re: Engagement Ring Thread

^^^ I agree with Kingwood. The thing I liked about going to the wholesaler was I had a go-to guy for my ring. He heard all my needs and I could contact him directly. To give you a frame of reference I got a platinum band with a solitaire "Tiffany-style" diamond, "Princess cut" (square) which is 1.51ct with H color and I1 clarity (meaning there are some "inclusions" but you can really only see them with a magnifying glass or microscope) All of this for $8k. That ring bought from Tiffany would be over $20,000.

If you can find out the cut that your SO likes it helps a ton because some cuts are cheaper and some are more expensive, i.e. two diamonds that are the same ct weight but one is a round cut is more expensive than a "princess (square)" cut. Once I found out which one my SO liked I went to the guy and he showed me all the square cuts he had and my gut did the rest. I was drawn to one diamond in particular (the one I ended up buying) because of how clear it looked. Sometimes when you get a bigger stone the color starts looking yellow, and in hindsight, one of my favorite things about the one i got is when it is in good lighting it really shines a lot.

For your reference, here is the ring I had mine modeled after by the wholesaler (Tiffany site shows it at $20,900 without tax):
Tiffany Princess Cut

Mine is identical to that and I feel sorry for anyone that feels they have to get the brand name.