I posted
this picture on IG and got a couple of DMs asking if I can share more details about the ring. I'm a little wary of sharing something like this but I hope you don't take it the wrong way. I love reading reviews. Online reviews play a huge role in influencing my purchase decisions. Therefore, I don't mind sharing what I know and hope this information is useful to some of you.
The background: I have this ring since October of 2017. As you can tell from the blog, I barely wear it. I am not a jewelry person. I just have a few special pieces and usually take all my jewelry off as soon as I get home (other than
my Cartier bracelet of course). This was an "upgrade" from
my original engagement ring. However, it wasn't a planned upgrade (or at least, not anytime soon). You might not know, my husband and I are a huge fan of the Bachelor/Bachelorette show. It's our guilty pleasure and we enjoy watching the show together for years. One of the things I look forward to at the end of every season is the engagement ring. Some I liked, some I didn't like but the one that stood out the most to me was
Emily Maynard's ring.
She’s also one of my favorite bachelorettes. I saw her ring in 2012 and it stuck with me ever since. Last year, I told my husband "if you're interested in upgrading my ring, this is exactly what I want". He loved the ring as well and said OK =). One Saturday, I took my bridal set in for inspection and cleaning. I do that once a year per insurance policy. Well, 15 minutes later, they came back and said my center stone had a chip.
I was like what? I hardly ever worn my wedding set. I certainly can't remember the time when I hit it hard enough to cause the diamond to chip. I had no idea how or when it happened. Anyway, we filed a claim with the insurance company and hope for the best. Long story short, we had 2 options: The insurance company was going to send over 3 loose stones which supposedly have the same grading as my chipped one and I can keep whichever one I like the most. Or they can write us a check for the "current market value". This is where frustration came from. I am not going to pick a random diamond from the insurance company and call it a day. We spent weeks if not months looking for my original stone. It was small but it was the most beautiful stone we could find at the moment within our price range. If you familiar with the 4Cs of diamonds, my original stone was an E (color) and VVS1 (clarity). Going small was the only way we can afford that stone (it was a .75 carat princess cut). I told the hubs that I am not going to take a random diamond from the insurance company and he agreed. The second option was to take the check from the insurance company. We learned that the current market value could be a lot less than the amount we actually spent (due to inflation). That's what I don't understand, the ring was insured for its full value, shouldn't I get the same amount to replace the ring if something happens to it? You'd think so but nope! Even though dealing with the claim process was a real headache, we decided to take the check.
The ring: We spent 3, 4 weeks working with a local jewelry store to find the perfect stone. Since they don't carry many loose diamonds in stock, we had to decide which one we wanted to see based on the specs. Waited for the stone to come in. Stopped by to check it out in person. If it wasn't exactly what we wanted, the whole process started again. We looked at 5 or 6 different stones before settled on the final one. The setting and the diamond came from
Ritani. My center stone is a 2-carat emerald cut in VVS1 (clarity) and G (near colorless). I will explain why I settled for near colorless instead of colorless. You might or might not know emerald cut diamonds reveal clarity the most which means you can see imperfections in an emerald cut diamond more clearly than you would in a round diamond. Most diamonds are brilliant cut which creates sparkle and brilliance. Because of that, they "hide" natural inclusions better. Emerald diamonds are step cut which you can easily spot imperfections. If you're interested in an emerald cut diamond, I strongly suggest you put your money towards upgrading the clarity level. Let's talk about the color. If we didn't have a set budget, I would love to find one in the colorless category (D, E or F). However, once you reach 2-carat or bigger, the cost jumps tremendously from one grade to the next.
Going from color G to color E, it was a $6K increase! I didn't feel like it was worth it. You really can't spot the yellowness. It's white as it can be in most lighting. I am happy with our decision and believe we made a smart choice. Emily's ring is a 2.5 carat emerald cut diamond that's set on a pave diamond band and costs a whooping $68,000. I went with
this setting (which is the closest I can find without going a custom route). Even though I don't wear it often, it holds a very special place in my heart. It makes me smile every time I open my jewelry box. As for the wedding band, I didn't want to go with a matching band this time. As you might already know, I wear the
Cartier Love ring (
buy it here) as my wedding band and I just love the look of them together. There you have it. I hope this post answers some of your questions. Happy Monday!
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