Engagement Ring Review
I thought I'd start this topic for anyone who's intrested in the engagement ring process review. I know getting engaged is an exciting time (just like planning a wedding) and there may be people out there that are looking for ring ideas here too.
I figure...why not review our vendors just like we do for a wedding??
There are a lot of great vendors out there and we live in an area with some of the best. Feel free to review yours as well.
Our story...first I should say that we were both really involved in the process. Having spent a significant amount of time on the forums at pricescope.com I had a good idea of what I wanted as well as the vendors that I wanted to start with. My fiance and I decided that the best route for us was to buy the stone and the setting separately. We went into the process thinking we wanted a setting custom designed but then stumbled upon the perfect setting that we were trying to design at a local store.
First off...the stone. Many online vendors pull from the same virtual inventory. Meaning, they get a list of stones from the cutters they deal with and anyone can sell them. Some online vendors will provide you with more information to help make a decision easier. A few of the best ones are in our area. Good Old Gold, while I did not use them, is probably the best in the business for providing the consumer with pictures, asset images, idealscope and much much more. My fiance bought my stone from Engagement Rings Direct. Mark Turnowski is the owner and he is located in the diamond district in a building separate from the first floor vendors. Anway, Mark used to work for the GIA and was very helpful as we discussed what I was looking for in an emerald cut. He brought in a variety of stones and helped us evaluate them scrutinizing every aspect. We found that his prices were competitive to even the online dealers like James Allen that sell at a significant discount. ERD gets an A.
On to the setting. Mark tried to get us to do something custom with him for the setting. Originaly I wanted Leon Mege to make my setting. He is at artofplatinum.com. However, my fiance didn't want to wait 8 weeks for the setting to be done and we wanted to give Mark a fair shot. So we embarked on the custom design process. Mark put together a computer aided design image for us to start the process. While what he put together was ok that weekend my fiance and I saw the Tacori 2620 setting in person for an emerald cut and were both convinced that was the setting we wanted. We found it at Bassano jewelers on 57th. While they are helpful I wouldn't use them again. Their prices are inflated and they really don't seem that knowledgeable. At the time we felt bad for not working with Mark so when we told him we were going a different direction on the setting my fiance did not tell him we were getting a tacori setting. Had we known that Mark could have gotten us a tacori setting we probably would have purchased a setting through him.
On to Tacori. While I feel that the setting design in perfect I'm not totaly impressed with Tacori's attention to detail. The ring is amazing because it is my engagement ring and it means so much to me. That being said, the level of quality really leaves some to be desired. For anyone that is getting a Tacori please make sure that the jeweler you purchase the setting from fully inspects the ring before giving it to you. Had we gotten our Tacori setting through Mark, there is no way that he would have let it walk out the door without being sent back to Tacori for some improvements. Most of these things you will never see. For example, the prongs aren't that great. I have seen really amazing well done prongs and my ring does not have them. It looks like they just bent them over the stone. Mind you, my stone was sent to Tacori to be set. Tacori will not gaurentee your setting unless you let them set your stone. This is what we did. There are some tool marks on the underside of the ring as well as the milgrain is not even everywhere. This will eventually be fixed but probably not till after the wedding as I don't want to part with it till then. On a more positive note, the setting is proportioned amazinginly and achieved the whole looke we were going for. If I did it all over again I would have Leon Mege make my setting no matter how long it took. Tacori in My book gets a B+
I'll respond more later with a review of the aprasial process and insurance companies. I hope this is helpful to anyone who is looking for an engagement a ring.
Good luck!
I figure...why not review our vendors just like we do for a wedding??
There are a lot of great vendors out there and we live in an area with some of the best. Feel free to review yours as well.
Our story...first I should say that we were both really involved in the process. Having spent a significant amount of time on the forums at pricescope.com I had a good idea of what I wanted as well as the vendors that I wanted to start with. My fiance and I decided that the best route for us was to buy the stone and the setting separately. We went into the process thinking we wanted a setting custom designed but then stumbled upon the perfect setting that we were trying to design at a local store.
First off...the stone. Many online vendors pull from the same virtual inventory. Meaning, they get a list of stones from the cutters they deal with and anyone can sell them. Some online vendors will provide you with more information to help make a decision easier. A few of the best ones are in our area. Good Old Gold, while I did not use them, is probably the best in the business for providing the consumer with pictures, asset images, idealscope and much much more. My fiance bought my stone from Engagement Rings Direct. Mark Turnowski is the owner and he is located in the diamond district in a building separate from the first floor vendors. Anway, Mark used to work for the GIA and was very helpful as we discussed what I was looking for in an emerald cut. He brought in a variety of stones and helped us evaluate them scrutinizing every aspect. We found that his prices were competitive to even the online dealers like James Allen that sell at a significant discount. ERD gets an A.
On to the setting. Mark tried to get us to do something custom with him for the setting. Originaly I wanted Leon Mege to make my setting. He is at artofplatinum.com. However, my fiance didn't want to wait 8 weeks for the setting to be done and we wanted to give Mark a fair shot. So we embarked on the custom design process. Mark put together a computer aided design image for us to start the process. While what he put together was ok that weekend my fiance and I saw the Tacori 2620 setting in person for an emerald cut and were both convinced that was the setting we wanted. We found it at Bassano jewelers on 57th. While they are helpful I wouldn't use them again. Their prices are inflated and they really don't seem that knowledgeable. At the time we felt bad for not working with Mark so when we told him we were going a different direction on the setting my fiance did not tell him we were getting a tacori setting. Had we known that Mark could have gotten us a tacori setting we probably would have purchased a setting through him.
On to Tacori. While I feel that the setting design in perfect I'm not totaly impressed with Tacori's attention to detail. The ring is amazing because it is my engagement ring and it means so much to me. That being said, the level of quality really leaves some to be desired. For anyone that is getting a Tacori please make sure that the jeweler you purchase the setting from fully inspects the ring before giving it to you. Had we gotten our Tacori setting through Mark, there is no way that he would have let it walk out the door without being sent back to Tacori for some improvements. Most of these things you will never see. For example, the prongs aren't that great. I have seen really amazing well done prongs and my ring does not have them. It looks like they just bent them over the stone. Mind you, my stone was sent to Tacori to be set. Tacori will not gaurentee your setting unless you let them set your stone. This is what we did. There are some tool marks on the underside of the ring as well as the milgrain is not even everywhere. This will eventually be fixed but probably not till after the wedding as I don't want to part with it till then. On a more positive note, the setting is proportioned amazinginly and achieved the whole looke we were going for. If I did it all over again I would have Leon Mege make my setting no matter how long it took. Tacori in My book gets a B+
I'll respond more later with a review of the aprasial process and insurance companies. I hope this is helpful to anyone who is looking for an engagement a ring.
Good luck!
