sunnyside74
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
- Messages
- 146
Hi PSers!
Adding two more pieces of bling that would not have been possible without this forum. Pardon the backstory, and feel free to skip ahead to pictures
My fiancé and I got engaged earlier this year. Second time around for both of us, and both of us a bit the wiser for the roads we have previously traveled. We both came with some baggage, including prior engagement rings that fit our individual styles. Mine was an antique platinum piece with tons of filigree and a large chunky lower color OEC. His, a super modern radiant set in a knife edged platinum solitaire.
Of course, neither of our individual rings appealed stylistically to the other party. To further complicate matters, he had family in the jewelry business who wanted to insert themselves (in a well-intentioned fashion) into the process and began suggesting stones for us to consider, while I would sit staring at graces chunky cushions and OECs. He couldn't really wrap his mind around buying a stone unseen off the Internet, much less an antique stone which he really knew nothing about - so we agreed on a MRB as a compromise.
The stones his family suggested really didn't appear great to either of us, and he came around to look at Blue Nile as it was at least a company that he had heard about, and had a return policy (I tried explaining ASET/IS imaging, to no avail, lol). I posted some stones on here, along with my family dilemma, and got Gypsy's very good advice to stick up for myself when it came to dealing with what I wanted and not to feel compelled to take the stones being pushed onto us from his family (thanks gypsy
). My lovely fiancé backed me up, and we set out to order the Blue Nile stone. Shortly before going to wire Blue Nile, I looked one last time on Grace's website, and noticed she had just marked down the BGD signature H&A stones I had been eyeing for a while (almost exact same price/size/color/clarity specs as I was looking at on BN, but ideal cut). I shot her an immediate email and we secured both stones (one for me, one for his mother)... And then set out to pick a setting...
After looking at a ton of settings, taking a field trip to Tiffany's to try on a bunch of different styles, we concluded that we were going to need a custom design. Enter Erica from love affair diamonds, whose designs I looked at for a very long time... She sent me pics of the Harlow, which had not yet been fabricated – and I really liked the floral design. To simplify it a little, we switched out the rounded flower petal prongs to that of the Lotus, took away the shoulders, and added a handful of tiny French cuts to the band with some milgraining and contouring of the band itself.
At the same time, I had settled on CVB to take my chunky OEC from my old engagement ring and turn into a lovely pendant. In the midst of working on this design and chatting back-and-forth with Caysie, I realized she was also working with Erica on the design side of my engagement ring, and she added some further subtle tweaks to the design that made it simply sublime.
I cannot speak highly enough of these three ladies as online vendors. They are all truly delightful to work with, prompt, and communicative. Erica has wonderful design sense, and it was a real pleasure to work with her. Caysie, as many have noted, is a truly lovely human being, and a really amazing designer/artist. She is incredibly patient, and answers incessant worried text/emails/phone calls regarding tiny micro design details, all with grace and cheer.
As for the pieces themselves, wow. The BGD shines like a total fire discoball and faces up much whiter than other Js I have had in the past. The ring is incredibly delicate and the tiny French cuts in the sides sparkle like mad. It has been distracting! As for the pendant, just sheer perfection - my big chunky girl is so happy in her new home, and I am so happy she gets to get worn again after sitting in a box the last many years.
Without further ado, enjoy the pictures (only from my iPhone for now, have some pics on my dslr I will try to grab later that are better) and thanks so much for looking! Outside my immediate family, I don't have many friends with whom I can talk about bling, so it's nice to have someplace to share.
Adding two more pieces of bling that would not have been possible without this forum. Pardon the backstory, and feel free to skip ahead to pictures
My fiancé and I got engaged earlier this year. Second time around for both of us, and both of us a bit the wiser for the roads we have previously traveled. We both came with some baggage, including prior engagement rings that fit our individual styles. Mine was an antique platinum piece with tons of filigree and a large chunky lower color OEC. His, a super modern radiant set in a knife edged platinum solitaire.
Of course, neither of our individual rings appealed stylistically to the other party. To further complicate matters, he had family in the jewelry business who wanted to insert themselves (in a well-intentioned fashion) into the process and began suggesting stones for us to consider, while I would sit staring at graces chunky cushions and OECs. He couldn't really wrap his mind around buying a stone unseen off the Internet, much less an antique stone which he really knew nothing about - so we agreed on a MRB as a compromise.
The stones his family suggested really didn't appear great to either of us, and he came around to look at Blue Nile as it was at least a company that he had heard about, and had a return policy (I tried explaining ASET/IS imaging, to no avail, lol). I posted some stones on here, along with my family dilemma, and got Gypsy's very good advice to stick up for myself when it came to dealing with what I wanted and not to feel compelled to take the stones being pushed onto us from his family (thanks gypsy
). My lovely fiancé backed me up, and we set out to order the Blue Nile stone. Shortly before going to wire Blue Nile, I looked one last time on Grace's website, and noticed she had just marked down the BGD signature H&A stones I had been eyeing for a while (almost exact same price/size/color/clarity specs as I was looking at on BN, but ideal cut). I shot her an immediate email and we secured both stones (one for me, one for his mother)... And then set out to pick a setting...After looking at a ton of settings, taking a field trip to Tiffany's to try on a bunch of different styles, we concluded that we were going to need a custom design. Enter Erica from love affair diamonds, whose designs I looked at for a very long time... She sent me pics of the Harlow, which had not yet been fabricated – and I really liked the floral design. To simplify it a little, we switched out the rounded flower petal prongs to that of the Lotus, took away the shoulders, and added a handful of tiny French cuts to the band with some milgraining and contouring of the band itself.
At the same time, I had settled on CVB to take my chunky OEC from my old engagement ring and turn into a lovely pendant. In the midst of working on this design and chatting back-and-forth with Caysie, I realized she was also working with Erica on the design side of my engagement ring, and she added some further subtle tweaks to the design that made it simply sublime.
I cannot speak highly enough of these three ladies as online vendors. They are all truly delightful to work with, prompt, and communicative. Erica has wonderful design sense, and it was a real pleasure to work with her. Caysie, as many have noted, is a truly lovely human being, and a really amazing designer/artist. She is incredibly patient, and answers incessant worried text/emails/phone calls regarding tiny micro design details, all with grace and cheer.
As for the pieces themselves, wow. The BGD shines like a total fire discoball and faces up much whiter than other Js I have had in the past. The ring is incredibly delicate and the tiny French cuts in the sides sparkle like mad. It has been distracting! As for the pendant, just sheer perfection - my big chunky girl is so happy in her new home, and I am so happy she gets to get worn again after sitting in a box the last many years.
Without further ado, enjoy the pictures (only from my iPhone for now, have some pics on my dslr I will try to grab later that are better) and thanks so much for looking! Outside my immediate family, I don't have many friends with whom I can talk about bling, so it's nice to have someplace to share.
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