Planet Wilder

I think buying a diamond is one of the hardest thing to do, especially a cushion cut diamond.

I had a ring, or two actually, and lost both of them within a few months of each other. I felt really bad, still do, but Drew has allowed me to purchase another one. This was months ago — actually even before I lost the rings since we were going to redesign them anyways — the rings were a bit too big for me). The first thing I did was looked for styles. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go for the slick modern look (which was the look that I had for my previous ring, a cathedral style ring with an eternity ring) or some something more antique, which I’ve been falling in love more and more (just antiques and old stuff in general). After looking and looking and looking (and looking… Drew’s sick of me looking already), and going on our trip, I just couldn’t get over the antique look.

With the diamonds that I have I went to Drenon in Independence, MO. They do custom work, hand made actually – not machine. The craftsman, Kelly, looked at all my diamonds, showed me a few antiques, squeezed a lot of info out of me, and started drawing. On paper, the ring looked really nice. He’s going to engrave, filigree, something on the sides and I told him that he has full creativity on that — surprise me :D I just have one requirement, make it as old style as possible and no hearts. After the drawing, I have this image on my head. Keep in mind it’s not THE ring but it’s similar. There’s a center and a halo around it. Then there will be three smaller diamonds on the side (this example only has one). I believe the halo is going to be a tad bit above the side diamonds, not even like the picture and after the two sides, there are no more diamonds, just filigree.

So the center…. ahhh…. this is where the looooong journey began and hasn’t quite ended. I was going to go with a round, or princess, or radiant. After looking some more, I wanted an asscher or a radiant. Maybe a round. After looking some more I LOVE the cushion and if I must a radiant. The rest… not interested! Before I got to loving the cushion, I’ve been learning the 4 Cs. I even did math, go to niceice.com and they’ll give you a lot of info. From researching cusions, I came upon two message boards, pricescope.com and diamondring.com. Both very informational but I like pricescope.com best. There I read up more and learned from others’ experiences. WOW! And the best part: for the cushion, there are no ideal sets of numbers. You have a range you want to go by but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the look. Do you love it or do you not? Here’s the best part… there are only a handful of cushions here in the Kansas City area.

Of course I have to find the hardest diamond to buy. ALWAYS my luck it seems. I seem to always need the challenge. So I talked to a few people and called a vendor in NY. He was very nice but after getting more info I wasn’t sure on the price and also the quality for the price. After digging the message board some more I came up with three good sources, WhiteFlash, GoodOldGold, and EngagementRingsDirect. Add a .com to all for their sites. I’ve been talking to WhiteFlash, Bob, but after reading more on the forum, their area of specialization is round. Bob is super nice and very informational. Their service is excellent but for the cushion, I think I’ll try a different vendor. I read some good info on GOG but the person that I think I have my heart set on is Mark from ERD. Pricescope people really raved about his cushion eyes and service. I guess I should at least give GOG a call but after dealing with three people and reading the different reviews, I think I have the person to trust with my cushion.

I think Drew will be happy — no more staring at diamond stuff all evening. He said he appreciates all the work that I’ve done, he knows that whatever diamond I end up getting is going to be the best diamond. He’s not looking forward to paying for it though, but hey, it’s all for love, right? :D He’s lucky that I have a 3.25-3.5 finger… no 2 carat ever for me :D