The white gold wedding ring is chosen by 95% of spouses to symbolize their commitment to each other. Besides purity and other symbolic overtones there is much to like in white gold wedding rings because they are more flattering to diamonds then yellow gold is. You can see how brilliant the princess cut diamonds are in this white gold wedding ring sets like this one to the right. A 14k white gold wedding ring will have the same look as an 18k white gold ring because they will both use the same rhodium plating.

Yellow gold can add an unwelcome yellow tint to diamonds that are not well cut. This does not mean that women or men meaningfully go out and purchase poorly cut diamonds but this fact is noticeable in a lot of sub par diamond jewelry done in yellow gold. White gold is a lot more tolerant of poorly cut diamonds, especially when they are in the near colorless grades of G and H .

Mens white gold wedding rings have followed a similar trend although it is more because men’s choices default to white gold as their metal of choice because it is what their spouse to be as chosen and women usually want their fiance’s ring to match their own.

White Gold diamond wedding ring choices are quite varied and there is something to suit every one. Check out this mens wedding band from Artcarved on the right. The textures are beautifully done and would be more difficult to do in metals like palladium and platinum.

The most popular types are rings set with diamonds in a pave style or micro pave as it is commonly known because each individual diamond is can be ?down to a half pointer or less in weight.

The whole appeal of micro pave settings is their scintillation factor. The diamonds are set as close to each other as possible using shared prongs. In this way you see less white gold and more diamond.Diamonds this size are quite small so the brighter more visible flashes, from the largest facet on the snow, namely the table.

The contours of the white gold engagement ring or band is what is responsible for the extreme scintillation. Because the diamonds are so small they follow the contour of the ring shank in a very granular way so every diamond’s table facet is pointed at a different angle from its neighbor.

This is what creates the dancing light effect where anyone watching a pave setting in motion will see the thousand points of light. Check out the pave white gold diamond wedding ring set to the left.

Diamond pave settings are like nightclub mirror balls. If you have a nightclub mirror ba ll with thousands of tiny mirrors as opposed to just hundreds you will see a lot more light flashes from just tiny shifts in your position because there are so many more mirror angles at play.

Cushion cut diamond engagement rings first started out as old miner cuts dating from the 1700s. This was the start of brilliant cutting as far as diamonds were concerned because most diamond cutting before this was predominantly the step cutting technique that you see today in emerald and asscher cuts.

What happened was that diamond cutters would keep the basic form of the rough octahedron and flatten the top of one pyramid and round out the edges giving rise to the cushion shape or old miners cut. Antique cushion cut engagement rings arise from this vintage diamond cut which is characterized by a thick and high crown and a deep pavilion giving it a very blocky look. Many of these vintage cushion cut engagement rings were recut into modern round brilliants as they would surface and so many lost their antique value which is now even more prized today. The old miners cut eventually morphed into the old European cut as cutters took off more of the squareness to form the precursor to the modern round brilliant shape.

Cushion cut engagement rings have become quite popular recently as women now are looking for something different from the traditional round diamond and something away from the oldertraditional fancy cuts like emerald, pear and oval. The shape and faceting is shown to the right

Diamonds with a squarish shape appeal like the princess cut, radiant, asscher and emerald cut have experienced more demand over the years as women who received a diamond engagement ring in the past have looked to these cuts for some of their avnniversary rings and other diamond jewelry.

As a center diamond in a ring, the princess cut diamond is overall the second most popular diamond cut after the round and is the most popular square cut for square diamond engagement rings. For 2009 the cushion cut engagement ring has bested the radiant cut in terms of popularity as square shaped center stone engagement rings go according to JCK magazine’s survey of American jewelry retailers.

Cushion cut diamonds have a softer look compared to princesses and radiants because of their rounded corners and shallower cut. Although the cushion cut diamond engagement ring will not scintillate as much as the other squares mentioned because of fewer facets, nevertheless its old world shape appeal coupled with the fact that its corners will not chip as easily as the princess and is not as bottom heavy as the princess or radiant means that it has a larger face up than the others for a given carat weight. To some degree it makes up for the lack of scintillation with the broader flashes that originate from its larger pavilion facets.

Despite their recent popularity the cushion cut engagement ring can be hard to find at your local jewelers unless it is a jeweler that specializes in square diamonds. You are far more likely to see the asscher cut than the cushion cut. At first, the asscher cut seems to be the prettier diamond. The asscher is the more well endowed cousin of the emerald cut sporting a deeper step cut pavilion that has more scintillation. However in the end it is still a step cut. A finely cut cushion, especially some of the branded cushion cuts like the Cushette by Vision Cut of New York who are the patent holders for this cushion cut have a brillaince and scintillation that many women find more appealing than the square step cuts.

