Photo Credit – The Wedlist
You’ve visited almost every jewellers in the country and you still can’t find that perfect ring that you have in your head. It’s looking like you’ll have to get someone to make your ring in the exact way you want it.
There is an assumption that if you go down the route of getting a custom made ring that it will cost an arm and a leg. From my research, it’s actually not as bad as you think. Obviously, the higher the quality of diamond, the higher the price, but you would have this in the general jewellers as well.
Upon my research journey I found a few suppliers that you can actually meet. Like anything of high value, I would not recommend buying online and hoping that it arrives to your house as you envisaged!
The design houses that I found come highly recommended on the wedding forums. I haven’t ever bought a custom made ring so I am taking the recommendations that i’m seeing online. All suppliers provide fully certified diamonds from what I can see. These suppliers include;
- Loyes Diamonds
- Voltaire Diamonds
- John Brereton
- Bespoke Diamonds
- Aoife O’ Mahony
- Hilser Brothers Cork
- Diamant.ie
- Lazlo Galway
If you plan on going down this route, I would stress that you do your homework. Go to a few jewellers and try on a few rings. Get an idea of the price ranges to expect for different types of stones and settings. Once you know this, you will have an idea of pricing benchmarks.
When you go to get the mock ups done; make sure that you know and are happy with the grading of your diamond. To understand diamond gradings, read my recent article on shopping for an engagement ring. You should be given a drawing or CAD design of what the ring should look like. Once you agree on the stone, setting and finalised design, the jeweller will need time to make it. At this point, most require a non refundable deposit. This is why it is very important that you go somewhere reputable! It can take anything from a week to a month for a ring to be made pending on the complexity or availability of stones.
Once the ring comes in, you will return to the jeweller to try it on and inspect. If you are happy, you can pay up and leave. If there are items that you aren’t happy with, you will need to work together to get it right. There have been cases that i’ve heard of where a ring arrives and once a bride see’s it in the flesh it’s not what they expected. Unfortunately that isn’t the jewellers responsibility but most will help change it to what you want.
You could also visit Antwerp to get your ring made. Read my article on buying in Antwerp.
Happy Ring Hunting!
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