Choosing an engagement ring might seem like a daunting task, especially with it being one of the most important pieces of jewelry you’ll ever wear—and you’ll wear it everyday. Did I scare you off yet? Picking an engagement ring might be difficult, but if you start off with a few simple choices, you can narrow down your selection and find the perfect ring that fits your love, your personality, and your lifestyle.
Choosing A Stone
One of the first things that comes with creating the perfect dream of an engagement ring is choosing the style of stone that will work best for you. While there are many different cuts, colors, and shapes of diamonds and non-traditional semi-precious stones, there are two main categories used in engagement rings to choose from: traditional cut and rosecut stones. Traditional cut stones typically have a culet—or the point—at the bottom. They can be any range of shapes, cuts and styles, but most likely it will come to a point at the bottom. Rosecut stones are unique in that they have a flat bottom, which is beneficial in many ways. As they are flat, they lay close to the finger, allowing the wearer to have protection for their ring, and to be a lot more hands-on without worrying about the stone. Here is a perfect example of a traditional vs rosecut stone, from our friends over at @misfitdiamonds*
Both stones are white diamonds, but they look nothing alike. Anyone who works heavily with their hands, such as artists, doctors and nurses, bakers, machine shop workers, etc, will benefit from a ring with a low profile, as it wont catch or get in the way like taller stones can. One extra benefit from rosecut stones? You can get a wider stone for the same price as a smaller traditional stone—because it’s nowhere near as tall! Stones are priced by carat weight, so a shorter, wider stone will appear huge on the finger, while still being low profile and less costly than a taller stone.
Our “Aubrey” Brown Diamond ring is a perfect example of a low profile rosecut ring. You won’t have to worry about wearing this one when working with your hands, its low, its set in a bezel, and it will last you a lifetime.
Choosing a Setting
The next important choice when it comes to active lifestyles are types of settings. Rings with a bezel setting—a snug rim of metal surrounding the entire gemstone—securely holds your stone in place with a nice, smooth surface. This can be crucial for brides with hands on, active lifestyles, as there is nothing for the ring to catch on. Prongs can pose some issues with our most active hands, as they can catch on fabrics, hair, gloves etc, and cause damage or just plain annoyance when they do.
Let’s take doctors and nurses for example: they put on and take off gloves constantly, all throughout the day. Prongs, no matter how perfectly crafted, can sometimes catch on the gloves and either break the glove or be difficult to put on. When it’s something you have to do all day, it can be so frustrating to keep having this issue.
The Luckiest of All
Now here’s the best news, if you aren’t someone who’s profession might be a deciding factor, or if all of the above doesn’t matter, you are the luckiest of them all. You can choose any kind of stone, ring, or setting without concern. People with the most active lifestyles or the specific needs might want to consider the above choices, but if none of that applies to you, you can choose the most wild of settings and stones you can think of! Here is one of my favorite settings we can create with any stone available: The Lilliana Setting. Re-designed and deconstructed from the traditional basket setting, this style is unique, alternative, and perfect for someone who wants a show stopping ring.
To Stack or Not to Stack?
Lastly, let’s talk about stacking rings. Any ring, simple, extravagant, tall or low profile, prong or bezel, can be accentuated with stacking rings. These are some of my favorite ways to bring that ring to life and make it pop just that much extra. Soon, I’ll be covering some different styles of stacking rings and showing off some tips and tricks for creating that perfect stack. Until then, let’s drool over this custom diamond stack for a little while.
**@misfitdiamonds is an amazing diamond vendor who we work closely with to find you the perfect stone. All @misfitdiamond photos were taken by them. If you’d like to browse their stock to see what they offer, check them out at www.misfitdiamonds.com, and let us know which stone you’d like to design an Elana Jovero Fine Jewelry ring for.