Diamonds have often symbolized love, commitment, and elegance, but as lab-grown diamonds rise in popularity the comparison is inevitable. Keep reading to learn more about these key comparisons and why my husband and I ultimately decided to go with lab-grown diamonds for my engagement ring and wedding bands.
The experience
Once you and your man are on the road to engagement I highly recommend going green shopping! It is such a sentimental and posh experience! Even if you already know what you want, still go and just have fun with it. When you go ring shopping you are treated like a king and queen. It is a luxury experience similar to shopping for any designer item. The jewelry store employees know that you are about to celebrate a milestone and they celebrate that with you. You are greeted with smiles, some stores offer champagne and wine, and the employees take a genuine interest in your love story. My husband and I went ring shopping at Swarovski, Mayors, and Tiffany’s. Even though we knew some of these jewelry stores were out of our budget we still went for the experience, to learn more about rings, and to get sized. These are memories that I look back on fondly.
Ring sizes
Your engagement and wedding rings are pieces of jewelry that you will wear everyday. You want to make sure that you not only get the right size but that you get a comfortable size that you can wear everyday. Rings also feel and fit differently based on the style so you will want to consider that. You may think that your ring size is a size 6 because your class ring is a size 6 and you wear it everyday. But it may be a bulkier ring and an engagement ring with a thin band that’s a size 5 may fit you as well.
Additionally, most men do not know what size ring they wear so trying on rings and getting sized will benefit you and your future husband.
Figure out what you want
The rings that you love on social media and on other women may not give you the same effect once you see them on your hand. You may have an idea of the kind of ring that you want but once you try it on it may be underwhelming. This is exactly what happened to me. For so long I thought I wanted a gemstone engagement ring, but once I tried on gemstone rings at the jewelry store I absolutely hated them! Turns out, I am more traditional than I thought and I love diamond rings in a six prong solitaire setting. If my husband and I would have never gone ring shopping and if he would have taken me at my word I would have hated my ring and we would have spent additional time and money getting something that I actually liked. This is another reason why it’s so important to go ring shopping and have the experience, so that you can be sure that what you think you like is what you actually like.
Realistic costs of rings
Not only is ring shopping a sweet and precious experience, but it will also give you a realistic cost of rings and allow you to budget accordingly. Although wedding rings have a big sentimental value, diamonds do not hold value, and my husband and I could not justify the big price tag of something so small. Once we figured out that I loved the look of traditional diamonds we started to research more affordable alternatives, and that led us to lab grown diamonds.
Why lab grown?
Lab grown diamonds are defined as diamonds produced in a laboratory using high pressure and high temperature deposition. They have the same physical, chemical, and optical properties as mined diamonds but they are more affordable, conflict free, and more ethically produced. Just to give you insight, when my husband and I went ring shopping everything we looked at was above $3,500. We paid less than $500 for his wedding ring, my engagement ring, and my two wedding bands when going the lab grown diamond route. When my husband upgraded my rings from 1.5 to 3 carats for our 3-year wedding anniversary, we spent less than $100 and chose Moissanite rings, another popular alternative to traditional diamonds.
What really sold me on lab grown and moissanite diamonds is that you really cannot tell the difference with the naked human eye. I get so many compliments on my rings and no one knows how significantly affordable they are because they are just as beautiful and sparkle just as much as anything in a high-end jewelry store. After almost 5 years of having lab grown and moissanite rings I will never pay real diamond prices because I don’t have to sacrifice quality. I have never had any issues with my rings and I’m super happy with the beauty, fit, and durability of them. Additionally, because lab grown and moissanite rings are so affordable we knew that if we did not like them the $100 to $500 that was spent would not be a huge loss compared to the jewelry store prices. We knew that we could not pass up the opportunity to at least give these rings a try and luckily it worked out for us!
I love lab grown diamonds from Tiger Gems, check them out here:
This video convinced us to try lab grown diamonds, check it out here:
Whether you decide to go lab grown or natural, your decision should be rooted in what is authentic and realistic for you. As you shop for the diamonds that are the best reflection of you I hope these comparisons and tips have given you additional clarity. If you would like to watch the corresponding YouTube video to this blog post click the link below!
