The biggest piece of the jewel. If your budget is established, you will easily find the perfect diamond. You can read our diamond education page to learn some of the terms and see all the diamond shapes. Note that online stores we recommend have all great education and will give you the best knowledge and advices.

No, they will not tell you to buy the more expensive diamond. And neither will BuildEngagementRing.net. (Check the education at Mondera an James Allen)

That said, you have to admit you are not a jeweller, or a diamond expert, or you would not be reading this. What you have to get in mind is that a diamond is not always perfect. You can of course set various criterias such as color, clarity, cut, carat but could you make the difference between an E and another H diamond color ?
If your bride is an expert or a jeweller, then of course she could use magnification to see the quality of the diamond.

So you know the quality of a diamond is mainly determined by the 4 Cs : cut, color, clarity and weight, expressed in carat. During the selection of the diamond you will be able to select a range for each criteria, for example you only want a diamond clarity that goes from IF to VS1.

The results you get are listed by price, all the jewelry stores seems to have the same selection system. So if your budget is established you know which diamonds are intersting for you.

But the 4 Cs are maybe not really what will help you to make your choice. Again you will rely on your budget and make a search selecting a price range and a shape. Then you will immediately know what diamonds are available for your budget. So you can focus just on the weight of the diamond and take the bigger one, or the best cut.

Now only you know what you want. You may find an ideal diamond, but smaller than another one that is not perfect but heavier. Imperfections are only visible under magnification. Once mounted on a ring and on a finger, her first idea will not be to get an appaisal (it shouldn’t).

Also when shopping for diamonds at our recommended jewelry stores you will see available diamonds certificate by GIA (Gemological Institute of America) or AGS (American Gem Society).

Here is our recommendation, but feel free to adjust it for your needs, with your budget in mind.

Cut : at least very good (premium), most of the light is returned.
Clarity : at least VS1-VS2, excellent quality.
Color : at least I, near colorless.
Carat : your choice, just how big do you think is not too big, and what is too small ? Though some will tell you to go for a full carat, it really looks strange on a fine finger. Size will influence price, which we already talked about in the budget part. You may get a “big” diamond, but the other factors could also become weaker and you will end up with a lower quality diamond.

Choose wisely, take your time. Diamonds are forever.