Well, I purchased a ring today!
My girlfriend and I had browsed through a few stores at the mall in the past(just to browse- I would not buy anything that expensive at a mall), and yesterday we drove all over town and went to several diamond/jewelry stores. She finally picked out the engagement band and wedding band that she liked, and we looked at several mounted stones to get an idea of what she liked in terms of clarity and color.
I went back the next day (this afternoon) by appointment to pick out the diamond.
I purchased a 1.51 Carat Princess Cut stone with the following color/clarity GIA properties:
Color: G
Clarity: SI-1
It is going to be mounted on a white gold band that has another .33 carats around the ring (from the top down to the middle), and then there is a matching wedding band with about another .33 carats. Both of the bands are pretty thin.
I looked at a couple of smaller stones (1.0 carat) that were in the VS2-VS1 category with similar color grades for slightly less cost.... However, the inclusions that were found in the SI1 diamond I purchased were impossible to see with the naked eye- and I really couldn't see them under a 10x loupe either (I am sure a trained eye could have easily picked them out under magnification tho.)
I have to wait a few days or so for them to set the stone on the band and size the ring.
I imagine I won't be able to wait for long to pop the question after I get the ring. Oh yeah, I didn't stick to my initial budget- but I only went slightly over. I am pretty sure that she is expecting a 1 carat stone- but I did ask her if she would like something bigger and she said "DUH!" She said if it came down to being able to get a slightly larger stone that looked the same in terms of color and clarity to the naked eye, then she said she would be all for it. In the end I decided that she would be more happy with the SI1 1.5 carat diamond then the VS1 1.0 carat that I was trying to choose between. (to me once you go beyond SI1 on the clarity scale it is just for bragging rights... I mean how often is someone going to look at your ring under 10X maginification?)
Thanks for all the great advice and I will update you when I give her the ring!
