Royal Ring ers

With such an abundance of engagement ring styles and designs available to the everyday consumer it is no wonder that some of the less than experienced shoppers find the whole shopping for diamond engagement rings a little daunting and a lot confusing. Here are a few tips on how to go about shopping for your perfect engagement ring, whether you’re shopping for your perfect engagement ring, whether you’re shopping for a one or two carat diamond

• Choosing a precious metal setting

I always recommend beginning with an engagement ring setting before choosing a diamond center stone. Engagement ring settings are varied in style and design and the engagement ring stetting you choose will help determine the size and shape of the diamond center stone that can be mounted onto your selected setting as you will find that not every setting can accommodate every size and shape diamond. Prong settings, for example, are extremely versatile and can house virtually any shape and size diamond while bezel settings are more specific and may not be able to house fancy cut diamonds or large carat diamonds.

• Choosing a diamond center stone

After you’ve chosen your ring setting, it’s time to choose your diamond center stone. Before you make your final selection make sure to check that the diamond you have selected is properly certified and that its qualities (its clarity, cut and color grades as well as its carat weight) are up to par.

• Shop around

After you’ve made your ring selection be sure to check online jewelry stores as well as local brick and mortar stores to find the best deal for the engagement ring of your dreams.

It’s a question posed to our staff on an almost daily basis – why is the fourth finger on the left hand so significant in marriage and commitment folklore? The answers largely lie in cultural and historical significance. In the nuptials of Catalan or German couples, the fourth finger on the RIGHT hand is traditional. And until as recently as the last decade, traditional Japanese couples wore no wedding ring sets at all (historically, the blackening of a wife’s teeth to make her unattractive to other suitors was the norm!) The point being that each culture holds dear its own wedding rituals and customs.
In the west we think of marriage as being highly symbolic. It marks a lifelong commitment between two people, and as such an existent declaration of that bond in the form of engagement and wedding rings has grown into the cultural norm.
As far as that fourth finger on the left goes, ancient western-based society believed that finger to be linked via a single vein directly to the heart, hence the choice of that finger in matters of the heart. Although, here in the store we love the Ancient Chinese view too – Place your palms together and fold your two middle fingers down whilst the rest of your fingers rest against their equal. Try to separate the two ring fingers… Having trouble? Those two fingers should be incredibly difficult to move from each other – an evocative symbol of the bond between husband and wife.