I'm writing this review as a favor to you.
You're probably sitting there, just like I was. "Yo, this engagement ring is going to be the biggest purchase of my entire life. None of the stores I have been to (or seen) feel right". After all- shopping for engagement rings is based on referrals. Someone you trust tells you where they got theirs and you put your chips on the table and feel compelled to go there. You're over here like "The guy that I played football with in high school... His family owns a jewelry store. Well, it's his cousin's.... dad's... first babysitter's... sister's.... jewelry store. And technically he wasn't on the football team, he was the equipment manager. But he recommended it so we have to go there". We did the whole dog-and-pony show at legacy jewelry stores, the sexy brand name stores- you name it. And It. Was. All. The. Same. Thing. That is: Limited diamond selection, limited shape options. And, god forbid- if you actually do have a price "range"- ahem.... "it's too low". We're sitting there, looking at a set of options with.... four (?) diamonds? We're not even entirely sure what we want, we're trying to explore and figure that out!?!?!? Tf. Time and time again we felt under time pressure because the attendant at the counter naturally has to attend to the other customers queueing up behind us.... The sweaty guy in the corner is getting *clearly* very restless. The lady with the tiny dog in the purse is demanding attention. THIS IS NOT HOW I WANT TO BUY AN ENGAGEMENT RING.
So we threw our hands up and said "ENOUGH!". We're not buying our engagement ring based on somebody else's definition of how it should be done. We're going with what WE want and what feels right for THE TWO OF US.
After a few weeks of furious google search expeditions and Instagram scrolling, the seas parted. The ray of light came. We came across RC. It starts out with a style questionnaire (including questions on budget). My favorite thing about it was, for every question, there was an "I'm not sure yet" answer! Maybe if this is the fifth time you've been engaged- you know exactly what you want! Trial and error is highly effective, after all. But that's not us. I was shopping for my FIRST fiancée. She's technically my most recent fiancée also, but don't say it that way in front of her. But I digress. The process of discovery was built into every step at RC, which is exactly what we needed. I have nO iDeA wHaT I aM dOinG. After we completed the style questionnaire and an initial phone consultation, we scheduled our in-person visit for two weeks later. And literally everything went right. Every i dotted. Every t crossed. Every duck row'd. Every button up'd. Every circle back'd. Let me introduce Courtney U. We went into her well-appointed private office at their location by Rock center. No sweaty guy. No Karen's queuing up loudly clearing their throat trying to steal your thunder. Private. Office. Scheduled. Appointment. Just us. Courtney. And the stones.
Courtney had an incredible array of stones prepared for us. Stones that are in your budget- (or kinda close to your budget if you are ok with a little stretch!) All shapes. All sizes. It was diamond diversity and inclusion. Courtney knew her sheeeeeeyett. Remember the football guy? With the jeweler relative? Well, to work at those places apparently all you need to do is to watch a 49 minute youtube video and you are all-the-sudden a diamond expert. Courtney has a degree in Gemology. If you're spending somewhere in the range of 2 to 165 thousand dollars on an engagement ring (I promise I am in there somewhere, also), don't you want to be buying it from an actual expert?! NE WAYS... Courtney educated us about the C's. My (now) fiancée and I were able to determine which characteristics were most important to us- and there is certainly a pun intended when I say no single size fits all! It was comfortable and effortless. I can tell you unequivocally that my fiancée- love her to death (literally, and soon, legally)- contemplates the pros and cons of decisions... to an excruciating and paralyzing extent. Some might call it "indecisive" but I ... politely agree. Courtney spent the time with us and it was incredibly clear that it was not her goal to SELL us a diamond, but to help us pick the diamond that was best for US.
Courtney is, without a doubt, the Diamond Diva. The Gem Gal. The Rock Resource, if you will. The Stone Sista. Her Highness of Ice. The Queen of Cut. The Heiress of Carats. The Duchess of Precious. OH LAWD someone stop me before my keyboard breaks..... The Ruler... of Jewelers. (sorry fam, had to get one more in.)
In our two hour session, it took neither heat nor pressure to make diamonds. But we left with ours.
My only remorse, through the whole process, is that I wont be able to go through the first engagement ring buying experience at RC ever again- because I am committed now. And for that reason I am writing this review, as a favor... for you read more