Ring Shopping
Wedding Project #1
The Engagement Ring
For the past two weeks I've been online researching settings, metals, diamonds, colored gemstones, and local stores that sell engagement rings. It was all in preparation for our big engagement ring shopping Saturday! Jon and I put together a list of jewelry stores in Berkeley, Oakland, and Walnut Creek we wanted to visit and headed out late Saturday morning to see what we could find.
The first place we visited was Oaks Jewelers on Solano Avenue in Berkeley. Jeff, the owner, took 30 minutes to teach us a bit about engagement rings, diamonds, and what colored gems we should and shouldn't consider. I told him I was looking for a filigree ring, so he showed me what his store had available and suggested a few other stores that do beautiful filigree and hand engraved work. In short, he was awesome, and the ring prices (without the gemstones) were more than reasonable.
The second place we visited was Aura Jewelers on Vine in Berkeley. This store does have a beautiful selection of vintage rings, but the customer service was awful. I gave the woman who runs the place a general idea of what I was looking for (which they seemed to have, just from looking at the rings in the display case.) Without showing us a single ring or asking additional questions to help her figure out what we wanted, she told me was that there are 10 other jewelers in the area. When we asked to see a few specific rings she happily showed them to us, but it really seemed like she was uninterested in helping us find what we wanted. It was the height of Berkeley spaciness and a very strange experience, but it seems that some people are really happy with her. Another couple who had purchased an engagement ring there were in the store shopping for wedding bands.
Next, we visited 14 Karats on College Avenue in Berkeley. Their selection was absolutely gorgeous, and they seem very serious about their customer service. They let you wear your ring for a few weeks to make sure it fits perfectly, then they do any custom work on it that you request. They had so many hand engraved and filigree rings, I didn't know what to do with myself. Jon even found a few wedding bands that he liked. But they are pricey so we thanked them for their time and ran out the door.
A few blocks down the street from 14 Karats is a little place called Canada Land Jewelry. Well, that's not really what it was called, but I can't remember the name of the place. A woman sitting behind a desk in the corner buzzed us into the store, and we walked into a completely silent, slightly dark room. She makes all of her jewelry herself, speaks with a Canadian accent, and only uses Canadian diamonds which I guess is a good thing. Jon compared her to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Yeah, it was kind of like that.
After that we hightailed it back to Oaks Jewelers and I decided on the filigree ring we'd seen that morning. Jeff bought the ring before the price of gold increased not too long ago, so he saved us a couple hundred dollars by charging us the old price. He's bringing in some diamonds next week so I'll get to choose which one I want, along with 2 baby colored sapphires that will sit alongside the center stone. I am so excited! It's really just what I wanted and I'm pretty sure when all is said and done it'll come in under budget. What could be better?
The Engagement Ring
For the past two weeks I've been online researching settings, metals, diamonds, colored gemstones, and local stores that sell engagement rings. It was all in preparation for our big engagement ring shopping Saturday! Jon and I put together a list of jewelry stores in Berkeley, Oakland, and Walnut Creek we wanted to visit and headed out late Saturday morning to see what we could find.
The first place we visited was Oaks Jewelers on Solano Avenue in Berkeley. Jeff, the owner, took 30 minutes to teach us a bit about engagement rings, diamonds, and what colored gems we should and shouldn't consider. I told him I was looking for a filigree ring, so he showed me what his store had available and suggested a few other stores that do beautiful filigree and hand engraved work. In short, he was awesome, and the ring prices (without the gemstones) were more than reasonable.
The second place we visited was Aura Jewelers on Vine in Berkeley. This store does have a beautiful selection of vintage rings, but the customer service was awful. I gave the woman who runs the place a general idea of what I was looking for (which they seemed to have, just from looking at the rings in the display case.) Without showing us a single ring or asking additional questions to help her figure out what we wanted, she told me was that there are 10 other jewelers in the area. When we asked to see a few specific rings she happily showed them to us, but it really seemed like she was uninterested in helping us find what we wanted. It was the height of Berkeley spaciness and a very strange experience, but it seems that some people are really happy with her. Another couple who had purchased an engagement ring there were in the store shopping for wedding bands.
Next, we visited 14 Karats on College Avenue in Berkeley. Their selection was absolutely gorgeous, and they seem very serious about their customer service. They let you wear your ring for a few weeks to make sure it fits perfectly, then they do any custom work on it that you request. They had so many hand engraved and filigree rings, I didn't know what to do with myself. Jon even found a few wedding bands that he liked. But they are pricey so we thanked them for their time and ran out the door.
A few blocks down the street from 14 Karats is a little place called Canada Land Jewelry. Well, that's not really what it was called, but I can't remember the name of the place. A woman sitting behind a desk in the corner buzzed us into the store, and we walked into a completely silent, slightly dark room. She makes all of her jewelry herself, speaks with a Canadian accent, and only uses Canadian diamonds which I guess is a good thing. Jon compared her to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Yeah, it was kind of like that.
After that we hightailed it back to Oaks Jewelers and I decided on the filigree ring we'd seen that morning. Jeff bought the ring before the price of gold increased not too long ago, so he saved us a couple hundred dollars by charging us the old price. He's bringing in some diamonds next week so I'll get to choose which one I want, along with 2 baby colored sapphires that will sit alongside the center stone. I am so excited! It's really just what I wanted and I'm pretty sure when all is said and done it'll come in under budget. What could be better?