Engagement Ring shopping 4C Diamond
Hi love, As you may know! We got engaged. Yippie!
After he proposed, then he offered us to look at the engagement ring together.
This is the reason for this video. We are going to take you on another adventure of my dream ring shopping and all that I learned along the way about picking a perfect diamond. I couldn’t believe it had finally happened!
If you are going to pick a diamond ring, you need to know about 4C so I am sharing what I learned about 4C and share with you here!
If you are ready, let’s go!
If you prefer to read, let’s head down below!
On 26 Oct 2021, Charlie went down on his knees and ask me to marry him. We got engaged.
It was during a trip to S’Agaro, Spain, He proposed at the balcony of our suite in La Gavina Hotel in front of a view of the Mediterranean sea.
I could imagine why he chose this place to propose. Not only its beauty but as if his parent were with us in every piece of his memory.
Unfortunately, they both already cross over to heaven. I have no chance to meet any of them in person.
Along with that important question, he presented a beautiful necklace that once belonged to his mom as a gift for our engagement.
It was a beautiful white pearl, the clip was made in the shape of a swan which symbolizes a beautiful meaning of grace, beauty, love, trust, and loyalty.
The beautiful spiritual belief about swan was to teach you to love your inner self, embrace all your flaws, be loyal and faithful to the ones you love. It also symbolizes partnership and soulmate. What a wonderful meaning behind it. I am so grateful to be the person who cares for it after his mom passed away.
A link to the full engagement story
I would love to hear your story too! Share with me in the comment below your engagement story or how you agree on getting married. That would be so much fun to learn about each and everyone story.
Back to our story, After he proposed, then he offered us to look at the engagement ring together.
To be honest, whatever he offered even a stone he collected by the river I would say yes anyway.
His heart is gold and his eyes shine like diamonds. What else could I wish for, only I could be by his side and be cherished by his love is enough for my heart to sing.
He made my long-time dream fulfilled. I am now officially engaged to the man of my dream.
However, a diamond ring from the man I love was my long-time dream so I said yes and let him fulfill another dream of mine.
This is the reason for this video. We are going to take you on another adventure of my dream ring shopping and all that I learned along the way about picking a perfect diamond. I couldn’t believe it had finally happened!
Please keep in mind that all that I am sharing is just my personal opinion and my preferences. It doesn’t imply that it is the best for everyone. You should choose what is best for you.
In the end, the diamond ring was just symbolic of another stage of life. It doesn’t refer to the value of individual love and how much someone loves you or how long the love will last.
If you are ready, let’s go!
First, Budget!
Most people may start with a budget but in our case, we didn’t speak about how much the budget he would be comfortable nor did I know what I want.
We just popped by the shop and had a try and felt it. In my mind, I was thinking of something around 4000-5000 euro that would be already quite a lot of money to put on my finger and not be too scared to lose it. Anyway, let's see what will we get at the end.
What about you do you set the budget before hopping on the ring shopping? Comment below how did you do?
Second, Center stone
It was clear at the beginning that I said we will take you to a diamond engagement ring shopping so the center stone I chose is diamond but if you may know or not know.
Humans are so intelligent and can make anything that seems impossible possible. A man now can create a diamond inside the laboratory! It’s called lab-grown diamond which is physically exactly like a natural or mined diamond except that it doesn’t require a million years to be created and it is way cheaper than a natural diamond. That sounds all positive to me.
I was seriously considering a lab-grown diamond for my engagement ring. I didn’t mind one bit if my stone was not natural because I love humans and human creation. I love that there is a choice for everyone to choose what makes them satisfied and happy.
However, after researching, we decided to go for ethical natural or mined diamonds.
The main reason is the investment point of view. It is not that we plan to sell an engagement ring for profit.
Charlie and I both value a future value. We agree that we would not feel comfortable putting a lot of money on something that devalues over time.
Lab-grown diamond is created in a laboratory so there is no limit to how many can be produced.
As technology is more advance over time. The cost of creating lab-grown diamonds will be lowering and impact the price of the lab-grown diamond similar logic to a flat tv.
When it was first introduced to the world it was prizy but over time it is just a common thing, better technology, and much more affordable price.
I think that same story would apply to a lab-grown diamond as well, Considering the evidence that lab-grown diamond price is going down continually over the decade.
However, I don’t want this reason to stop you from buying a lab-grown diamond if your heart said so. Everybody gives value to a different thing, we should stick to what is our true value.
It is true that with the same price we could get a much bigger diamond if we go with a lab-grown diamond.
However, Charlie and I value the unseen behind the items more than the physical visible. We rather chose a small natural diamond that increases in value over time over a big lab-grown diamond that devalues when time passed by.
However, one day when the price of lab-grown diamond is stable I wish to have a lab-grown pink diamond as I told you I love human creation!.
What about you? Will, you chose natural diamond, lab-grown diamond, or other alternative gemstones. Let us know in the comment what is your dream gemstone and why!
Now we come to our Third factor for buying a diamond, a diamond Certificate
A Diamond Certificate is a document from the laboratory to verify the characteristic of the stone. The main focus is classified into 4 C
First C is Carat, which refers to how much a stone weighs. In my case, I was not sure what carat weight I would like so we leave it as a surprise as we go.
Second C is Color which is ranged from D, E, F, G, and so on. D is colorless and the lower grade the more yellowish you can see. I prefer the stone not too much yellow to the eyes. I was aiming for D, E, F, and G.
Third C is Clarity which is the cleanliness of the stone, from Internal flawless (IF), VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, and so on. For clarity I was very flexible, anything that look clean to the eyes is great for me.
Finally and most important to me is Cut which refers to both Cut design and cutting quality.
I was thinking about round and cushion-cut for the design but what I care about most is the sparkling of the stone so I was leaning toward round as this cut design when combined with a high-quality cut could maximize the spark and fire in the diamond.
For cutting quality, this is what I would not compromise. I was looking for the super ideal cut quality that shows clearly the heart and arrow pattern.
This factor determines how brilliant and shiny, spark and fire in diamond and that is what I love.
The higher quality, the higher price, and its beauty.
I encourage you to do your study about the 4C to be confident in whatever you may choose for you.
To talk about this topic will take an hour and I am not that expert to bring out all this information. There is plenty of information online so I would provide some links in the description for those who are interested in it.
After you know about 4C, it is important to know also about the diamond certificate type because it is not every certificate is reliable.
Mainly, there are in-house certificates and 3rd party certificates. An in-house certificate is a paper issued by the jeweler itself. This type of certificate may contain bias and favor to the jeweler. I would not consider this type of certificate.
The 3rd party certificate is more reliable as it does not contain bias or is in favor of the shop. It is done by an external laboratory that has nothing to do with a jeweler.
However, there are many 3rd party certificate that is in favor of the seller which means they grade diamond higher than its characteristic.
Many jewelers send their diamond to grade with this type of laboratory because it could receive a better grading and that means they could sell at a higher price than it should be.
To me, I don’t like this gray area and personally, if the jeweler sells those diamonds with an unreliable laboratory is a big turn-off for me.
And after doing a lot of research I came down to only two choices which are the diamond certified by GIA and AGS. I found only these 2 laboratory is well known and acceptable for their reliability.
Ok once we knew all the basics, I think we are ready for ring shopping together!
In the next video, I will take you to ring shopping at a big brand Cartier, Chopard, Bvlgari, Harry Winston, and more.
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Until next time
Much love
Lita Jane