MeetyPeety
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2011
- Messages
- 1
Hello all.. I was referred to this forum as "THE place to go" to find advice on an engagement ring for my girlfriend. I don't know a lot about jewelry and I'm kinda lost. I have a ton of questions and I'm sorry if this post rambles on and on, I don't know what details are important and what aren't. Here's where I'm at:
My grandmother had a ring that she passed down to me with the intended purpose of using the stones to create a wedding set when the time came. The time has come now and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I went to a local jewelry store and showed them the ring, told them what I would like the ring to look like and they looked at me totally confused and basically said it would have to be 100% custom because there's nothing like my idea out there. So I went ahead and cluelessly left the ring with them so that they could figure an estimate for me. The woman working there told me that they would draw a picture with CAD and email a week later to show me the picture and give me a price estimate. Long story short, I got no picture (Which is understandable, it shouldn't be free even though she assured me that it was) a price more than double what she told me was a "high ballpark" originally and zero details about what the ring would even look like. They want a down payment and a commitment to buy the ring before they will CAD a picture. I can't commit to buy the ring if I don't even know that this guy can come up with a design that I'll like. So now I'm somewhat back to square one, I've been advised by just about everyone I've talked to about this NOT to deal with this store and that I'll probably end up unhappy with the ring. So I started looking online and actually found a ring that is almost exactly what I was asking for. It *seems* like a common enough design that it shouldn't need to be custom made.. but Now I'm not sure what to do. My first thought is to go to a few jewelry stores and see if they can order the ring with no diamonds in it and then put mine into the new ring, however, I'm not really sure if they can/will do that kind of thing? The only rings I've found online are ones that already have diamonds in them. Also, would doing such a thing be considered like rude or inappropriate to ask of a jewelry store? I really would rather use the diamonds I already have because they are really nice and match very well, and I don't think a whole new set of better quality diamonds would be in my budget. Another question I have is if this is even possible.. do the diamonds I have need to be a 100% size match to the new ring in order to fit or can they re-size the settings where necessary without like ruining the ring? My last two questions are about the ring design itself so I'll post the picture I found online for reference.
http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/pi/mp/4418/1107682401p?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jewelryweb.com%2Fmain%2Fws185972.jpg&d=84bd0d1429d4aefe67d27f153b3c38c9bf68df14
*I tried to find a way to upload the picture to the website as it asked me to but I can't figure out how..*
This is the idea of what I was looking for. A round center diamond with 3 marquis (At least that other store taught me something!) on each side descending in size. The donor ring I have has a very similar set up, but with a bit of a custom design and many more diamonds on it, BUT it has exactly what I'd need for this ring and then even some smaller round ones to put in the wedding band or use for something else. That leads me to my next question.. would a wedding band have to be custom made to fit with a ring like this or could a normal type of wedding band work with this? I wanted the band to be round and just have diamonds like embedded into it. Ok last question.. is the ring above not the right look for an engagement ring? It is pretty much exactly what she's described she wanted, but she hasn't seen the picture because its going to be somewhat of a surprise. I noticed most engagement rings seem to have just one diamond in the center and usually some kind of design or pattern with smaller diamonds and stuff.. so is the ring I linked above not appropriate for an engagement ring? Sorry for the long list of questions.. I'm just really really confused and when I tried asking the people at the jewelry store I was at and they just seemed to want to rush me into making a custom ring and get out the door. When it comes down to it, she doesn't really want a custom ring with crazy designs all over it, she wants a more traditional "plain" looking ring, but with nice big diamonds on it. Thanks in advance!
Peter
My grandmother had a ring that she passed down to me with the intended purpose of using the stones to create a wedding set when the time came. The time has come now and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I went to a local jewelry store and showed them the ring, told them what I would like the ring to look like and they looked at me totally confused and basically said it would have to be 100% custom because there's nothing like my idea out there. So I went ahead and cluelessly left the ring with them so that they could figure an estimate for me. The woman working there told me that they would draw a picture with CAD and email a week later to show me the picture and give me a price estimate. Long story short, I got no picture (Which is understandable, it shouldn't be free even though she assured me that it was) a price more than double what she told me was a "high ballpark" originally and zero details about what the ring would even look like. They want a down payment and a commitment to buy the ring before they will CAD a picture. I can't commit to buy the ring if I don't even know that this guy can come up with a design that I'll like. So now I'm somewhat back to square one, I've been advised by just about everyone I've talked to about this NOT to deal with this store and that I'll probably end up unhappy with the ring. So I started looking online and actually found a ring that is almost exactly what I was asking for. It *seems* like a common enough design that it shouldn't need to be custom made.. but Now I'm not sure what to do. My first thought is to go to a few jewelry stores and see if they can order the ring with no diamonds in it and then put mine into the new ring, however, I'm not really sure if they can/will do that kind of thing? The only rings I've found online are ones that already have diamonds in them. Also, would doing such a thing be considered like rude or inappropriate to ask of a jewelry store? I really would rather use the diamonds I already have because they are really nice and match very well, and I don't think a whole new set of better quality diamonds would be in my budget. Another question I have is if this is even possible.. do the diamonds I have need to be a 100% size match to the new ring in order to fit or can they re-size the settings where necessary without like ruining the ring? My last two questions are about the ring design itself so I'll post the picture I found online for reference.
http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/pi/mp/4418/1107682401p?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jewelryweb.com%2Fmain%2Fws185972.jpg&d=84bd0d1429d4aefe67d27f153b3c38c9bf68df14
*I tried to find a way to upload the picture to the website as it asked me to but I can't figure out how..*
This is the idea of what I was looking for. A round center diamond with 3 marquis (At least that other store taught me something!) on each side descending in size. The donor ring I have has a very similar set up, but with a bit of a custom design and many more diamonds on it, BUT it has exactly what I'd need for this ring and then even some smaller round ones to put in the wedding band or use for something else. That leads me to my next question.. would a wedding band have to be custom made to fit with a ring like this or could a normal type of wedding band work with this? I wanted the band to be round and just have diamonds like embedded into it. Ok last question.. is the ring above not the right look for an engagement ring? It is pretty much exactly what she's described she wanted, but she hasn't seen the picture because its going to be somewhat of a surprise. I noticed most engagement rings seem to have just one diamond in the center and usually some kind of design or pattern with smaller diamonds and stuff.. so is the ring I linked above not appropriate for an engagement ring? Sorry for the long list of questions.. I'm just really really confused and when I tried asking the people at the jewelry store I was at and they just seemed to want to rush me into making a custom ring and get out the door. When it comes down to it, she doesn't really want a custom ring with crazy designs all over it, she wants a more traditional "plain" looking ring, but with nice big diamonds on it. Thanks in advance!
Peter
300x240.png)