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Okay, so I will probably be spending a lot of time in this thread asking questions for the next nine or so months. My girlfriend and I have begun to talk more seriously about wedding plans so I'll no doubt be stopping in here all the time to ask more. Backstory: Currently we live on other sides of the country from each other. We used to live in the same town, but I'm in the military and ended up getting moved to the other side of the country (from Alabama to Idaho). She stayed in Alabama because she's finishing up her masters degree. She'll finish it up this December, so we'll be getting married some time next spring with her moving here after the wedding. I haven't proposed yet because the last time we saw each other was when she was here for a few weeks in July to take care of me during knee surgery. My next trip to see her will be in December/January when I will propose officially. She doesn't know when I will officially propose, but she knows it will be sometime during my next trip there. We're not playing around like this is a secret, we don't have that luxury. Since she is generally picky about rings, we're picking out an engagement ring for her together. The plan is to go with a three-stone ring. The center stone will be a diamond and the two stones flanking it will be emeralds. Luckily, I only will have to buy the setting. The diamond is going to be my great-grandmonther's diamond from her wedding ring. It's not a massively large diamond, but the sentimental value makes it far more valuable than any store-bought diamond. Her favorite color is green and it just so happens that when my stepfather spent seven years as a contractor in Afghanistan, he bought a metric asston of Afghan emeralds. I mean my folks have so many emeralds they don't know what to do with them.  This is the ring design she is leaning toward. She likes things simple. Even though there hasn't been an official proposal, we're still going to start wedding plans in the very near future since we don't want to run out of time. For a while, we had joked about just running off and eloping in the spring but she was raised in a very traditional southern family and we know they would kill her for that. Currently the plan is for a very small ceremony (relatively speaking). We figure that it will probably be 50 guests maximum (10 from my family/friends, 40 from her fmaily). We haven't worked out many more details beyond that. We figured it would be best to get an idea at the number of guests before anything else as that will help us determine where we will have this. In the end, we are going to be going for a very simple and budget wedding. She's a poor college student and I'm just a guy in the military and neither of our families will be helping much at all.
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Sep 25, 2012 11:35
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Those both look just fine. The pricing will mostly depend on the size and quality of the sidestones. If you want to shoot me an email I just finished a similar ring for someone else and I can email you their design portfolio with a few similar styles.
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Sep 25, 2012 15:12
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So as of last night I can officially join the thread! Boyfriend picked me up from school with dinner ready in the car and drove me to the park, where he gave me a new hardback copy of my favorite book (my copy is falling apart). Book had a long inscription inside about how if I loved him even as half as much as I loved my first copy of this book he'd be a lucky man to marry me. And now, ring pictures!  That's actually a line from the book. The ring is sapphire in the center with white sapphire accent stones.
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Sep 25, 2012 17:24
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JohnnyRnR posted:The .75 and .833 have inclusions I would steer away from. This is the toughest thing about buying online... knowing what this stone actually looks like based on a bunch of numbers and a picture. The .75 for sure, but I can't spot the inclusions on the normal diamond image of the .833 (though I can on the other pictures) and I would have taken it over the .841. I'm basically only looking at SI1 stones, but I'm not sure how to predict how bad an inclusion is likely to be based off images. The .833 would have passed my test (for inclusions someone untrained can spot at magnification, but which I wouldn't think would affect the unmagnified appearance of the stone). Do you have any general tips for what makes a "bad" inclusion besides being front-and-center?
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Sep 25, 2012 18:36
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I have an engagement question. I am playing on getting crafty, and making a story book version of "our" song. So that she will arrive at the destination and put in the head phones and press to listen to the song and walk the path I laid out. Where at the end she will find me with a story book and the ring. My question pertains more to having a photographer there to capture the moment. She doesn't want a public proposal at all so this is what I've kind of hankered down and thought of. Would it be weird if there was a third wheel to forever capture the marvel of art, and engineering that I create? I personally would like to have some nice pictures everything, but not at the cost of making anyone feel awkward.
