(Closed) Can't Decide Between Clear and Colored E-ring.

• sealevels
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: April 2015

Sapphires are my birthstone, and ive always loved them so I told Fiance that thats my preference but it doesnt have to be a sapphire since they are expensive. he got me one anyway, stubborn man! I dont regret it whatsoever.

Too lazy to correct my grammar. Such is my life when i use the tablet.

Go with what YOU like. Seriously. You have to look at it for the rest of your life.

• kittyface
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: March 2013

I don’t like the look of clear stones very much, so we chose a gemstone. I like my garnet ring very much, but on rare occasions I wonder if I should gone with a clear stone instead, partly because I feel sometimes that people don’t believe I’m actually engaged since it’s a typical-looking engagement ring. I don’t care if people think my ring is cheap (it was), but I’d at least like it be clear that it’s an engagement ring.

On the other hand, I really love the fire in my stone and the really clear red it shines in bright light. Maybe I’d have liked a clear stone that sparkled as well, but I do really quite like mine, and it was well within our budget which was the main priority above all for us.

• NAvery
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: April 2013

I can completely understand your dilemma! I’ll speak from the other side, since the other posters went with lovely colored stones (which I think can be just stunning!).

I love the look of colored stones, but I opted to go with a clear stone because I know myself well enough to know that I would feel like my ring was clashing with things. I’m sort of a matchy-matchy person, so it would make me crazy to be wearing green earrings and a garnet ring, for example. I think it looks great on others — it just would not work for me.

So yeah, not some earth-shattering reason, but I think you just have to know yourself and think about what will fit for *you* in all sorts of situations.

One of the most beautiful rings I have seen on this board is a mix of diamonds and sapphires, both quite prominent. It is UNBELIEVABLE. So you don’t have to do only one or the other also.

• MissFireFlower
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: May 2013

@awndrayuhh:  I just don’t like diamonds as center stones on myself. I LOVE gemstones and personaly feel they look (on me) so much more elegent.

• subtlebee
• 8 years ago

@awndrayuhh:  I am hoping for emerald or ruby so even though i like diamonds I find clear stones boring. if i get one ill suck it up but my fingers are crossed. emeralds are apparently trendy now which make me lean toward rubies (even though green is my favorite color).

• Kimy
• 8 years ago

I chose clear because I have so many other coloured rings. I have never owned a clear ring, so my princess diamond is special for that reason. Go with what you love..x

• LadyElva
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: July 2012

Gemstones all the way! Mine’s a yellow sapphire with small diamonds on either side, so I get the best of both worlds, but the sapphire is the best part of my ring. Clear stones are gorgeous, but I also find them kinda boring (no offense anyone!). The only trouble with coloured stones is that now it’s “okay” to have a gemstone, I still look at all the other colours out there with hungry eyes….

I think go with what you love! Gemstones are beautiful and there’s so much variety, so you’re bound to find something you like!

• jenilynevette
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: October 2014

I went with standard diamonds.. as I love them. I got a matching e-ring and wedding band set. And after awhile I realized sometimes, I just want something with color. I bought a non matching pink&white sapphire band to use on those days I’m feeling a little pink! Although, I plan to wear my actual wedding band most often.

e-ring and actual band :

• joya_aspera
• 8 years ago

Both can be beautiful. I went with a diamond myself because we both felt it was what we found most traditional and screamed “marriage.” Also I found I fell in love with the look of a very good quality (not necessarily very large) round brilliant diamond, so it was wonderful to be treated to one.

I love colored gemstones too (and wear them on my right hand) but I find them difficult for an engagement ring for a few reasons…

– For rings, durability is an issue. So many gorgeous stones out there, but I worry that their durability just won’t stand up to daily wear. Sapphires should be pretty durable though, and I’m not sure what else.

– Many of them are treated in some way to improve color. Also many of them are synthetic. I don’t know about you, but I only like natural gems, I don’t like them to be artificially grown or “touched up”. A lot of vendors don’t want to give all the details of whether their gems have been treated in any way. That is virtually guaranteed to be a bad sign.

– One very common treatment to improve color is irradiation. This can a) cause the color to be temporary and b) cause the stone itself to become radioactive! I know for a fact that the regulation is sloppy, and jewelers have no way to check and just go on trust from their vendors that their irradiated stones are not “too” radioactive (personally I don’t want ANY radioactivity from it), so unless you plan to check out gems/jewelry with a geiger counter in hand, it’s very, very difficult to know for sure you don’t have something that’s a little x-ray machine on your finger all the time. Not cool with me.

