Gabriel & Co, which is good quality at a reasonable price and has a TON of styles. I think ID Jewelry offers a small discount off MSRP of Gabriel & Co rings. (I'd also like to point out that the center stone on the People's ring is just .37 cts, so by going another route you'll get a center stone of almost twice the weight, which is a pretty big increase.)

I pulled a few that looked kind of similar from the Gabriel & Co website but there are literally HUNDREDS of halos. In the drop down tab, note that there are different rings under "Gabriel Bridal," "Amavida," and "Adore." (Oh, I just saw that "Adore" comes with the center stone already. So maybe leave that one out.) IDJ carries other brands but Gabriel & Co is often a favorite.

http://www.gabrielny.com/engaged/style/ER8199W44JJ
http://www.gabrielny.com/engaged/style/ER10092W44JJ
http://www.gabrielny.com/engaged/style/ER10162W44JJ
http://www.gabrielny.com/amavida/style/ER6792W83JJ

I wish I knew of some jewelers in Canada you could go to but I just don't.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Thanks, yeh I managed to tease out some of the information from her. I think what she really likes is the halo/pave aspect, the double frame part of it and its important for it to be princess cut. That seems to be what she is emphasizing. That being said, I will go the route of checking on the online stores and looking for similar styles.

Thanks
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

There diamonds are priced great too I went with a gia stone but it lets you choose the egl stones are cheaper but its not as strict as gia I went with a .81 I was under your 3500 and love my ring!!
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

This site looks amazing. If it is legit I would definitely be open to shopping there for this ring.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

They are legit I live in Nashville and I went in the store and got that same ring I posted about. I love it I'm going to ask her on Saturday. They are legit tho they have been voted best place in Tennessee to buy a engagement ring like the last 3 years in a row.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Odd post, someone comes on to promote something...not sure that is legit, nor if the poster has any clue what he is talking about. Beware.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

I agree it does seem odd, and I have not seen anyone else here talking about this seller
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Personally, I avoid this company like the plague just based on personal experience. I live in Nashville and have lived here for 5 years now. They pay TONS in advertising and no matter what radio station you listen to, you hear their commercials like 20 times within 30 minutes.

They always boast they are voted "best place to buy an engagement ring", but they never tell you what company/article/newsletter makes that poll. There is a "Reader Choice" poll that comes out by a local magazine called "The Scene". But those polls are obviously based on on popularity and I think maybe that's what they reference.

My personal reasons for not shopping there is (in my opinion) the bad customer service I got when I wanted to buy my wife's engagement ring. When I first started shopping around, my wife and I went to Genesis (because of their advertisements). She fell in love with a Simon G ring and Genesis was selling it with a 2+ carat diamond. My wife really liked the ring but since I did more research on diamond specs, I asked for specs of the diamond and it was your typical "big diamond, bad inclusions, bad color" AKA (something along the lines of a yellow-ish diamond with an I1 or I2 grade on inclusions). There was no official certification and they were selling it with a $12K "sale" price (they said the ring itself was about $6K). I wasn't interested in the diamond and asked if I could choose another and they replied I'd lose the sale price since I wasn't buying it together. I proceeded to ask them what if I wanted a diamond smaller than what was in there and if she'd be getting a ring that fit her. They said they would "adjust the prongs to fit whatever diamond I picked" and they would resize the ring to fit her finger.

Now, I know resizings can be done and prongs can be adjusted for smaller gems, but I really didn't want to buy that specific ring + diamond combo. I wanted to get a ring made in her specific size without having to affect the structural integrity of the ring by them resizing it. When I asked if I could purchase the ring "not on display", but rather a new one, they said no, I'd get the one on display.

It just seemed *really* strange to me that they kept pushing that specific ring and diamond. Whether that's a red flag, I'm not sure but I didn't like it and they wouldn't give me an explanation why.

So in the end, I got a better diamond (albeit smaller) and a custom ring from Good Old Gold. Couldn't be happier with that.

So that's my reason why I dislike Genesis Diamond. Now I've heard people who bought jewelry from them have good experiences, but I also have other friends who have the same sentiment that I do "they avoid Genesis Diamonds".

To each their own though.
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Yeh - it seemed sketchy. I decided against it and went with ID Jewellery. It was an amazing proposal and she absolutely loved it!
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Nice! Congrats!
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

This is what I decided to go with from ID Jewellery
untitled_16.jpg
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Stunning!
 
Re: Need advice: Looking for Pave Engagement Ring w/Princess

Wow nice! Looks very elegant.
 
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