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Sep 25, 2012 19:08
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shdwdmg posted:I have an engagement question. I guess the only way to find out is to try, but here's my two cents as a woman who doesn't dig the wedding oversharing... I'd be horrified if there was a photographer there. Moments like when you get engaged and such are deeply personal and (to me) private, a memory you hold on to with your spouse-to-be. I am a shutterbug on vacation, but I firmly believe not every moment in life should be photographed, otherwise you just feel like you have to mug for the camera (or at least that is how I feel). Even if the photog is like hiding in the bushes, I would have been uncomfortable with it after the fact. To me that would have felt like someone spying in on a very private moment. When my fiance and I got engaged, we had a camera with us and took photos of ourselves once we had gone through the emotions and let it sink in for a few moments. But more than anything in that moment when the question was asked, I just wanted it to be him and me left alone to make our own memories, with nothing else in the way. We took photos when we were ready for it. Ends up that we're also having a very small wedding, because again, not really a fan of having a huge public to-do. Obviously I don't know your fiancee (and hey, she may want a big thing with a photographer, who knows), but if she's on the private side, I'd say take a picture of your work on your own, and leave the photographer out of things for the actual proposal. Take a photo after you ask when you both are glowing happy/smiley and actually over the initial shock of it all. Give yourselves a few minutes to just let it marinate.
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Sep 25, 2012 19:18
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Horse masks make great groomsmen gifts. Been married for a little over 2 months now. Spent two weeks in Hawaii for honeymoon. Still adjusting back to real life.  The wedding day was a lot of fun. There were stressful moments - one of our party favors was homemade jam made by my mother-in-law and was denied to be served by the place we had our reception because some were spoiled (I didn't actually see that any were spoiled, but it was a bummer because she made 106 individual bottles with nice labels on them - luckily I had gotten King Cake slices also as favors, so we still had something); the party bus meant to take me and the groomsmen to the ceremony went to the ceremony site first rather than to our hotel, so we had to wait longer to get picked up and missed out on some pre-ceremony photo opportunities; my wife and her mom apparently misread the map on her iPhone and headed in the wrong direction on the way to the ceremony site to get ready.. but after all of that, everything went perfectly. I don't remember much of the week leading up to the wedding, but I do remember the day, and that's what counts. It's sad that that's probably the only event left in my life where I'll see all those people in one place, but it was the best day of my life (so far). Hawaii was a lot of fun, too. We originally planned on going to Italy and a few other places later in the year, but my wife got into business school so we had to schedule our honeymoon sooner than expected and had friends who were getting married in Hawaii, so we decided to go there. We stayed in NW Oahu for a week, and then SE Kauai for the other week. One night in Honolulu between island hopping. (might have been nice to be in that area longer, but it was nice that the places we stayed were not nearly so hectic and filled with tourists - and the condos we stayed at were really nice) So many pictures to collect and try to organize now from so many sources (though we had a professional photographer, who took the above photo along with tons more, but I still would like a copy of every picture anyone took!), I'd like to make some sort of scrapbook at some point (we are getting an album, but have a lot of little items like copies of the program that would be nice to make a second book out of), I'd like to update our wedding website to host all of our collected photos/videos/etc., and we have 50+ thank you cards to write and send out. It'll be nice when all of the work is completely over!
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Sep 25, 2012 20:41
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Betazoid posted:My friend is marrying a first lieutenant in the AF. She tells me these hilarious, insane stories about the military spouse forums. I would guess that no, there aren't any normal forums, based on what I've heard. They will basically pull each other apart for something as stupid as centerpieces but somehow ignore all the crucial information like making a mature decision, planning for kids, making do on an enlisted salary, etc.) We'll be getting married when I'm 24 (maybe even 25, haven't discussed dates yet). Puts me way older than the "oh poo poo I'm commissioning better throw a ring at the closest girl for that sweet pay increase" crowd, which seems to be the majority. That's the impression I'm getting about the availability of forums as well. I actually avoid telling people my boyfriend is in the military because I hate people jumping to the conclusion that I'm one of those people. Guess I'll just stick to pestering my military buddies, although both of them who went through what I'm heading into had their marriages implode in messy divorces so it's a little bit of a touchy subject, hence why I was hoping for somewhere I could find stuff out on my own 
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Sep 25, 2012 23:42
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disheveled posted:Do you have any general tips for what makes a "bad" inclusion besides being front-and-center? A bad inclusion is generally any one that would decrease the brilliance in the stone by interfering with the light movement through the diamond. It's a question of appearance, color, and placement. It's sad to say, but many of the diamonds you see sold online are the leftovers that more sophisticated dealers didn't buy. There are some great diamonds online, but also a lot of junk.
