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Proposing to your partner is a memory of a lifetime, and by following these tips, you can ensure that you remember your engagement for all the right reasons! Setting up the perfect engagement will involve careful planning, much thought, and attention to detail if you want it to go perfectly. The last thing anyone wants is for their engagement to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes, events out of your control unfold, derailing even the most carefully planned engagement. However, by putting a little thought into your engagement, you’ll give it the best possible chance of success, creating a memory you will cherish for your entire life. In the following article we’ll cover: Make Sure You’re Both Ready Blessing or No Blessing? Picking the Perfect Engagement Ring Hire A Professional Practice What You’re Going to Say If you need help picking out your engagement ring, the experienced and professional team of qualified and certified jewelers specialize in custom engagement rings, and the deBoulle Engagement Collection is an exquisite collection of our best diamond engagement rings. Make Sure You’re Both Ready While it may sound obvious, ensuring that both people in the relationship are on the same page and ready to take the next step is crucial to a successful proposal. Nothing will ruin the perfect engagement quicker than your partner not being prepared to commit to a long-term relationship. To gauge their interest, talk to your partner about the future, listen for any hints they drop, or bring up friends and family and their engagements or proposals. While it can be a delicate topic to discuss without making the actual proposal, listening, and watching how your partner reacts to conversations about the future, relationship, and marriage should give you some clear clues about their intention. Blessing or No Blessing? Getting your partner’s parent’s or guardian’s blessing may be considered ‘old-school’ or ‘overly traditional’ by many people, but you’d still be surprised at how important it is. It really depends on the person and their family. They may not consider it that important, but their parents are another story, and most people care a lot about respecting their parents and family traditions. This doesn’t mean that your partner is a piece of property you must ask for. However, if it’s essential to your partner, it should be important to you, regardless of your thoughts. Consider this, “I am in love with your daughter/son/child and want to spend the rest of my life with them. I plan on proposing, and it would be my honor if you were part of this special moment in our lives.” Picking the Perfect Engagement Ring Remember, your partner will wear their engagement ring for the rest of their life, so getting the perfect engagement ring is crucial. If it’s a planned engagement or proposal, narrowing down the style and size of the engagement ring will be a lot easier. However, a surprise proposal won’t prevent you from picking the perfect engagement ring. Try looking closely at the type of jewelry they wear daily, or speak to best friends, siblings, and family to narrow down their style. Now, determining ring size can be tricky but not impossible. Check out the rings they currently own and make a note of which finger they wear them on. Either take it to the jeweler or put it on your own finger and make a note of where it sits. Some jewelers can even narrow down ring sizes based on your partner’s height and weight. Don’t forget, you can always get a ring resized after to ensure that it fits perfectly, but you want to get it as close as possible. Hire A Professional Photographer You have a few choices regarding photographs to remember the special occasion. You can include a family member or friend to record and photograph the engagement or hire a professional. Our personal recommendation is to hire a professional photographer. They have the experience and equipment to ensure that they capture every moment of your proposal perfectly. If you’re struggling with details such as venue, location, or timing, professional engagement teams specialize in planning the perfect engagement from start to finish. Practice What You’re Going to Say It may sound silly, but practice what you will say to your partner. You don’t have to memorize an entire speech. Still, something short and meaningful delivered smoothly will be a special memory for both your partner and you, and your proposal will be delivered smoothly, with more confidence. One of the most commonly asked questions after you announce your engagement to friends and family will be, “What did they say and how did they propose?” so getting the speech right is vital. The last thing you want to do is stammer, stutter, or mumble your way through your proposal. Setting Up the Perfect Engagement – Conclusion You only get one chance of achieving a perfect engagement, so don’t rush. Take your time planning and executing your proposal. Hopefully, with the engagement tips above, your proposal will be a memory you and your partner can fondly remember for the rest of your lives. At De Boulle Diamond & Jewelry, we stock a wide selection of beautiful diamond jewelry and timepieces, including exquisite diamond engagement rings, perfect for an engagement proposal or special occasion, or to let someone know how much you care and appreciate them.

