There’s no denying that shopping for an engagement ring is one of the most important purchases that you will ever make in your entire life. It’s not only the precursor to a life changing moment but it can be one of the largest life purchases financially as well. Many people are sticker shocked when they begin the process of looking for an engagement ring. How can something so tiny cost so much money? Additionally, many people have a hard time deciding what their budget should be. Some people say that roughly 3 months salary is an appropriate amount to spend on the engagement ring. At Kiefers, we say spend as much as you are comfortable spending and don’t put yourself in a financial crisis over this one purchase. That’s why we offer interest-free payment plans to help break-up the cost of the ring and we offer ring options to fit all budgets. We are here to help you save money on your engagement ring whether it’s $500 or $50,000 so set your worries aside!
First we want to introduce you to the pyramid of diamond shopping. On this pyramid, you will see three sides. Each side represents an aspect of diamond shopping. You can have two things on this pyramid but not all three and we will explain to you why. When shopping for a diamond, if size and budget are important to you then you will need to sacrifice the quality. If you want a big diamond but you are on a tight budget then you will need to consider a diamond with either a lower color or clarity grade or diamond without a lab report. If quality and budget are important to you, then you will need to sacrifice size by looking at diamonds smaller in size. If size and quality are important to you, then you will need to sacrifice your budget. Of course there's always the option to consider a lab-grown diamond as well but that's another discussion! Click here to learn more about lab-grown diamonds.
Of course there are many other factors to diamond shopping but we love this illustration because it helps simplify things so that our customers can focus on what is really most important to them when choosing a diamond. We highly recommend doing this exercise before you start shopping and express your priorities to your jeweler so that they can best assist you with finding the perfect diamond.
Here are some specific tips that can help you save money on your engagement ring purchase:
1. Forget the 4Cs- In case you don’t know, the 4Cs are the 4 most important characteristics of diamond grading: Carat, Cut, Color, and Clarity. These 4 factors are how jewelers separate the diamonds and how we determine what price to charge for the diamond.
Many jewelers will tell you that you need to buy a specific color and clarity grade diamond. Generally speaking a diamond with a better color and clarity grade should be more beautiful than a diamond with a lower color and clarity grade, however this is not always true. First of all, color and clarity grades are just someone’s opinion. Did you know that you could send the same diamond back to GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) and you may get a different grade each time? The grading all depends on who is grading the diamond that day. In addition, different diamond laboratories will grade differently as well. It’s common knowledge that labs like EGL and IGI are less conversative with their grading, meaning they might call this diamond a G color and SI1 clarity while GIA would call that same diamond an I color and I1 clarity. This is why diamonds with GIA lab reports usually cost more than diamonds with an EGL or IGI lab report.
The reason that these grades may vary is because all humans do not view color the same way. Essentially we are all somewhat color blind, at least in how it relates to one another. Some people are able to pick up the slight differences between an H color diamond and an I color diamond. While others can’t tell the difference at all. This directly relates to how we view attraction in people as well. You may find someone attractive that another person may not find attractive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so don’t pick a diamond just based on it’s lab report. That would be like picking your significant other solely from their online dating profile!
On top of that, did you know that most people don’t even know the color and clarity of their diamond? Of course,we love educating our customers and we will walk you through all of this when you visit our store but ultimately we encourage our customers to forget the 4Cs and focus on choosing a diamond that you think is beautiful! We find that when customers stop focusing so much on the lab report and focus more on the beauty of the diamond, they will consider a diamond that they may not have previously considered which can end up saving them a significant amount of money. Focus on finding a diamond that you are proud to give to your loved one and this will never steer you wrong! Click here to learn more about the 4cs.
2. Just Look at an I1 Diamond- As you can see on the diamond grading scale, the I1 clarity grade is very low on the scale and this typically means that this diamond has characteristics that are visible to the naked eye. Now remember that the clarity grade is just someone’s opinion of this diamond so the diamontologist may have been able to see the characteristics with their naked eye, but it may not be as obvious to the untrained eye. If the characteristics are clear in color or small in size, they still may be pretty hard to see without magnification. Sometimes the characteristics are off to the side of the diamond and may be able to be hidden by a prong once it is set into the ring.
I1 diamonds are actually much more common than you would think. Did you know that more than 50% of America has an I1 clarity diamond? We have seen some really beautiful I1 diamonds and we pride ourselves on finding the diamonds that no one would believe are an I1 clarity grade. If it’s important to you to have a large diamond but you are on a budget, this is a great way to save some money. And most likely, no one will even be able to tell! Of course there can be a wide range of face up appearances of I1 diamonds so you really need to see these in person before purchasing one to make sure it’s pleasing to your eye.
Can you believe that this in an I2 clarity diamond that we recently sold?!
3. Find a Diamond with Fluorescence- You are probably thinking “what is fluorescence” and “that’s not one of the 4Cs”. There are actually a lot of other factors that go into the diamonds lab report other than just the 4Cs and it can really make your head spin when you start to get into the other factors. That’s why all of our bridal specialists at Kiefers are trained by GIA so that we can get as technical as you would like when shopping for a diamond.
To break it down simply, fluorescence is a diamond's ability to emit a glow when exposed to UV light. If a diamond has fluorescence, it will usually glow a blue color when exposed to UV light. The cool thing about fluorescence is that it can actually improve a diamond’s color appearance. For example, say you have a diamond that is an J color grade. Typically speaking, a diamond with a J color grade will most likely have a visible yellow hue to the diamond. But a diamond with a J color grade and medium fluorescence will actually look less yellow than a similar diamond with no fluorescence. In theory, fluorescence can sometimes improve a diamond’s color grade. Now this isn’t always true so you still need to see the diamond in person before decidingl. If a diamond has strong fluorescence, it may make the diamond look cloudy or hazy so there is a fine line to this theory. Generally, a diamond with fluorescence will cost less than a similar diamond with no fluorescence so ask your jeweler to show you a diamond with fluorescence to see if you can find a hidden gem and save some money!
Click here to shop our current diamond inventory!
We hope you enjoyed these tips for saving money on your diamond engagement ring and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to meet with one of our diamond specialists either remotely or in-person! Click here to make an appointment!