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Sep 26, 2012 00:55
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I was hoping for somewhere I could find stuff out on my own SA is generally a really good place for non-stupid forums. I imagine it would be a really good thing if you or one of the other military spouses/spouses-to-be started a discussion thread in GiP. It doesn't matter if you're not super knowledgeable already; just start one and ask your questions and I'm sure it'll take off.
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Sep 26, 2012 03:10
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mindphlux posted:so I'm buying a ring, but I think I already have found a centerstone, around 1.5 carat. for my setting I'm looking for a 3 stone white gold or platinum ring, with pear sidestones. I've got a round/pear/pear setting that can come in 14kw or Plat but the center setting maxes out at about a carat. I might be able to find out more when I'm back in the office tomorrow and can talk to my custom guy instead of just looking at catalog images.
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Sep 26, 2012 07:22
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mindphlux posted:so I'm buying a ring, but I think I already have found a centerstone, around 1.5 carat. for my setting I'm looking for a 3 stone white gold or platinum ring, with pear sidestones. You're in Atlanta, right? I can recommend Bradley Harris as a local jeweler, I dig his work. His shop mounted my fiancee's stone in her engagement ring. He'll do custom work if you want. Website http://www.bthjewelers.com/gallery/
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Sep 26, 2012 09:03
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Getting married in about 10 days, posting here in the hopes that wed goons will tell me that I'm getting nervous for no reason. I'm not usually good with big crowds, I've stood in a fair number of wedding parties and I'm always super nervous even walking up the aisle as a groomsman, so you can imagine how I feel about being the groom. The thing is I usually know about 10 people out of 150 at these weddings I have stood in. I'm hoping that because I will know every single person at my own wedding that it will be a totally different feeling. Can anyone with a similar experience tell me how their day went as far as not being extremely uptight and nervous?
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Sep 26, 2012 15:17
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whaam posted:Getting married in about 10 days, posting here in the hopes that wed goons will tell me that I'm getting nervous for no reason. I'm not usually good with big crowds, I've stood in a fair number of wedding parties and I'm always super nervous even walking up the aisle as a groomsman, so you can imagine how I feel about being the groom. The thing is I usually know about 10 people out of 150 at these weddings I have stood in. I'm hoping that because I will know every single person at my own wedding that it will be a totally different feeling. Can anyone with a similar experience tell me how their day went as far as not being extremely uptight and nervous? I think during my wedding I was mostly nervous because it felt like there was so much left undone. The ceremony itself was just really embarrassing for me being the center of attention and everyone looking at us. After it's over, you get to drink and party and everything is a lot easier. You'll have a lot of fun.
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Sep 26, 2012 15:20
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signalnoise posted:You're in Atlanta, right? I can recommend Bradley Harris as a local jeweler, I dig his work. His shop mounted my fiancee's stone in her engagement ring. He'll do custom work if you want. Website http://www.bthjewelers.com/gallery/ awesome! I'll drop in within the next day or so, that's pretty much exactly the sort of jeweler/recommendation I was looking for. thanks.
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Sep 26, 2012 16:27
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whaam posted:Getting married in about 10 days, posting here in the hopes that wed goons will tell me that I'm getting nervous for no reason. I'm not usually good with big crowds, I've stood in a fair number of wedding parties and I'm always super nervous even walking up the aisle as a groomsman, so you can imagine how I feel about being the groom. The thing is I usually know about 10 people out of 150 at these weddings I have stood in. I'm hoping that because I will know every single person at my own wedding that it will be a totally different feeling. Can anyone with a similar experience tell me how their day went as far as not being extremely uptight and nervous? I would have been much more nervous being the best man having to give a speech to be honest. But I was worried going into it just like you. Everyone takes care of you on your wedding day.