What are the 4 Cs, and how can you use them when buying a diamond? The 4 Cs are the four characteristics traditionally used when determining the quality and value of a diamond. The 4 Cs are carat, cut, clarity, and color. If you plan on purchasing a diamond for yourself or as a special gift for a loved one, understanding the 4Cs is crucial. In the following article, we’ll be focusing on the 4Cs of buying a diamond, including: The History of the 4Cs What Are the 4Cs What Are Fancy Diamonds? At deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry, we stock a wide selection of beautiful diamond jewelry and timepieces, perfect as a gift, for a special occasion, or just to let someone know how much you care and appreciate them. The History of the 4Cs The term 4Cs began life in the 1940s and was the brainchild of Robert M. Shipley, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) founder. Shipley originally started using the 4Cs as an easy way for his students to remember the four main characteristics that define a faceted diamond. The concept was straightforward yet revolutionary at the time. Until then, diamond merchants and jewelers used various broad terms to talk about the factors influencing a diamond’s value. Terms such as water or river were used to describe how colorless a diamond was, and Cape was assigned to the pale yellow diamonds mined in South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope area. To describe the clarity of a diamond, you would hear terms such as ‘with imperfections’ or ‘without flaws.’ And the cut of a diamond was often described as either ‘made poorly’ or ‘made well.’ The term carat has been used to describe the weight of gemstones consistently since the 1500s. You can start to see why Shipley’s 4Cs were so quickly adopted by international jewelers for their ease and simplicity. What Are the 4Cs? In this section, we’ll be taking a closer look at the 4Cs: Carat, Cut, Clarity, and Color. The diamond industry uses the 4Cs to grade a diamond, with all gradings done by a qualified expert certified in diamond authentication. Not only will understanding the 4Cs allow you to make smarter purchasing decisions when buying a diamond, but it will also allow you to make tradeoffs. For example, you may prefer a bigger diamond, trading off clarity or flaws in the gemstone. Or you may like a smaller diamond that’s flawless. Talking to your jeweler about your diamond preferences at the time of purchase will help you find the perfect diamond. The 4Cs of Diamonds | Cut The quality of a diamond’s cut is potentially the most important of the 4Cs. It’s the cut of the diamond that most often determines its beauty and allure. The quality of a diamond’s cut is measured by the balance of all its measurements, which combined produce the most light possible through the top of the stone. If the cut is too shallow, light is lost through the bottom, and if it is too deep, light escapes through the sides of the stone. The cut of a diamond can affect how big or small it looks, its color, and the way it sparkles when worn. The 4Cs of Diamonds | Clarity Almost all diamonds, except the very finest, will contain tiny imperfections, and clarity is the measurement used to define how perfect a diamond is. Almost all imperfections present in diamonds are only visible at a microscopic level. However, too many slight imperfections can affect a diamond’s color rating and how light escapes from the diamond. The clarity rating of a diamond is the easiest to visually see and understand, and jewelers often describe the imperfections in a diamond as clarity characteristics, blemishes, or inclusions. The 4Cs of Diamonds | Carat Diamond Carat Weight refers specifically to the weight of a diamond. A metric carat is equal to 200mg. You may also hear the carat weight of a diamond referred to as ‘points,’ and one carat equals 100 points. While the carat weight of a diamond is an accurate measurement of its weight, it doesn’t always translate to how big or small it looks to the eyes. This is because when you view a diamond, you look down at it from above. The diamond’s cut and measurement across the top, along with its sparkle, all affect how big it looks. The 4Cs of Diamonds | Color Rather than measuring how colorful a diamond is, its color grade measures its lack of color. This is because the most desirable diamonds are diamonds considered most white. The color scale of diamonds starts at D and ends at Z, with D being the best possible rating and Z being the lowest possible rating. When you see a diamond with color, it will generally appear as light brown or pale yellow. While the highest-rated diamonds are considered colorless, a diamond with a little color can add warmth to the stone, giving it more sparkle and making it appear more attractive. What Are Fancy Diamonds? Did you know diamonds come in other colors, including reds, blues, pinks, and greens? These diamonds are known as Fancy Diamonds and are considered the scarcest of all stones. Stones with a yellow color intensity past Z are also regarded as fancy diamonds. Only 1 out of every 10,000 diamonds has a noticeable color, and considering how rare diamonds are, the chances of discovering a fancy diamond are even lower. Fancy diamonds are a miracle of Mother Nature and are highly sought after. The 4 Cs of Buying A Diamond – Conclusion While the 4Cs are an essential and accurate way to grade a diamond, they don’t always accurately express the true beauty of the diamond. An experienced jeweler understands the importance of visual beauty and can work with a diamond, regardless of its grading report, to create a masterpiece. Another influence on the popularity of different diamonds isn’t their grade. It’s who’s wearing them. When royals, stars, and celebrities wear a specific diamond, it can cause a spike in the popularity and price of a specific color diamond. A diamond considered fashionable at one time may decrease in price as trends and tastes change. At deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry, we stock a wide selection of beautiful jewelry and timepieces, perfect as a gift or a special occasion. We also specialize in custom engagement rings, and the deBoulle Engagement Collection is an exquisite collection of our best diamond engagement rings.