This is the second of a three part post which I give you my whole story of purchasing a diamond ring for my now fiancé. This part describes actually doing research, looking, and buying the diamond.
I first started out seeking the diamond the same way I discovered PF blogs, by googling "buying a diamond engagement ring". I read a few articles/blogs and eventually lead me to the 4C's, I won't bother you with those details as you should do your own research on this before you start. Next thing I did was reach out to a couple of my closest friends who had been through the process, and got their opinion. One of my buddies sent me to Blue Nile where I spend some time educating myself and looking at what I could afford with the budget that I had.
Once I kinda knew what I was looking for I decided to check out a local jewelry store so I could at least see the difference in person. At this point I thought I would go in and look at diamonds and get a feel before I purchased one online at Blue Nile (they are a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol NILE) so I knew they were reputable. Once I got into the store the salesman took me through the educational part which I told him I hadn't the slightest idea besides some research online. Once I looked at a few diamonds along with the salesman telling me that could beat any price, I knew most likely would be buying from them.
One thing that I appreciated was that the salesman didn't overwhelm me with a bunch of diamonds, he showed me a few based off of the 4C's and asked me which one's I liked. I suggest as well that you don't overwhelm yourself by looking at a ton of diamonds, it will make your head spin...think Microsoft redesigns the iPod Package. Once he knew what I liked he asked me what my price range was. He showed me 3 or 4 diamonds that were in my price range to show me color, clarity, and size. I believe it helped me with pricing that I told him I was taking my time and was going to explore all my options, but that I was ready to purchase. He offered me the completed ring at price of the diamond, with no sales tax and any white gold setting I liked. (they were a diamond wholesaler before they opened the store, so they had wiggle room).
I left the store and wrote down my measurements from the diamond that I liked and went online to see the pricing of the same size, color, and clarity. The price at the store was better than those online. This helped because I knew that I could look at the exact diamond I was going to buy. I went back into the store and looked again knowing that I was most like going to make that purchase.
At the time I was looking at round diamonds that he had shown me but had really like the princess cut(square) diamonds that I had seen on friends. And yes guys, you should look at other's peoples diamonds, you are spending your hard earned money to give that someone special a commitment for life, why would you not care? I decided to look at the same specs of the round but in a princess cut. I still had a hard time deciding but the princess cut keep calling my name and eventually I pulled the trigger.
After I bought the ring I thought that I was all ready to go and that all I needed to do was pick it up. I decide to let them hold it until the day before we left for California. In the process of getting ready I had overlooked one thing... I hadn't seen the diamond in its setting to make sure it was the right one. I stopped by and looked at the ring as a whole and I have to say that I was really proud and it looked amazing. It was perfect for the woman that was going to be with me forever and a very rewarding experience.
Tomorrow I will be going over the payment process that I am using to pay for it so check back and add comments and let me know how I did!
Related Post
Purchasing a Diamond Engagement Ring: Part II
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