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Sep 26, 2012 18:52
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I just got engaged a couple weeks ago! Yay!! And I've found a venue in the budget that I'm in love with (Double yay!!), and it would work for about 50 people which is what I would like. However I've started trying to figure out a guest list and I'm starting to panic about if we should invite our first cousins. My guest list without them is at 45. With them, and their spouses and children it jumps to 75- yikes! I know not everyone I invite will come, but I think the majority of the people in the crucial 45 will, with the exception of maybe 4. My fiance doesn't give a drat if his cousins come, so he'll be fine with whatever I decide. I'm not close with most of my cousins. My parents are divorced and I'm closer to my moms side than my Dad's. But I feel like it would be rude to invite some of the cousins that we're closer to, but not all of them. Adding to the complications, our parents are going to be paying for the wedding, and I'm worried they will be upset if cousins aren't invited, or that the uncles and aunts that are invited will be upset that they're kids aren't invited. I'm especially worried about conflict with my Dad and one of my boyfriend's aunts. I know it's "our day" and I shouldn't worry about what other people think, but I also really see it as a family occasion, and it would be nice to have everyone there, and I really am not a person that wants any drama. Am I worried about nothing? If I invite 75 will I probably only get 50 anyway? It's out of town for everyone so it is very possible. Could I be sneaky an invite all the cousins, but not their kids? Taking out their kids would be 7 people off the list, and if the cousins that have kids don't come because it's a pain to find a sitter for an out of town wedding, that would knock 6 more off the list. That feels mean spirited though, and the cousins that have kids are actually the ones I like more. Should I consider changing venues, or changing to the larger but significantly less attractive room at the venue I like? Adding to the guest list at this venue and moving to the bigger room may put us out of budget. We're in the DC area and there aren't a lot of reasonably priced places in the area that have the amazing amenities that this place does (great decor, food, deck for the ceremony, on the water looking across to the capitol building and Washington Monument.) Opinions?
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Sep 27, 2012 02:52
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Are there any good resources for military wives (and wives to be) that aren't full of catty army wives who are 110% obsessed with ARE TREWPS and *~*~*MY SOLDIER(/MARINE/AIRMAN/SAILOR)*~*~*? Or am I looking for something that doesn't exist? Oddly enough I've found that the "Military Moms" group on CafeMom is super no-silly-bullshit. People get very butt-hurt when they think it's going to be a stereotypical military wife forum and the self-pity/rank-wearing immediately gets shut down. But if you don't have kids/stepkids you're going to feel weird on CafeMom. I technically don't have either yet (boyfriend has kids) but it seems like most of that group is about military-related things and not so much about kids. Or at least that's just the stuff I pay attention to, anyway. Eggplant Wizard posted:SA is generally a really good place for non-stupid forums. I imagine it would be a really good thing if you or one of the other military spouses/spouses-to-be started a discussion thread in GiP. It doesn't matter if you're not super knowledgeable already; just start one and ask your questions and I'm sure it'll take off. This is a great idea, I sort of forgot that GiP even existed.
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Sep 27, 2012 04:30
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whaam posted:Getting married in about 10 days, posting here in the hopes that wed goons will tell me that I'm getting nervous for no reason. I'm not usually good with big crowds, I've stood in a fair number of wedding parties and I'm always super nervous even walking up the aisle as a groomsman, so you can imagine how I feel about being the groom. The thing is I usually know about 10 people out of 150 at these weddings I have stood in. I'm hoping that because I will know every single person at my own wedding that it will be a totally different feeling. Can anyone with a similar experience tell me how their day went as far as not being extremely uptight and nervous? I was incredibly nervous. I don't like to be the center of attention and I don't like big crowds. I was so nervous for weeks leading up to my wedding. It was pretty big ~160 people. It all went perfect, nothing went wrong but I was still so nervous. I'm glad it went well and I had a big party and invited everyone and I had fun, but at the same time I'm so relieved it's over. I never want to feel the way I did before the ceremony again. I was stressed, nervous, trying not to cry and felt like I was going to throw up. I think the only thing that could have relaxed me would have been a very stiff drink or a valium. Oddly though, once I started walking down the aisle and stood there for the ceremony all my fear and anxiety immediately faded and I was completely calm. It was a wonderful feeling. I was worried I couldn't do it without bawling or shaking or something, but I felt totally calm, relaxed and happy. 5 minutes earlier I wanted to throw up. It all worked out.
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Sep 27, 2012 15:46
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Caramaline posted:I was incredibly nervous. I don't like to be the center of attention and I don't like big crowds. I was so nervous for weeks leading up to my wedding. It was pretty big ~160 people. It all went perfect, nothing went wrong but I was still so nervous. I'm glad it went well and I had a big party and invited everyone and I had fun, but at the same time I'm so relieved it's over. I never want to feel the way I did before the ceremony again. I was stressed, nervous, trying not to cry and felt like I was going to throw up. I think the only thing that could have relaxed me would have been a very stiff drink or a valium. Thank you for saying that. My wedding is... in two days!!! I've been a complete wreck. Alternating between, "everything is going to go wrong and I have no time to get everything done, oh god oh god" and "oh my god I can't wait to be married and for it to be over, oh god oh god." Really hoping I can calm down at the ceremony because I have been bursting into tears completely at random for a few days now and I hope I don't do that at my wedding!
