The Big Star-a Diamond Engagement Ring

On December 15^th, 2011, Jason Tarwick proposed to Britney Spears. For the mega-star, this was a long awaited event. On December 16^th she introduced her diamond engagement ring at a Las Vegas soiree for her new finance’s 40^th Birthday party. Las Vegas and Britney have a long standing marital history. That is where she married her first husband in a drunken ceremony. That marriage lasted mere hours.

With expectations of this marriage having more staying power, the process has been traditional. Tarwick asked her father for her hand in marriage (in this case, an actual legal necessity as she is under conservatorship), shopped for days for the perfect engagement ring that would express his true feelings for Britney.

The minute pictures of the diamond ring hit the tabloids, a controversy broke out. You see, by celebrity standards, it was very modest, a mere 3 carats. But from the smile on Britney’s face it was better than any Taylor or Kardashian million dollar bobble.

Jewelry expert Michael O’Conner explained to one tabloid that the size of the diamond was a very well thought out choice.

“I heard that Jason didn’t want a giant center diamond since he was concentrating on the quality of the stone and the beauty of the platinum setting…the royal treatment continues all the way around the finger with platinum set diamonds throughout the entire ring.”

Neil Lane was the designer for this special engagement ring, and despite its conservative size it still cost in excess of $90,000. The center stone is of excellent quality, and the band is set with 90 small round diamonds.

Jewelry designer Lane said of Jason’s choice of a tiara-style setting:

“Jason is a romantic and when I asked him to tell me about Britney and what the ring would represent to them so I could find inspiration, his response was always the same…she is his princess.”

T his seems to be a case of love and taste overriding size and flash, proving once again that big isn’t always best. Minya Oh, the author of “Bling Bling: Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels” was surprised, in a very positive way, at the modest appearance of the engagement ring.

"The setting is a tiny crown but both that and the thin diamond-studded band are done so delicately, from afar the focus is still on that bright white center stone. Nothing about the ring overwhelms her hand, and nothing screams, 'Please believe my relationship is real!' “she added, "This is the kind of an engagement ring a pop icon has when they're ready for something that means more than just the ring."

There cannot be a better sentiment when it comes to a diamond engagement ring. Hopefully for Jason and Britney that “rings” true. They are certainly off to a good start.

Best Way to Buy Man's Wedding Rings

There is a huge amount of literature available about how to pick a woman’s engagement ring. Most of this is aimed at men because the ring will probably be one of the more expensive things he buys that doesn’t have wheels, play music, or is based on the latest digital technology. In other words, it is expected that he will not have a clue where his future bride’s tastes lie.

Woman, however, are expected to know what color socks he prefers and what he wants for supper tonight without asking (something about female intuition). In fact, many women have no idea as to what factors they should consider in choosing a man’s wedding ring.
Let us not forget that some men are opting to wear engagement rings as well, but the rules for that ring are similar to the wedding ring. The difference is the addition of a central diamond set level with the ring.

The first thing to consider is the color and style of his watch or other jewelry. Just as women tend to match their color of metal and style in their everyday jewelry, men demonstrate a sense of their taste in their basic jewelry. Does he hike yellow gold or white gold? Does he like plain items or stylish designer clothes and jewelry?

What is his lifestyle? A business executive would choose a very different ring from a man who works with his hands. Platinum would be a better choice for your handyman or construction worker, as it is more resistant to scratches and nicks.

How big are his hands? The width of his hand and the length and size of his fingers should be considered in the choice of band widths. Depending on the metal, a man’s wedding ring, especially a wide band, could be heavy. He may not find that comfortable.

For any man’s ring, check the comfort factor. A well designed ring, especially a high end model, will be built on a solid infrastructure and will minimize detailing that will affect the comfort level of the ring.

The answer to the question of diamonds on a wedding ring would be predictable for a woman, but not all men appreciate the flash and glitter. With the expanded variety of men’s wedding (and yes, engagement rings) available today, a man has the option of a solid metal wedding ring, or one set with diamonds. A well crafted high end designer men’s wedding ring can be as stylish and fashionable, or as plain and traditional as he wants.

Your job is to play detective and find out what exactly it is that he wants.

diamond engagement ring give her on Christmas

For those of you guys thinking to combine the holidays with a proposal, think twice before making the big day the same as Christmas. Why?

First of all, for those who celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, it is a very important birthday. Your thoughts and actions will probably involve rejoicing a monumental event, one that you need not be distracted from.

 On the more mundane side, Christmas is a time for family and friends… and of course for children. The holidays can be hectic. You will be sharing the day with piles of torn wrapping paper and a turkey roasting in the oven. Face it; you just can’t compete with the turkey.

