Buying Wedding Jewelry
Just about all wedding jewelry use diamonds.
Their prices and rarity are carefully monitored by the major diamond cartels. As a result their wholesale costs are pretty well standardized over a wide variety of size and quality.
Therefore, diamond price ranges are dramatic. For example a half caret brilliant cut round diamond of K color and I1 clarity might cost about $2000 per caret or $1000.
But a D (colorless) and IF (flawless) clarity diamond of half a carat might cost over $7,000 a caret or $3,500.
Then, a three caret diamond with the same quality differences might range from $7000 to $35,000 per caret, 5 to 7 times the value per caret of the half carat diamond.
Diamond color grades range from a "D" (colorless) down to "Z" and below that they move into a "fancy" colored diamond range becoming more valuable as the color becomes more intense.
"Fancy diamonds", with natural primary colors like blue or bright yellow, are rare and more valuable than the colorless variety.
However, long about "R, S, T" in the off-white color range you get a nice "champagne" color and then a golden brown called a "cognac" color diamond, both of which can be very attractive and are available at a good price.
It is rare to find a colorless D, E or F diamond used in bridal jewelry as the cost is very high and the difference from, say, an H color diamond very slight.
We cover the essentials of diamond grading found by clicking on this link.
The clarity grades range from "FL" (flawless), to "IF" (internally flawless), through "VVS, VS, SI" (slightly included) to "I" where you can see an inclusion, like a piece of carbon, with the naked eye if you know how to look for it.
Some nice diamonds at a very good price can be found that have a J-K color grade with an I clarity and a good cut giving a lot of brilliance or sparkle, the "cut" being the most important factor in diamond beauty.
A good cut grade with the proper ratio of crown to pavilion and proper faceting is vital as it brings the stone alive. A bad cut can make a flawless D color stone look dull and uninteresting.
About 40% of a stone’s value is in the cut grade, often ignored by uneducated bridal jewelry buyers.
It might be interesting for you to try our Loose Diamond Search Engine BELOW before you buy any wedding jewelry to get an idea of the prices of various grades and sizes of diamonds.
With a 10 power "diamond loupe" (a hand held magnifier), a gauge, a set of grading stones, the proper light and some experience you may be able to approximate the size and quality of a diamond.
However, some old time diamond merchants and jewelers believe they can accurately tell a diamond’s size and quality with only a loupe, but we have found that they are often wildly off in their estimates.
It really takes a GIA Certified Gemologist with the full range of proper equipment to give an accurate diamond description.
A Diamond Grading Analysis Certificate from a major gem lab is your best guarantee that you are getting your money’s worth when buying bridal and wedding jewelry.
Such a certificate comes with all the diamonds we sell over 1/2 carat in weight.
Visit our wedding jewelry Shopping Pages to get an idea of what we have to offer.
You can also email us questions that may come up, and we will answer promptly with helpful information.