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Sep 27, 2012 16:15
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ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:Thank you for saying that. My wedding is... in two days!!! I've been a complete wreck. Alternating between, "everything is going to go wrong and I have no time to get everything done, oh god oh god" and "oh my god I can't wait to be married and for it to be over, oh god oh god." That how I was the last month. The day before my wedding, I did my walk thru with one of my bridesmaids, and in the middle of it I just sat down in a seat and sobbed for like 5 minutes. Got up and was fine.
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Sep 27, 2012 23:58
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Requesting Specifics kitty-go-meow posted:Advice/Ideas Ok, I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks kitty, I appreciate it! I've been trying not to stress out about it but against all efforts it's been happening anyways. She's a pretty low key kinda girl and I've thought about doing something small/romantic like proposing at the place where we had our first date. It's a small family owned, dim-lit Italian place. We first met at a lovely Milwaukee bar called Victors and she hates telling that story so I figured I could make for it by having a fancy proposal at a nice restaurant, i.e Olive Garden, Applebee's. I haven't quite decided yet. Here's the ring btw. It's a .55 round cut in a solitare palladium setting:   davey4283 fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Sep 28, 2012 |
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Sep 28, 2012 17:34
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davey4283 posted:Ok, I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks kitty, I appreciate it! I've been trying not to stress out about it but against all efforts it's been happening anyways. She's a pretty low key kinda girl and I've thought about doing something small/romantic like proposing at the place where we had our first date. It's a small family owned, dim-lit Italian place. Please for the love of god go to a nice restaurant, not Olive Garden or Applebee's  I'm hoping you were joking.e: First date place sounds okay, for example, unless it's like a pizza slice joint and not actually a restaurant.
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Sep 29, 2012 00:59
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davey4283 posted:Ok, I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks kitty, I appreciate it! I've been trying not to stress out about it but against all efforts it's been happening anyways. She's a pretty low key kinda girl and I've thought about doing something small/romantic like proposing at the place where we had our first date. It's a small family owned, dim-lit Italian place. Take her to Bacchus. It's a bit pricey, but they have a decent prix fixe lunch menu and you're getting engaged for crying out loud. If your money is tight, take her to Palermo Villa.
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Sep 29, 2012 01:23
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One more check - the shop where I'm getting the engagement ring made showed me their (vendor's?) selection and one of them looked pretty good in-store (and I couldn't really find any flaws under the loupe): GIA 6147635564 0.77 ct / F / SI1 TD: 61.5% TS: 57% CA: 35.0 deg CH: 15% PA: 40.6 deg PD: 43% SL: 50% LH: 80% Girdle: THN-MED
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Sep 29, 2012 01:45
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I don't know if this will be useful to you guys, but if you have the carat size and the GIA report number you can actually just link to the GIA report. For example that diamond: https://myapps.gia.edu/ReportCheckPortal/getReportData.do?&reportno=6147635564&weight=0.77 My main concerns would be how close to 'thin' that THN-MED girdle is and what effect the feathering has. I guess you've eyeballed it though and likely didn't notice the feathering.
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Sep 29, 2012 02:38
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davey4283 posted:Ok, I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks kitty, I appreciate it! I've been trying not to stress out about it but against all efforts it's been happening anyways. She's a pretty low key kinda girl and I've thought about doing something small/romantic like proposing at the place where we had our first date. It's a small family owned, dim-lit Italian place. If money's tight, take her for a walk in a park or somewhere nice. This time of year is so beautiful and the colours are great.
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Sep 29, 2012 03:22
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Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! vanessa nailed it, though. We went to Bacchus which is a fancy downtown Milwaukee restaurant, had a fantastic dinner and then I got down on one knee. Im so glad its over. The worst part was leading up to the proposal. After that it was easy as pie.