Also guys…a two for one? Double up the engagement ring and the Christmas gift? Unless you are both exchanging engagement rings, on the commercial shopping scale you are one gift up on her.

New Years is the superior choice for a proposal for many reasons. First, it symbolizes a new beginning, a fresh year and an unwritten slate. Most people get married within the year of their engagement, so you are starting the year off with an important promise. Never mind the resolutions that won’t outlast the first month, you are making a commitment and saying this first day of this year is also the first day of the rest of our lives as a couple.

New Year’s is romantic, and can be a special and very personalized occasion to put that diamond engagement ring on her hand. Sparkles and New Years are a good match. And there is probably already a bottle of champagne handy.

Nothing enhances the little black New Years dress more than an engagement ring freshly placed on her finger. Maybe you could drop the engagement ring into her toasting glass as a special surprise. Just make sure she doesn’t swallow it!

 There may already be a convenient party underway where she can show off her new diamond ring! And she won’t have to share the moment with overhyped children, noisy gifts, exhausted adults, and a feast that will lull everyone to a state of lethargy.

New Years is the obviously THE choice of holiday on which to present that special diamond ring to the one you love. Of course, the engagement ring will have to be the right size and a design she likes, or you will be returning more than Aunt Anne’s hideous sweater in January.

How to Use metals in Engagement Rings and wedding Rings

Once upon a time gold was considered the alternative metal to platinum for use in engagement rings and wedding bands. Today the price of gold has experienced a meteoric rise in price, and is no longer a reasonable alternative cost-wise.

With the economic downturn jewelry manufacturers and wholesale (along with retail) suppliers of luxury items are seeing profit lines dropping like rocks. The wealthy are still buying these items, but the middle class is taking a beating and have been forced to make serious cutbacks in spending.

For jewelers this has resulted in experimentation in “alternate metals” to lower the cost of their products. While engagement and wedding rings are still ranked as a necessary part of tradition, customers are tightening their budgets. Gold and platinum settings now sit next to various metals newly adjusted for use in jewelry manufacturing.

What are “alternative metals”?  Platinum, gold, and silver have long been considered precious metals and have been used not only in engagement and wedding rings, but also in coins, cutlery, and statuary. “Alternative metals” are those whose application was generally industrial. Their lower price has served to reduce the cost of bridal jewelry, and even to encourage designers to experiment with new, bolder concepts in design.

Titanium and Tungsten were strictly industrial metals before they became popular in jewelry making. Both metals are incredibly strong and durable, but can be molded into most designs. Men’s wedding rings crafted from Titanium and Tungsten have become very popular. Their grayish color lends itself well to a masculine wedding band.

Titanium has been indispensible in aerospace manufacturing. It is about half the weight of stainless steel (another alternate metal used in jewelry making) and can be formed as an alloy with other metals, changing its properties and appearance.  It is generally hypo-allergenic, with the exception of an alloy containing nickel.  Men’s wedding rings made out of Titanium can be especially modern, very masculine, and are strong enough to withstand the beating that a highly physical job can give to a wedding band.

A  Tungsten Carbide compound is very dense, creating a strong and long wearing wedding band.

Cobalt is an element that can be present in soil, rocks and even plant and animal life forms.  It can be non-radioactive, or exhibit radioactivity. Non-radioactive cobalt, also called Stable Cobalt, is used in alloys for the aircraft and medical industries. A cobalt engagement or wedding ring appears to be super white, more brilliant and pleasing to the eye than even gold or platinum. It is shatter, chip and wear proof, making a very durable wedding ring. Because of its color it makes an excellent material for either men’s or women’s wedding rings.  Black cobalt is not a product in itself, but results from altering the surface color of a cobalt ring either by a chemical process or with a coating. Make sure that the coating is done with the best process possible to prevent peeling.

It’s a brave new world for jewelry manufacturers with all the new metals available for wedding bands and settings.   Before you blindly decide on platinum or gold for your engagement or wedding ring, take a look at designer rings made from alternative metals. You will be as surprised with their beauty as with their price difference.  

A Big Collection of quality designer jewelry

A great deal of our society is about immediate gratification. However the “I must have” items often have price tags that are not justified by the temporary satisfaction they provide. Expensive clothes, flashy bling, one week vacations that pass in the blink of an eye and become nothing but old photographs on your hard disk, technology that is obsolete by the time you pass through the cash…

A wedding ring should not be heaped into the pile of items with obsolescence built into them. When one thinks of the long term use, the commitment that is sealed with the ring, one should realize that skimping on a wedding ring to buy more “stuff” is not a good example of clear thinking.

A high end designer wedding ring is a thing of beauty and elegance that will last a lifetime. The design, the precise fabrication, and an enduring style are the essence of designer wedding rings.

