Weddingbee boards

Definitely QUALITY for me

I'd say quality, but only to a point.

For example, for a woman who likes yellow gold, color might not be quite as important as a woman who will have a platinum or white gold ring, because the white metal will show up any yellowing in the stone, whereas yellow gold won't be so much of a contrast. So you could easily get a G or H colored stone with little to no visible effect.

As for clarity, I think that as long as you're above VS2, there's really no visible difference to the eye in terms of inclusions. So I wouldn't think that getting a VS1 stone would really be "settling." But any lower than that, and you're risking visible inclusions. Then again, if the inclusion will be hidden by a prong or the setting, who cares, really?

I think cut is something you shouldn't compromise on, because it'll determine how much your stone sparkles, which is the whole reason for getting a diamond (high refractive index).

Bottom line: as long as the lesser quality doesn't interfere with the beauty of the stone, I'd say go for it. Diamonds lose most of their (resale) value the moment you put the ring on your finger, so a single difference in grade won't make a huge difference. But if it's going to compromise the overall look of the stone, it's not worth it. I wouldn't wear a low-quality diamond (meaning yellowish and full of visible inclusions), no matter how big it was.

for me, the size wasn't as impt as the cut.  i really wanted my stone to shine shine shine, so my now-husband did a great job in picking out a great quality stone that's cut almost perfectly.  where my inclusions are nearly invisible even under the 10x magnification, and the color isn't yellow, but not the whitest white either.  so quality definitely won over than quantity for me.