Instaed of the normal 60 or so facets of a normal cushion, the cushette has a total of 77 facets and each one that comes from Vision Cut is branded and numbered. Another company with their own proprietory cushion cut diamond is harry Kotlar and Company. Gabrielle Tolkowski also has a proprietory square cut of his own called the Carre which is produced by Suberi Brothers of New York although it does not have the shape appeal of a cushion but rather a princess cut.

Cushion cut solitaire engagement rings come in many types of settings. Antique looking hand engraved mountings are popular with the cushion, rekindling its old miners cut heritage.

Cushion cut micro pave engagement rings on the other hand are more popular than most others as micro pave continues to dominate engagement ring design in white gold and platinum.

Check out this classic pave cushion engagement ring style to the right. It’s a simple?classic?of an engagement ring that has a wide appeal

Various side stones can be used with a cushion shaped diamond however straight edges side diamonds like trilliants and princesses tend not to be used because they can distract from the?softness of the cushion shape. Instead, curvaceous half moons ?are more commonly used like this ring to the left.

Instead of side stones, the cushion shape can also be emphasized by ?setting it in a bezel surrounded by channel set diamonds or even pave set diamonds surrounding a prong set cushion diamond.

Care must be taken that the prongs are not so thick that distract from the diamond. With cushions especially it is far better to use the double claw prongs at the corners than thick beaded prongs like this ring down below.

Prices on cushion cut diamonds run the gamut. They are generally less expensive than a comparable round brilliant although given their hard to find nature and fewer specimensexhibiting really nice optics it can pretty much be dependent on supply and demand.

Sometimes it can be so difficult to find premium cut cushion diamonds in the sizes and quality required that many purchasers end up getting the branded cushions talked about earlier.

Diamond ring enhancers or diamond wraps as they are sometimes called are a huge help to women who have a solitaire ring in need of embellishment or simply some protection. Sometimes young couples just settle for the bare basics when it comes to a diamond engagement ring in the hopes that as their financial situation gets better they will be able to get a matching band.

Other times a young bride gets a ring handed down from her great grandmother that is a vintage or antique solitaire ring with an old miners cut center stone and there is nothing in terms of a wedding band that she can find in jewelry stores that will match it. This vintage diamond enhancer to the right would be a solid choice for an antique solitaire.

It has all that fine millgrain work that will go with many antique styles with the slot for the solitaire head mounting. Of course the only way to know if it will fit is to get the measurements of both rings or physically try it when you are in the store.

In both these cases described above it might be a good idea to start looking at some diamond solitaire ring enhancers. They can also be referred to as diamond engagement ring enhancers, diamond wraps, diamond guards, diamond wedding ring enhancers and ring inserts.

There are many different styles for this type of addition to a solitaire ring but typically it will be a single or double ring with some sort of a gap where you can insert your solitaire. Of course this depends on the size of diamond solitaire ring that you have because you would want as close to an exact fit as you can get.

Check out this simple diamond ring enhancer to the left. In terms of simplicity this type of wrap fulfills the basic task of adding embellishment to a plain solitaire. All it does is put two side stones beside the engagement ring diamond for a three stone look to your wedding ring assuming of course your center stone is a diamond.

Many women opt for this type of enhancer, commonly called three stone diamond ring enhancers. You could also add a bit more pizazz to your solitaire by turning your engagement ring into a two tone wedding ring and changing the look altogether with some princess diamonds like this enhancer to the right below would do.

The square diamonds offer a nice contrast to the round center stone that would go in the middle. Princess accent diamonds add a different geometry and outline to your engagement ring.  Princess cut diamond ring enhancers are a popular way to spice up a plain solitaire.

Some common types of solitaire diamond ring enhancers include the insert style wrap which is two rings connected together on the underside of the shank by gold bars leaving a gap at the top for your solitaire to fit in.

What’s nice about this style is that if you have side stones or have a cathedral type of mounting where there is gold coming up the  shoulder of the ring above the base of the diamond head then your ring can be accommodated by the insert style as opposed to the wrap style.

The wrap style can only accommodate a strict solitaire diamond ring that is a simple setting and a shank soldered together.

Its is always a good idea to make sure that your center diamond will match the diamonds in the insert in terms of color and clarity so that the ring does not end up looking odd with a bright white center stone that is G in color and contrasting champagne tinged diamonds in the J range of color in the insert.

The diamond insert to the left  is a simple double row of straight mounted prong diamonds running across the top. This is what many women like and is all they really need to spruce up their engagement ring.

As long as the shank of your ring has a width less than the width of the gap between the two rings of the insert, then you are good to go. Of course you don’t want your solitaire ring bouncing between the two rings of an insert because the gap is much wider than you really need so you have to try different inserts to see what gives a close fit.

