I had some images of rings I'd liked from their website. I was fancying a pear-shaped center stone with side stones and hoped it would have a more vintage-inspired band design.
This one below was in the running for a longest time because the band was like a metal ribbon. As the months continued, I realized it wouldn't look quite right with the simple platnium wedding band we'd plan to buy for me.
Peeve: It drives me bonkers when someone has a wedding ring and engagement ring that do not compliment each other. They don't have to be identical bands, but please, put some thought into it! I knew someone once who had a beautiful three-stone, vintage-looking engagement ring who then ruined its beauty by putting a masculine, yellow gold band with five diamonds across the top for their wedding band.
And then, for some reason, I got it into my head that I wanted the sides of my engagement ring band to be made up with alternating-shaped smaller diamonds. I had seen a couple styles I liked, but when we went to a few of the nicer jewelry stores in Las Vegas at the time, I didn't like anything that they showed me. Also, we got some quotes on diamond accented bands and center stones and they were a lot more than we had budgeted for and in reality, could afford.
Remember, there is a huge mark-up in fine jewelry and with a box store, you're also paying for the staff, decor, utilities and on-hand inventory.
We went back home, a little shellshocked from the sticker prices and I jumped on the internet again and searched through the Blue Nile web site. They actually had the very band style I had been seeing in my mind and wanted but that the local stores didn't offer.
When my husband got his holiday bonus that December, he went to the BlueNile web site and started reading up on diamond cut, quality, everything. He knew the ring style I hoped to have but still checked to make sure it was at the top of my list now six months later. It was. I remember he asked me, "What's more important to you, size or sparkle?" For me, it was a balanced combination of the two (and based on what we could afford, too, natch). Between our budget and his newly accquired ring knowledge, he was able to build my actual ring on the site where we could review and edit before finalizing the sale.
Let me share a few reasons why we felt 110% comfortable buying my engagement ring from Blue Nile: first, I had purchased a diamond three-stone pendant as a thirtieth birthday present to myself two years earlier from them. It was the best experience! Their very friendly and helpful customer service when I called about a question, the quick and secure delivery, beautiful presentation and absolute quality all won me over. Also, it was hard to beat their prices. (My experience has proven that Blue Nile isn't selling cheaper quality jewelry like you find in the lower-end mass jewelry stores in the malls and like.) Especially since we saved a ton of money by not having to pay local sales tax. (Blue Nile also provides apprasils for the diamond jewelry it sells to you, even if it is under a carat in weight. This was very handy when we added both rings to our home owners insurance policy.)
My ring arrived and I absolutely love it! It looked even nicer in person than I could have imagined. My center stone was just under a carat in total weight. The pear-cut makes it actually look much larger than it is. The side stones really compliment it, too! (Note: while pictures of pear shaped gemstones are always shown pointing downward, I prefer to wear my engagement ring with the point facing away from my body, so, outward not inward.)
When we'd ordered my engagement ring, we'd ordered a simple platinum wedding band to accompany it. It was beautiful, too. The wedding band went off to the safe deposit box for safe keeping while we continued with our wedding plans and details.
As we got closer to our wedding date, Eddie pulled our purchased and paid for wedding bands out of the safe deposit box. I remember, I saw the boxes on our dresser that afternoon, and almost opened it up to see the band again and try it on for fun. However, for whatever reason, I didn't.
On the day of our wedding, in the afternoon at the "official" ceremony as we liked to call it, I was completely shocked and happily surprised when Eddie slipped a different wedding band on my finger. It was the diamond wedding band that complimented my engagement ring and that I had secretly wished we had purchased, instead! He told me after our ceremony, that he knew how much I loved "the sparkles" and that he thought it was only right that I have the band that matched, instead. He added that the woman at Blue Nile customer service was most helpful in getting the ring swapped out for him, prior to him taking it to the safe deposit box.
I'm so glad I didn't open the box that day because it was another wonderful surprise and special moment that I will always treasure. And still to this day, I really, really, really LOVE my wedding set. It is well-made, sparkles like you wouldn't believe, and I still get compliments on the style from strangers. We also love that we didn't break the bank for it like we would have if we'd paid full-retail, and then, that we were fortunate to have it paid for when we bought it.
I also love that if I just want to wear my wedding band without the engagement ring (which doesn't happen very often, actually) I still have something that sparkles on my ring finger!
