Picking the right diamond

[Mynameisjoe]

I came across this website when googling information on purchasing an engagement ring. I am looking for some advice because I recently purchased a ring. I have yet to pop the question, but I intend on doing it very soon. My question is whether or not I chose the right ring. I know everyone has their preferences, but I keep questioning if I should have gone bigger instead of going for quality. I went with a GIA certified, 1.22 carat, cushion-cut, F color, internally flawless diamond. The ring has a halo as well as sapphires surrounding the halo. Am I losing my mind thinking this will look small or will she be happy with this? To each his/her own, but I'm losing sleep over it.

 

[centrifuge41]

Can't easily evaluate quality based on just specs. I do think that buying IF means spending way lots of money on something that can't be visualized. I don't think I ran across any VS1 or better that weren't eye clean (IE VS1, VVS2, VVS1, and IF look the same, but the cost differs significantly). By shopping around, finding an eye-clean VS2 should be very easy. And finding an eye-clean SI1 should be easy too. Finding an eye-clean SI2 is much more challenging.

A lot of posters here don't care much about color. I found that myself and the girl were very color sensitive. We thought H was too yellow, and G was so-so. My opinion is different from the norm here. We ended up shopping in the DEF range, with G as "acceptable". You got an F. The color will be fine.

Cut is the most important dimension. How is the cut on the cushion?

 

[telephone89]

I've said this before, and not everyone agrees - but I don't think you can (or should) judge diamond attributes besides cut as QUALITY. A diamond is a natural product - so you are paying extra for IF but that doesn't mean it's better quality than a VS2, which will still be just as eye clean. Is a maple tree higher quality than an elm tree? Anyways, side rant over haha.

If you want to go larger, I'm sure you could. As I said, a VS2 will be eye clean - as in, you wont see any inclusions in an IF but you also wont see any inclusions in a VS2. Unless you are planning on walking around with a loupe and showing everyone how clean it is under 40x magnification, I personally don't see the point in paying more. Now, you could also drop slightly to a G and get a fair bit larger as well, however staying with F and dropping to VS2 would give you a substantial size boost.

All that said, none of us know your intended. Maybe she would adore a high coloured IF diamond, and that is important to her. Have you gone shopping together, looked at her pinterest page or discussed it at all? Cushions do face up smaller than rounds, so a 1.2 will likely face up closer to a 1ct round.

All of this is null and void if you have no return policy as well.

 

[alamana]

The answer your question about "will it look small or will she be happy with it?" is this: It depends. It's cultural, and depends in large part on where you live, and who she associates with. Where I come from in the midwest what you have described would be considered quite large (maybe even unforgivably flashy). Where I live now it is very much on the small side. What do most of her friends who wear engagement rings have? That should give you a clue (although it isn't, of course, fool proof -- some women just want something smaller than a carat and some just want something huge, no matter what the norm is around them).

FWIW it does sound gorgeous, love the fact that you've got colored stones in there.

 

[Mynameisjoe]

I don't know too much about diamonds, but on the CERT under symmetry it says "very good"