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Sep 29, 2012 03:35
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sooooooooooooooooooo I may or may not be a huge idiot I basically committed to buying an uncertified stone, but it was from a reputable local small jeweler (thanks signalnoise) where the guy is a certified GIA gemologist or whatever. It was a 1.71 SI1 J, but the inclusions were really loving small - definitely had to get out the loop to see. The color looked really good too - blew away EGL certified J's, so I'm thinking it was a GIA J - pretty much unnoticeable faint yellow. the cut looks excellent to me, or VG at worst. I didn't check florescence. basically a really nice looking quite large diamond. They were asking I think $7200-7500, they came down to $6800. I was a little skeptical, and was like 'wellll, I don't know about the not being certified bit (thinking in my head, I've pricescoped things in this range, and they're all $8000-12000) - what happens if I send it off to be certified and it comes back from GIA as like a horrible stone?' and they basically replied that it wouldn't because the guy is a GIA cert'd dude who assessed it in their shop. they also explained that they bought it off some rich rear end customer who didn't want it anymore and also didn't know what it was worth, and were basically just selling it for like $500-1k more than they bought it for to move the stone. thoughts? am I an idiot who just pissed away a unreasonably large amount of money on my engagement stone, or did I just get a pretty fuckin rockin bargain? current plan is to send it off to GIA to get a cert a couple months after I pop the question.
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Sep 30, 2012 06:51
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you paid for what??
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Sep 30, 2012 06:52
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drat I wonder if I just missed out on a referral bonus
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Sep 30, 2012 16:12
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mindphlux posted:local small jeweler where the guy is a certified GIA gemologist Well, if it was a round J, SI1 then you got a great deal. That means you didn't get a deal. This is a classic case of the seller knowing more than you. Why would they have sold it to you for $6,800 when they could have sold it to someone like me for thousands more? Just return it. Just because the guy took the GIA graduate gemologist course doesn't mean he's 1) Competent or 2) Honest. Did you pay for it yet? If not, ask them to send it to GIA first. If so, return it. mindphlux posted:The color looked really good too - blew away EGL certified J's, so I'm thinking it was a GIA J - pretty much unnoticeable faint yellow. the cut looks excellent to me, or VG at worst. I didn't check florescence. basically a really nice looking quite large diamond. The EGL-J colors they were comparing it to... Were those EGL-USA certificates (Sometimes accurate, but often off by 1-2 color grades) or EGL-Israel (off by 2-4 color grades)? Or even worse were they EGL-Antwerp (Antwerp doesn't even see the diamond)? mindphlux posted:they also explained that they bought it off some rich rear end customer who didn't want it anymore and also didn't know what it was worth, and were basically just selling it for like $500-1k more than they bought it for to move the stone. They should put a banner on their store that says "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you!"
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Sep 30, 2012 17:23
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JohnnyRnR posted:Well, if it was a round J, SI1 then you got a great deal. That means you didn't get a deal. This is a classic case of the seller knowing more than you. Why would they have sold it to you for $6,800 when they could have sold it to someone like me for thousands more? I raised all these issues in an e-mail on Friday, should get a response Monday. Do you think it's possible to get it graded in a week's time? Probably not - what about if I were to suggest getting something in writing from them about the gem's authenticity or something, with the agreement that if something is wack when I send it off to get certified I can return it in full? What sorts of things could even be wrong with it that would devalue it but not really be detectible to me? Florescence? Some sort of chemical treatment? I wouldn't even know what to ask for in writing. I mean I agree though, it just seems a little off. Though man I want to believe. quote:The EGL-J colors they were comparing it to... Were those EGL-USA certificates (Sometimes accurate, but often off by 1-2 color grades) or EGL-Israel (off by 2-4 color grades)? Or even worse were they EGL-Antwerp (Antwerp doesn't even see the diamond)? quote:They should put a banner on their store that says "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you!" We were talking about this actually, and they said they literally had old and dumb people come in all the time wanting like $1000 for decent 1.5 carat stones and stuff, and said they had a policy of actually at least refusing those offers and giving people closer to wholesale - though who knows. I can either believe that, in which case it makes what I bought less believable, or I can believe that what I bought was a deal, in which case they're lying about being fair to old ladies.
