I’m thinking about proposing to my girl, however we both think diamonds as a standard is stupid and overrated, we both prefer much more colorful and comparatively cheaper gemstones like rubies and sapphires, but I’m having trouble finding a good place for that, I’ve never done this before, any ideas?
Moissonite, have you checked that?
I got my wife’s engagement ring off Etsy. It’s “smokey topaz” and the exact style she wanted, and was very inexpensive. She loves it.
Second for Etsy, that’s where I got both of my wife’s rings and she loves them.
Thirded for etsy. i went with simple bands of high quality metals. Silver at first then gold for the tenth. They’re quite attractive.
We got a tungsten band with sapphires from Etsy. She hunted the web to find exactly what she wanted; custom made to her size and a fraction of the cost of diamonds.
Some cities have a jewelry district, and those are very worth going to. The one in downtown Los Angeles is drivable for me, and I’ve saved huge amounts going there. You can also usually get someone to make something custom for you there that doesn’t cost a lot more. I’ve bought loose gems and had them set a few times and the cost was less than half of a mall jeweler for something much better quality.
Just get a tattoo so you can’t lose them. Unless you anticipate a divorce.
Consider “moissanite”. Beautiful manufactured gemstones that look very much like diamonds but are a fraction of the price.
They don’t just look like diamond; chemically they’re extremely similar, too. Diamond is just a bunch of carbon atoms covalently bonded together into a 3D crystal, which is why they’re so incredibly hard. Moissanite is basically the same but it’s carbon and silicon atoms mixed together. Silicon has the same number of valence electrons, so it can function similarly chemically as carbon, hence why it works. Thus, moissanite is also extremely hard and refracts light in beautiful ways, too, except imo even more beautifully. Instead of a colorless luster, it’s a subtle rainbow luster to moissanite.
Source: I got my fiancée a moissanite ring, and it’s lovely. And because it’s lab-made, I got her blue moissanite (the coloring is just from adding certain impurities) that matches our cat’s eyes perfectly. It’s way more unique, cheaper, and more ethical than diamond, but doesn’t sacrifice on quality one bit.
