The One Ring to Rule them All

Don't buy allotropic carbon, as the DeBeers cartel exists only to inflate the prices and hype it.

My suggestion is to go somewhere that will help you design a custom setting. My wife and I went that route - no cookie cutter crap that way. I'm not sure I would recommend the jeweler we used, only because there were some details in the ring that were not as precise as I would have liked, but overall it is a great piece.

I recommend (heartily) Barrow's on Glendale. I bought my fiance a ring there. Great service and the price and quality were better than any of the chain stores. Ask for Greg.

Thanks for the info so far, hopefully I'll get to convince a Mrs. Coffee to TT :)

If time was on my favor, I read an article where Russia is literally sitting on a goldmine of diamonds from a huge ancient impact crater. But there was concern of flooding the market. I'm smart enough to know the $$ of a diamond is hugely inflated and diamonds really aren't rare.

But this is my girl, and the few times I'll let myself slide into the social norm to make her happy :) But an impact crater made diamond sounds wicked exciting lol.

Hey INC, pm sent to you.

McGivern's in downtown Perrysburg. That's the only place that I go anymore. Local, family-owned owned, great service... and Mike is very helpful and knowledgable. Actually, everyone there is helpful. You won't regret going there.

Agree with MoreThan, above. It's nice to have a magical ring on the spot, but a piece of jewelry that you're going to put on your hand and never take off needs to be designed with the lifestyle in mind.

For example, many women work with their hands all day long and shouldn't have a pointy diamond sticking straight out from their finger. If it's the kind of ring she needs to keep taking off to do her work, or her hobbies, or to get sweaty, or to put on fine knitted garments, or to use tools ... you get the picture. My spouse and I chose our rings together and we couldn't be happier. With the rings, and with each other :-)

If you want to have a ring on the spot, you can use a family ring or one of your own or get a modest placeholder ring and tell her you'll go ring-shopping together at home. Sounds like a great trip and I know you'll have fun.

Good advice viola. My diamonds sit in a jewelery box, to be worn on special occaisions. A sample of my daily routine includes tree and shrub pruning while wearing work gloves, digging holes, cleaning canna bulbs, pruning pond water lilies and tearing down a leaf blower to find out why it had only 25 lbs of compression (stuck piston ring).

I tried wearing a plain gold band for awhile and found even that being a problem. When it got cold, working outdoors, the band would come off when I took off my work gloves. No fun searching for it in a pile of leaves. Lifestyle does matter when choosing a ring.

But.........being female I LUV my 1-1/2 diamond carat bling. I trot my rings out every chance I get. Stay away from the chain stores. Buy from an independant and go big or go home.

Upon many recommendations from friends I went to Harold Jaffe when it was my time to propose. They're extremely friendly and easy to work with. Like most guys I was pretty clueless about the variety of options and things that effect value and cost and the salesperson spent almost an hour giving me a lesson on clarity, cuts and quality.

I've gone back for every jewelry purchase for my wife since then. I'm assuming most places do this but we stop in from time to time to have her ring professionally steam cleaned for free.

Bah diamonds, get her large birthstones, if your lucky she was born in a cheaper month haha.

I second Harold Jaffe. They are totally awesome during the entire process and you can pop in anytime and get your rings cleaned for free...

Make sure she likes diamonds if you're going that route. We got married on the fly, very little money and very little notice, so we bought white gold bands and nothing else. For our first anniversary he got me a real Lindy star sapphire set in silver because he had learned in that year that I hate diamonds and love colored gems. Since then I have acquired a small ruby, an emerald, an amethyst and a turquoise in separate pieces and I love them so much. I have a rainbow of real gemstones, made much more special because he cared enough to know this about me!! :)

Being in the design field - I couldn't have just a stock setting. So we went with Harold Jaffe also. At the time they were the only jeweler that had offered us the custom design option. And now, 9 years later - I am still very happy with my settings. They staff is very friendly and when I stop in for a cleaning they still know my name. (and no,I dont spend a ton of money there)

Maurice, who hangs out at the corner of Monroe and 18th Street has some good stuff....but you will have to size it yourself.

Maurice, who hangs out at the corner of Monroe and 18th Street has some good stuff....

Don't forget, Maurice also speaks of the pompetous of love...

He's a picker
He's a grinner
He's a lover
He's a sinner...

I love Jaffe. I've bought every single piece of jewelry for myself and my wife there and have never regretted a purchase. Terrific and honest people, with outstanding customer service.

I got my wife's ring at J Fosters. They all pretty much seemed the same when we were shopping around.

As a science-y person, if I had to go allotropic carbon I would go manufactured diamond or other gemstone, just because SCIENCE!

If I really wanted to make a statement, I'd go down the mine and dig a rock out myself.

If I wanted to be REALLY awesome, I'd go find a meteorite bit and have it either set or melted down and forged - what could be more awesome than having a ring of thunderbolt iron?!? (Besides having a sword of it, that is?)

Thanks for all the recommendations. Now it's time to do the leg work and start looking.

BTW INeedCoffee......Congratulations!

hahahahaha! show us the way, holland! Congrats, INC, good luck with all that!!

I buy from Jensen's on Monroe. Family owned, custom work, and trust worthy. They even let me take the band and one of cubix out of the store for a few hours while I got the MIL approval! He just asked for my cell number. They also let me go out with the diamonds to look at them in the natural light, what a difference that is! Good luck picking it out. I'm sure where ever you go she will be blown away!

I can't help you with the ring...but I do want to say... CONGRATULATION!

Coffee, so excited for you! Be sure to give us all the details when you return from your cruise.

We got our engagement ring at the House of Golf that used to be on Eastgate. The owner also sold diamonds. :-)

Congratulations INC! As for rings, i don't wear my engagement ring because it broke once and i had it repaired but I'm too afraid to wear it anymore, but instead of a plain wedding band, i have more of an anniversary ring with 12 smaller diamonds and i LOVE it. 8-)

Again, thank you all very much for the recommendations. :)