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Sep 30, 2012 17:43
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GIA can rush a cert for $300. You'll have it back within three days. Consider it a cheap insurance policy. And if it comes back differently then you have the ability to unwind the transaction. Ultimately, I would tell you to buy the diamond if you like it. But get the GIA paper on it to ensure they're being honest. I have no problem with a jeweler making money, but every part of their sales pitch sounds suspect. Edit: I have a pair of 1.77 carat rounds that were VVS or VS clarity and S-T color that faced up as white as snow. They look perfectly white. I suspect that your jeweler is showing you one of these diamonds. JohnnyRnR fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Sep 30, 2012 |
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Sep 30, 2012 17:53
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We did look at it from the side, top down, crown facing me to compare color with a few different GIA stones... But yeah thanks, I am gonna suggest doing a rush GIA tomorrow and see what they say. I was going to have it certified eventually anyways, so it's worth the extra money for sure to know in advance.
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Sep 30, 2012 18:36
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whelp, they didn't even flinch or break stride about my wanting to get it certified. they reiterated they thought it was an excellent stone with nothing fishy going on, and said that it should come back with a clean cert, maybe with a color grade down from J, (but also, they said, very possibly a color grade up).  cost to rush cert is about $250 including shipping, it'll be in a fedex envelope and out the door within an hour, and they'll have it back before the end of the week. hope this ends well
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Oct 1, 2012 17:28
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So I don't know if this is too E/N or not for this thread, but I figured I'd talk a bit more about my scenario. I had previously talked about my situation here. The more and more we talk about the situation, the more we can't decide if we even want to have a real ceremony or not. We can't decide if we'd been going toward a real ceremony because that's what we want or if it is because we feel like it's something we have to do. We've been talking and we both kind of feel like since we know that marriage is our inevitability, why do a ceremony if we don't really care about it. Also, we can't decide if we're just trying to get things over with already because we're tired of our situation. Basically we're worried about committing to either outcome (normal ceremony or just eloping). This December is when she finishes up her Masters degree and she'd be able to move. The thing is, she comes from a very religious background and will never cohabitate before marriage. So we are stuck on other sides of the country until we do get married. So here are the two scenarios we're looking at: Scenario 1 - Actual wedding I go visit her for a few weeks the next time I have a break in my work (January/February time) and we settle our final wedding plans. We end up getting married in April or May. Ceremony with about 50 people (mostly her family). Reception after. Still figuring out how we would afford this. Scenario 2 - Express Option When visiting in January/February we just have a small elopement with and my immediately family in attendance. Easy. Affordable. Less stress. I think one of the real things pushing us to option 2 is that we really can't afford anything bigger without opening up a credit line just for the wedding. And in the end, neither of us really seem to care about the wedding. I also think we're both just having the internal struggle of what society/tradition tells us and what we really care about. We're always told "Oh weddings are supposed to be big events blah blah blah." But really neither of us care about it. All we care about is ending up with each other, but we keep having that internal struggle of "What if we end up regretting not having a real ceremony." Blah, sorry for that probably an incomprehensible stream of consciousness, but does anyone have any thoughts/advice?
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Oct 1, 2012 17:57
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You can always just get married in the eyes of the state, and have your ceremony at your 5 year anniversary or something like that, when you can better afford it. Serious! Or just have a quick wedding at the courthouse and have a casual party at a friend's house. Or really anything under the sun - don't get too caught up in the Actual Wedding. The important thing is that you guys love eachother - everything else will fall in to place eventually.
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Oct 1, 2012 19:57
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mindphlux posted:You can always just get married in the eyes of the state, and have your ceremony at your 5 year anniversary or something like that, when you can better afford it. Serious! Or just have a quick wedding at the courthouse and have a casual party at a friend's house. Or really anything under the sun - don't get too caught up in the Actual Wedding. The important thing is that you guys love eachother - everything else will fall in to place eventually. Yeah, that's definitely one of the ideas we had. I think we both just have the problem that even though we're in our 20s (I'm 25, she's 26), all of our lives society had ingrained in us that WEDDINGS MUST BE A BIG AFFAIR that it is weird going against that.
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Oct 1, 2012 20:06
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| # ? May 10, 2024 11:37 |
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mindphlux posted:whelp, they didn't even flinch or break stride about my wanting to get it certified. they reiterated they thought it was an excellent stone with nothing fishy going on, and said that it should come back with a clean cert, maybe with a color grade down from J, (but also, they said, very possibly a color grade up). Sounds great. Let us know how it turns out.
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Oct 1, 2012 20:34
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