When we first were considering settings, we went to several local jewelers. Abracadabra seemed nice, but small. Austin and Warburton was high quality, with a similarly high price tag. And then we stumbled on what we thought was a winner, rated by local newspapers’ readers’ polls as the best jeweler in town.
They ordered stones for us, and we found the perfect one. Given the type of setting I wanted- low profile, half bezel set- it had to be a custom ring.
Long story short, the ring was originally made in the wrong metal, so they remade it. In the meantime, Mr. Dahlia proposed to me sans ring. The ring came in, and it looked lovely:
Only problem was, six weeks later, the stone was loose. The whole reason I wanted that type of setting was so that the ring wouldn’t be loose. Back it went, and it came back fixed. A month later, it was loose. Back it went, and it came back fixed. Less than two weeks later it was loose again. Back it went, and they recognized that it wasn’t made properly in the first place.
Lewis Jewelers pledged to remake it with some slight modifications, and we came in to examine a wax cast of the ring with the stone. Only problem is, the stone was chipped. Significantly. It was now .02 carats smaller than it was before.
Mr. Dahlia was refunded his money, and we were back to square one.
I now have a fabulous new ring in a slightly updated design that is oh so comfortable to wear. From Abracadabra:
The jeweler’s comments on the ring are
“This Custom made ring is a unique one all around! The center stone is an oval Red Spinel with great fire. The customer choose the ring design, as a take on a tension mount, but with a bridge underneath for sizing and stability. Channel set diamonds run in two ribbons along the side of the center stone. The ring is cast in an up and coming metal, Palladium. Palladium has many of the same properties as Platinum. It’s whiter, has increased wear resistance, a pure 950 metal, and is more resistant to tarnish. The romantic twist? Palladium is named after the Greek Goddess Pallas. She is the Goddess of Wisdom, the Arts, and the embodiment of Purity & Strength. Who wouldn’t want a bit of that in their ring?”
While Mr. Dahlia did most of the work with Steven, the owner of Abracadabra, all of my interactions with the people who work there have been fantastic. You can check out more of the amazing work of Abracadabra here.
Did anyone else have issues or complications with their engagement rings? If you did, how was it resolved?
Miss Dahlia: That ring is so HOT! It’s so original and different. Modern yet classy!
Mr. C got my ring from a big name jeweler and they were really snotty when we tried to get it resized. I don’t understand why people act that way, but oh well.
We didn’t have any problems, but I wanted to comment on the jeweller you chose. They sound like they really love what they do, and I think it’s so cool that they put their customer’s rings on the site like that. My personal favorite is the mom’s ring with her daughter’s drawings on it. What a heartfelt gift.
Any chance of a side view on your ring?
I just got my e-ring on Saturday and the diamond hasn’t fallen out yet (knock on wood), so no horror stories, except that it took FOREVER to get done. I just wanted to comment because first, your ring is gorgeous, but I was excited to see that yours is palladium also. Don’t you love it? So much cheaper and lighter than platinum. Luckily we found a place to custom-make ours in palladium, it’s hard to find people who do that. When I say what it’s made of people usually give me an odd look. Anyway, yours is beautiful and I’m glad everything worked out eventually!
Not a real horror story, but I have waited and waited and waited for my ring. FI proposed without a ring and we decided to have one custom made. It was to take 5-6 weeks from a local artist. 6 months later, we have just been told it will be another 4 weeks. I have been patient because the artist does it all herself and she did suffer some personal set backs…but damnit I want my ring! FI did get a nice price break though for it being sooo late!
Your ring is beautiful! That palladium might have been mined at the mine my husband worked at this summer in Montana. Palladium is very nice.
Getting engagement rings custom-made can be so nerve wrecking!!! We had mine custom made and though we didn’t have the problems with it you did, we never got to see it until it was entirely made. This is because we took multiple pictures in and asked them to combine them all to make one unique look. So glad it worked out for you finally! Hopefully there won’t be any more problems. And also, I love your ring! So pretty!!! We didn’t go with a diamond either!
We went with a cartier ring– the wait time was 8 months to have to custom made from france (though i think the wait was really for locating a diamond of the quality we wanted). customer service is excellent, they even invite us to exclusive cartier events. free engraving and polishing when ever we are in the area.
your ring is lovely! so outside of the box
[...] engagement ring looks like it is platinum, but it is not. It is [...]
[...] Christmas last year, I dragged Mr. Dahlia to the jewelry store - the same store where we got my original ring - and said that he had to pick one. Today. For a bit of background, he had looked at rings several [...]
Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
That is a gorgeous ring Miss Dahlia! I love the channel set diamonds along either side of the centre stone.
Haven’t had any complications with my engagement ring so far *touch wood*
Although my FI might comment differently as he agonized over choosing it! He really wanted it to be a surprise, so we never went ring shopping or anything. Of course, in the end, I loved it!