Diamond enhancer rings like the insert to the right is a fairly popular style . It has a nice North South orientation a decent amount of gap to accommodate a variety of shanks and heads. You have extended room in the every top of this insert where the two channel set shanks point outward.

This is useful if you want to change the head in your solitaire at a future date and want to have a pear or marquis center stone instead of a round. As you can see the points on an appropriately sized marquis or pear shape could be accommodated  by the increased gap in the head of this insert

The idea of the insert type of diamond solitaire ring enhancers is to encase the entire circumference of the solitaire so that instead of wearing two rings it looks as though you are wearing a single ring.

Channel set eternity bands make a great “stand-in” wedding band. I wear a stand-in eternity band instead of the one that matches my engagement for the simple reason that sometimes when I’m going out and I don’t want to wear the “big rock” I slip on my one and a half carat white gold eternity band on my left hand ring finger where my engagement ring would normally go.

During the winter I can sometimes get it on my right hand ring finger and I’ll do that and wear my tanzanite or sapphire ring on my left hand ring finger.

What else is great about a channel eternity band ?

• For one it’s smooth and if I’m putting on a sweater or gloves I don’t have to worry about it catching on anything.
• It has a little more metal in it, (18kt white gold) because channels generally will have more metal than prongs so it feels substantial on.
• Yes, it still turns like any other eternity band but I feel a little safer accidentally hitting my band clad finger against a wall or something because I don’t feel like I might have bent a prong.
• Although I don’t wear my channel band with my engagement ring, the channel band is a good choice for an after thought band when you can’t get something exactly matching your engagement ring because at least it looks clean and won’t sustain any damage rubbing against your engagement ring.
• being one of the most popular styles of diamond band it’s available in a vast range of heights, widths and carat weights so you can get a pretty close match up against your engagement ring .

A good place to get an eternity channel band is your local jeweler. Some of the benefits of going to your local jeweler are:

1. You’ll be able to see a selection of channel bands and try them on to see how well they match up against your engagement ring.
2. If they’re good people you’ll get some good after sales service if you need it.

Some of the drawbacks with going to your local jeweler are

1. For a product like a diamond eternity band you can expect to pay a healthy markup.
2. Expect to wait anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks for them to get your ring custom made
3. Don’t expect to have any return options. You’ll have to sign their receipt acknowledging that it’s a final sale which means you’re stuck with it if you don’t like it.
4. Don’t expect to have a resize option if your ring doesn’t fit when you finally get it. They’ll tell you that eternity bands cannot be sized which for the most part is true, however you are ultimately responsible for telling them what size feels best and they will write something like “customer requests size 6 1/4″ on the custom order and have you sign it and so absolve themselves of any responsibility for correctly measuring your finger size.

You’ve been told to start your diamond shopping online before hitting the local jewelers and now you’re lost in a sea of paperwork. You have pages of GIA and EGL reports for all the diamonds you’ve seen on Bluenile strewn in front of you and you have no idea what’s the really important information here. I mean, who knows if that extra thick girdle really affects the brilliance on diamond A, it’s still a better deal than that other one which is slightly off of “ideal” in table percentage.

There’s no doubt that hundreds of diamonds; important diamonds ; are bought and sold for the most part on what a diamond certificate says. Does this mean they’re to be trusted ? What about the scandal that rocked GIA last year with the grader who was accepting money to assign good grades to some diamonds.

For the most part, the top Independent diamond grading labs have certain standards and may emphasize different aspects of diamond grading one over the other, but it all comes down to an opinion, albeit an expert opinion but an opinion nonetheless. That’s why you can get 2 different color grades on the same diamond from two different labs each with competent graders. Heck, you can even send the same stone back to the same lab 6 months later and get a slightly different report in terms of color and clarity and even a few measurements here and there.

So, I’m kicking off a series on Diamond Grading reports that will cover the ins and outs of different types of grading reports and the different labs that put out these grading reports.

First off let’s start with a list of the world’s major gemological laboratories whose products range from diamond grading documents to light performance reports

1. American Gem Society Laboratories- Reputation for credibility,consistency, and thoroghness
2. American Gemological laboratories- Primarily deals with colored stones
3. GCAL-Gem Certification and Assurance Lab- Provides more technical certs, recent to the Grading industry
4. EGL USA-European gemological laboratory- Has a mixed reputation for grading reports, not as highly regarded as GIA and AGS in terms of thoroughness, consistency, and rigor in diamond grading
5. Gemex Systems- The gemex report is a different animal in that it measures and grades the light performance of a diamond directly using a spectrophotometer instead of using parameters of cut in attempting to predict performance and beauty of a diamond
6. GIA Gemological Institute of America- Often considered the international benchmark for diamond grading and independent third party diamond evaluation