End of Summer Homework: Planning Your Holiday Engagement

Planning a holiday engagement? Let us give you one piece of advice: you need to start your ring design process now. Depending on your circumstances, that might be a bit daunting. Maybe you have never shopped for fine jewelry before, or maybe you don’t have a firm grip on the best style for your engagement ring design. Lucky for you, we kind of specialize in this sort of thing…

Starting an engagement ring search doesn’t need to be a scary process. Our best advice can be summed up in three points: plan ahead, do your research, and trust your gut. But, these points can be easier said than done so we created a handy guide to get you started in this special process:

1) Plan Ahead:

One thing to know about thoughtful design is that it doesn’t happen overnight. Sure, you could walk into a jewelry shop and buy a ring “off the rack” and be done with it. This might be the best option for you, but to us the special part of the engagement ring is the thought and consideration that goes into its creation. This doesn’t mean you need to create a crazy unique design, but it might mean that you take special care in selecting the center stone or in adding a thoughtful touch to the ring, such as a hand-engraved element or a special prong style. Any of these characteristics will take time to develop, so we highly encourage getting a general timeline in your mind for your proposal. Key questions would be:

• Do you have a special trip or event coming up that might provide a good opportunity for a proposal? You’ll need to back out from your departure date to the last day you could pick up your finished ring, i.e. if you are leaving for your trip on Thursday, December 22nd then the latest pick-up date for your ring should really be Saturday, December 17th so that you don’t need to fit an extra errand into your week-of predeparture task list.

  • Fun fact: as of the date of the writing of this article, this would give you 4 months, 7 days to develop your ring. Our average timeline for custom rings is just over 3 months and varies considerably depending on the design, so this is the perfect time to book your appointment and safely meet this deadline!

• Do you want to propose in a more private setting or with lots of family and friends? If it’s the latter, you’ll need to coordinate dates with them so that everyone can attend.

• Do you need to source a feature stone for your ring? This can add a few weeks to your timeline and, depending on what you would like, can add a considerable amount of cost. You’ll need to have a budget in mind of what you are comfortable spending, and you’ll need to have an idea of how involved you want to be in the gemstone selection. We offer our classic gemstone sourcing option as well as an expedited option, so you can decide which process is best for you.

2) Do Your Research:

If you want your proposal to be a surprise then you have an extra layer of complexity here, but nothing that should scare you. If you are designing or picking a ring without the recipient involved, you need to ensure you have these questions covered:

• What color material will your future fiancé prefer? Yellow gold, white gold/platinum, and rose gold are your basic choices. Your partner probably has a strong feeling about one of these choices and it may not match what they wear every day. Plenty of brides wear yellow gold or rose gold jewelry for their everyday pieces but opt for platinum settings for their engagement rings.

  • Good to know: a decent percentage of the population is allergic to nickel, the element commonly used in white gold alloys. Ask your partner if they have a nickel allergy if he or she is interested in white metal!

• Would your partner prefer a diamond, a diamond alternative, a sapphire, or another gemstone for their engagement ring? Diamonds are the most classic option, but your future fiancé might have a different idea in mind.

• Does your partner have any strong feelings about sourcing that feature stone? The good news about buying a diamond today is that you have plenty of options: natural conventional sourcing, natural Canadian diamonds, natural recycled diamonds, lab created diamonds, and USA-made lab created diamonds to name the primary few. Some people have very strong feelings on the sourcing of their feature stone and it can affect the pricing of that stone dramatically, so this is a key element to sort out in advance so that you don’t pick an option that isn’t right for your partner.

• Has your partner hinted at engagement styles they like? Now is the time to collect inspiration photos. If you aren’t sure, we highly recommend asking. You can keep the engagement a surprise, and your partner will appreciate the opportunity to voice his or her opinion on the ring style. Hint: save photos they like and don’t like - these are all useful in the design process!

• Get your partner’s ring size! Best option: get them professionally sized by the people who will be making or selling you your ring. Every ring fits a little differently, so it’s good to know the direction of the design so that they can be sized just right.

3) Trust Your Gut:

This is a big purchase, and you want to feel good about it. We highly recommend meeting with a jeweler and getting a feel for how they work. Everyone is a little different, and you want to ensure you have your questions and concerns addressed before getting knee-deep in a process.

• If a jeweler advertises custom design services but doesn’t have a portfolio of custom rings to show you or only offers customized prefabricated options, you need to evaluate what type of jeweler they really are. Make sure you ask how they create rings and where their workshop is located - hint: they’re not all on-site. Custom rings especially require a higher skillset than what most shops offer in-house, so you’ll want to know how they approach the fabrication process.

• Ask about their post-production care. Some brands don’t offer on-site services and it’s an unpleasant surprise to realize that you will need to ship your ring off for 6 weeks to resize it, so make sure you ask about these offerings. Do they resize in-house? How long does it take? What if you lose a little accent diamond? Do they offer wedding bands and what are your options in that field?

• Ask about fees in advance. Do they charge for design iterations? Resizings? Knowing this in advance will tell you a lot about how they frame their business model.

• Get a feel for the people with whom you will be working. Most jewelry stores pay their employees based on commissions, which doesn’t work out well for you since you’ll be working with someone who is incentivized to upsell you. Also ask yourself if you like their communication style, if they clearly articulate the process, and if you feel like the “fit” is there.

We are always happy to walk prospective clients through our process and talk about how our services can best suit their search. And, we are always transparent if we aren’t necessarily the best fit. If you’re considering a holiday engagement, don’t wait - book an appointment today to discuss your ring. We’ll be glad to get you on the best path!

• Good to know: If you are planning a New Years proposal, then you need to lump this into a December deadline. We (and many other resources!) are closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you’ll be in the same category of deadlines as any Christmas proposal.