Women’s Engagement Rings by Style
Engagement ring represents a couple’s love and lifetime commitment to each other. For months and sometimes years before the proposal, the engaging woman searches for that unique ring style that describes her taste and personality the best. Then, as the time gets closer to the proposing date, the man starts shopping for the ring with best quality and value, in the style his future bride has selected for her wedding ring. In this article, designer engagement rings are categorized by style and guidelines are provided to help you select and purchase the best ring for your money.
Engagement Ring Designs
Halo engagement rings, most popular in cushion, round, square and oval shapes, consist of center stone in prong or bezel setting, surrounded by a single or double halo of small round diamonds in regular or French pave setting. Two reasons for their popularity are 1) The diamond halo makes the center stone appear larger in size 2) Vintage flavor of their pave setting style.
Classic diamond solitaire simple and elegant, is and always will be the iconic engagement ring design. A single large diamond mounted on a thin gold or platinum band, an excellent choice for men who are planning a surprise proposal and are not sure of their fiancé’s favorite engagement ring setting style and like to maximize their spending on the center diamond’s size and quality.
Gemstone engagement rings, most popular of all: diamond rings with sapphire sides or accents are a great way to take the customization process one step further and make the wedding ring more personal and meaningful as each gemstone is the birthstone for a certain month of the year.
Micro-Pave’ engagement rings, with tiny pave’ diamonds are favorite of women who like petite engagement rings with thin bands. Smallness of diamonds, offers designers versatility and freedom to to twist, turn and shape the ring as they like with diamonds.
Three-stone engagement rings consist of a larger center stone, with an identical shape but smaller in size diamond on each side. Their vintage version: 3-stone halo engagement rings, the halos add extra sparkle and enhance size appearance of the three stones.
Engagement rings with side-stones are diamond rings with single or multiple rows of uniform or graduated size round, princess cut or baguette diamonds, channel or prong set on the ring’s band, usually in cathedral form, leading up to the center stone.
Vintage & Antique style engagement rings are old but timeless in design. Art-Deco wedding rings incorporate older cut diamonds (like cushion, asscher, emerald cuts), geometric patterns and setting types (like pave and bezel), just as in real antique diamond rings.
Custom engagement rings are unique, one-of-a-kind wedding rings that are designed and manufactured based on engaging woman’s specifications. Often, because of their sentimental value, gems and metal (gold or platinum) from family heirloom jewels are incorporated into building the new ring. Marketing terminologies commonly used online such as ‘design-your-own-engagement-ring’ or ‘build-your-own-ring’, make it sound like the customer is participating in making the custom, made to order ring, but actually they just offer the process of selecting and combining a center diamond with a prefabricated ring setting.
How to Select
A: Learn About Gems: Factors which determine quality and value of diamonds and precious colored gemstones: sapphires, rubies and emeralds. Good place to start is reading related posts under XO Jewels’ blog.
B: Find Your Style: Locate and visit websites of American jewelry designers and manufacturers who specialize in manufacturing the type of product you are interested in. Made in U.S.A. matters because 1) Quality control standards of products made in the USA are generally higher 2) Quality manufacturers stand behind their products by offering lifetime product warranty.
C: Try It On: Locate and contact a retailer nearby who carries the item you are interested in and schedule a viewing. When there, wear it as no image, description, online review or rating can help you as much in making the right selection.
D: Check the Quality: Examine the beauty and fineness in design, quality of materials (gems, diamonds) used, craftsmanship caliber like: quality of diamond setting, no hollowed out areas to save on gold or platinum weight, fine polish and finish like no porosity in the metal and no inside or outside areas left rough / unpolished. And last, its wear ability / comfort.
Where to Buy
Always buy from jewelers who are:
A: Knowledgeable: Have good hands on knowledge of gems and fine jewelry design & manufacturing.
B: Quality Conscience: Offer only quality products in every product category and price range.
C: Service Oriented: Provide you first class personal service and stand 100% behind products they sell.
D: Ethical: Great jewelers are responsible businessmen who treat their vendors and employees behind closed doors, just as well as they take care of their customers behind the counter.
E: Good Operator: Company consistently delivers great prices without sacrificing quality or service.
We hope information provided are helpful in your gem and fine jewelry shopping because with so many choices, offers and places to shop, it is not easy to make the right decisions quickly and easily.