It’s spring, and love is in the air. Chrisie Hill, partner and co-owner of Thomas Hill Jewelers in Hinesville, said many couples take advantage of the season’s typically pretty weather and mild temperatures to host or start planning a wedding. And, as every blushing bride knows, the whole process begins with a diamond. Hill recently described the precious and semi-precious stones couples tend to gravitate toward when selecting the perfect ring.
1. White diamonds: “It’s traditional,” Hill said. “Color, clarity, cut and carat weight are the four things you look for when purchasing a diamond. They are equally as important because you can have a beautiful grade diamond as far as the clarity and the color, but if it’s not cut properly, you lose all the light reflection, so the cut is just as important as the clarity or the color.”
Hill said the most popular diamond cut at this time is a round cut. “Next is the princess cut and after that it would probably be oval, pear and emerald cut,” she said.
2. Colored diamonds: “We are seeing trends with a lot of the celebrities with the colored diamonds, with pink and yellow being very popular,” she said. “But they don’t begin to compare with the amount of white diamonds that are sold. But yellow, pink and brown are very popular.”
3. Sapphires: “With Princess Diana getting her sapphire engagement ring, it really boosted the sapphire sales not only in engagement rings but as a right-hand ring,” Hill said.
4. Rubies: Hill said the stones are a popular choice because of “their beautiful red color. It’s a great stone for people with olive skin tones.”
5. Emerald: Hill said she doesn’t often recommend emeralds for engagement rings because it’s a softer stone.
“And, of course, an engagement ring is something you would want to wear every day and, with an emerald, you take the chance of it breaking,” she said. “But we do have some customers who love emeralds and are willing to take that chance to make that their engagement ring.”