– Their grading is not as developed as diamond grading, less jewelers specialize in them, and pricing is less standardized, so it’s just that much harder to find the stone you want, and then get it assessed, know it’s what you want (like for me, fully natural), and then know you’re getting a good price for it. That’s hard enough to do with diamonds, so it’s really daunting to do in the comparative “wild, wild west” of colored gemstones.

… I hope I didn’t come across too negative. Colored gemstones can be fantastic, there’s just a lot of crap in the way. I’m actually in the market for a natural colored gemstone right now myself (I’m designing a “man-gagement ring” for my FI) that’s why all these issues are so prominent in my mind.

• valintine
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012

I originally wanted a blue diamond or a blue moissanite. I also considered various colors of sapphire — for Christmas DH bougt me a beautiful selection of unset sapphires, and I spent HOURS drooling over them, hehe.

We eventually decided against a coloured stone, for a few reasons:

1. I didn’t want to tire of the color (I like so many colours, mainly pink/red & blue/teal, & didn’t want to be locked in to just one).

2. Durability — nothing compares to moissanite in terms of strength, & I loved the idea of my ering being THE STRONGEST, lol.

3. DH promised this wouldn’t be my only ring ever. I’ll get coloured rings down the road, maybe as RHRs or maybe as another wedding set(s).

4. DH said he would get me a colourless stone, if I wasn’t involved in the selection, and I wanted his opinion to be part of the decision.

5. I love the way my colourless stone looks. 

I am VERY happy with this decision. DH also approves. I don’t think I will ever regret it, but I may have regretted choosing a coloured stone. If you are sure you won’t regret a colour, or you simply like colour more, do it!! Many of the downsides mentioned above, in the PP, are just as true of diamonds, so don’t let that dissuade you.

• Eckle
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: August 2014

Back when we were in highschool we discussed engagement rings and Fiance got stuck the idea of getting me an emerald, My favorite color is green, and he wanted to be different. Well come the time to get engaged I started doing a lot of research. I found that emeralds tend to have inclusions that can make them prone to shattering. Can you imagine shattering your e-ring? Then I looked at green diamonds which were pricy, but still pretty…until I found out that they are naturally radioactive. So diamonds were out, then I looked at green sapphires which is what we ended up going with. I love everything about my ring. The only thing that bugs me is that since the stone is so dark you can see every smudge of oil that gets on it. Luckily I work in a lab and always have cleaning supplies on hand 😉

• Luvdisc
• 8 years ago

Personally, I would go with gemstones. Diamonds don’t really appeal to me; aside from the sparkle, there’s not too much to them IMO. Despite being much more common than some gemstones (tanzanite and Paraiba tourmaline come to mind), diamonds cost more than most other stones because of how they are sold in small amounts at a time.

But then again, I’m quite biased. I prefer vivid cool colors for both my clothing and my jewelry, so matching isn’t really an issue, since I wear so much blue and teal anyway. As long as you choose a stronger gemstone like sapphire or topaz, you’ll have nothing to worry about. 🙂

• sarahbabs
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: September 2012

I love both as well, and strongly considered dropping hints that I wanted a ruby ring.  I ended up deciding that I wanted a diamond, but I love seeing the gorgeous colored stones as well.  Have you looked at peach sapphires?  They are clear (in that they are sparkly and not opaque), but they still have a lovely hue.  

Post some rings that you like!

• Tibbs
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: September 2013

I’m very pro coloured gemstone, and always knew I would have one in my engagement ring. I ended up on a ruby, a gorgeous fiery ruby.

I am very happy with my ruby, and I know I would never want a clear gemstone. It’s just not for me. I love how my ruby plays with the light, how it changes colour, sometimes a brilliant red, sometimes a dark pink, sometimes almost purple-ish. Sometimes it has silk, sometimes it completely clear. Sometimes it sparkles, sometimes it glows. I love that when I look down at it I can never be 100% sure what it’s going to look like. 

Durability should not be an issue, especially if you choose a setting with this in mind. And remember that durability and hardness are not the same. A diamond is harder than a sapphire, but are more prone to chipping or cracking. A final note on durability: My uncle wears a garnet (moh’s scale 7 – 7.5) pinky ring, it has been in the family for at least 200 years, the gold is somewhat worn, but the stone is fine.

The only thing I don’t love about having a gemstone engagement ring is the attention it attracts. It’s positive attention sure, but still sometimes it feels a bit much as I am a naturally shy person and my gem catches the eye, there’s no way around that. But even on those days, when I just don’t want attention, I never regret having a ruby, I just turn it towards the palm until the staring person has gone away.

Best of luck in your search for the ring that makes your heart sing.