The best in men’s wedding rings are produced from original designs and top precision fabrication technology. All the materials, from 18k gold and platinum, as well as diamond accents, are the best available. The “art” of the rings is equaled only buy the structural integrity. Men’s designer rings such as these are made to last a life time, and are guaranteed to do just that.

But this quality of jewelry is not reserved only for those with huge paychecks. If you add up all the “toys” and limited life “fashion statements” that were bought over two or three years, you will far surpass the cost of the wedding ring that is the symbol of your long term commitment to another person. What it comes down to is priorities.

Designer Wedding Rings for Men

High-end stylish jewelry makes an important statement for the wearer. It says: I appreciate the finer things in life. I appreciate the art of the jewelry designer, and I can afford to indulge myself. Hopefully it also says that I have taste. Unfortunately money can’t buy that.

Some jewelry is functional, such as medic alert bracelets or military metals and the infamous “dog tags”. But in general, it is used either as a personal expression, a decoration, or a symbol.

Any designer creating high-end jewelry of any kind must take into account the value of the piece that they are creating. The settings are usually crafted in precious metals such as gold and platinum. North Americans and Europeans generally set these two metals as the standard for men’s and women’s wedding rings and other luxury jewelry.

There are unique problems in designing men’s jewelry, since personal adornment for males is only emerging today after decades when a watch was the only acceptable male accessory. Today wedding rings for men have become popular, and the majority of married men wear them.

The delicate filigree possible in the setting of a woman’s engagement and wedding ring is not an option for a man’s wedding ring. The style must embody a strongly masculine element while expressing the refinement of the wearer. This can be a great challenge for the designer of high end men’s wedding bands.

The designer cannot rely on the beauty and brilliance of a good quality center stone, as use of a spectacular gemstone as the outstanding feature of a ring is usually reserved for the woman’s engagement ring. Of course, men’s engagement rings are making a slow appearance on the market, but are still not as universally worn as the wedding ring.

A man’s hand is larger than a woman’s, and like a watch, the man’s wedding bands are considerably heavier and thicker than the woman’s ring. How wide the design should be depends on the size of the hand and the comfort level of the ring. A wedding ring is not like a pair of shoes, where it is acceptable to grin and bear an uncomfortable designer label product for one night. A man’s wedding ring is something that is worn every day, and for many years.

It is obvious that the designer and manufacturer of stylish men’s high- end wedding rings, has some limitations and unique concerns that do not exist in the creation of women’s bridal jewelry. It is true talent and the work of an artist when a men’s wedding ring can express the class and importance of a man, be suitable for jeans or a suit, as well as being comfortable and long lasting. More and more men are choosing rings with accent diamonds, and it speaks well of a design that the wedding band can maintain its masculine elements while introducing top quality gemstones.

Best Anniversary,Engagement,Wedding Rings

Here’s an interesting story: in the 1960’s, De Beers were forced to buy a large stock of Russian diamonds so that they could maintain their control on the diamond market. They had successfully marketed diamonds as THE symbol of eternal love in engagement and wedding rings, but these were larger stones. What to do with all these small stones?

That is how the De Beers ten-year anniversary ring came into being. This was a solid band set with diamonds that was to symbolize the love still strong in the marriage at the 10^th anniversary. Having been an important element in the popularization of the diamond engagement ring, as well as wedding bands set with diamonds, the company approached the marketing of this new product with fervor.

In actual fact, eternity rings, which are the same design as anniversary rings, were in existence as far back as the time of the Egyptians. They symbolized eternal love and commitment with an unbroken circlet set completely with diamonds. The original rings were “flush” mounted, set directly into the metal. This made the rings comfortable to wear.

Today the channel setting is very popular for anniversary or eternity rings. The stones are held in place by “channels” metal, creating an even surface that is easy to wear without hurting the adjoining fingers.  Diamonds set with prongs could be extremely uncomfortable, so the design of some anniversary and eternity rings evolved so that only the front half of the ring was set with stones.

New designs and settings have improved the comfort factor of the pronged setting so that a band fully set in pronged diamonds is now a viable choice.

De Beers marketed these rings as a tenth anniversary gift, but today they are used to commemorate the birth of a child, or any other important event in a couple’s life. They are very popular in place of traditional wedding bands as part of the bridal set.

There is no set way to wear an anniversary or eternity ring. You can use it in place of a wedding ring, or combine it with your existing set. If the new ring does not match the engagement and wedding ring in size or complexity of design, you might choose to wear it on your right hand instead of left.  Your choice of how you wear your anniversary or eternity band will be dictated by the style of the existing rings, and how comfortable they feel. It would certainly be a bad idea to think you are fated to wear an uncomfortable eternity ring for…well… eternity, just because a fashion dictated a particular style.