What You Should Know Before Selecting an Engagement Ring
Engagement rings can be stunningly beautiful and they′re an incredibly important part of your life. However, there are lots of rings out there, and plenty of confusing terminology, making it hard to choose where to start on your quest. Here’s some basic information to help.
There are three major parts to any engagement ring - the design, the stone, and the metal. The stone is generally a diamond, and the metal is usually gold, but other options are available.
Picking The Stone One thing to be aware of is the system for grading diamonds. The four components are Cut, Carat, Color and Clarity.
You’ll need to pay close attention to diamond quality when you make your purchase, but the highest quality isn’t necessarily the best. Lower quality diamonds can look the same as the best ones, but they save you a lot when you use them.
Choosing Metals Most engagement rings have bands and settings in either gold or platinum. You can get gold in levels of quality from ten to twenty-four karats, and in many colors, ranging from yellow to white to rose.
Eighteen karat gold is probably the most popular engagement ring choice, but ten and fourteen karats are chosen by some because they′re stronger. These less pure alloys are harder to dent and scratch.
One interesting, though costly, material is platinum. It looks a lot like white gold, but is significantly harder. Look closely and you’ll be able to tell the difference.
Designing Your Engagement Ring The design for your engagement ring is an extremely personal choice, whether you choose an existing ring or have a custom one made to your own specifications. There are also semi-custom rings, where you choose the stone, band size, and other design elements, combining them into the perfect ring for you.
Remember that your engagement ring design should do four basic things, however. No matter what you choose, you need a ring that’s practical and comfortable to wear each and every day, strong enough to hold up and keep its stones, and looks good under any circumstances. What will constitute an attractive, durable, easy to wear ring depends on your lifestyle. Higher settings are pretty, but catch on things. This can be a safety hazard in some jobs.
An attractive, durable, comfortable ring depends on the way you live and work. A higher setting looks pretty, but is prone to catch on things, making it a hazard in some conditions.
This is why some people choose gold that is less pure and has been adulterated by other metals - it’s stronger. It’s also a reason why other people look for sturdier rings or choose platinum over gold as a metal.
Security of stones is determined by the setting. Four prongs is the least secure, with a six prong setting being stronger, and a bezel setting even stronger than any prong setting. Heavier, lower settings are more durable than light, high settings.
