It has been a couple of months since my wedding and I'm finally getting around to reviewing our various wedding vendors. This will be the first of the wedding reviews because out of all the businesses we worked with, I am most excited to share our wonderful experience with Dennis at The Goldsmith!
We bought my engagement ring and both of our wedding bands here. When my husband proposed, he surprised me with a beautiful star ring (I love stars!) that we call the "proposal ring," so that we could go to pick out the actual engagement ring together. The Goldsmith came highly recommended to us by both my now mother-in-law and one of my husband's close family friends, so even though it was nearly an hour away, we decided to go there.
The Goldsmith is a one-man shop. Dennis is the owner and he has been a jeweler and goldsmith for more than 35 years. He previously worked as a wholesale jeweler at mall jewelry stores where he saw firsthand how diamonds are marked up. At The Goldsmith, you are dealing directly with the owner who is dealing directly with the diamond seller, so there aren't any crazy markups, and Dennis definitely passes the savings on.
We called ahead to let him know our price range, and when we arrived to our appointment, he already had a stunning diamond ready to show us. He was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and he answered all of our questions. He told us all about ideal cut hearts and arrows diamonds, the only diamonds he sells. I will be the first to say that I had no idea what "ideal cut" or "hearts and arrows" meant. Of the 4 C's everyone talks about, I probably understood cut the least. I thought it just meant shape - round, princess, marquise and so on. If you're in the same boat, just do a quick online search for ideal cut hearts and arrows diamond and you will see that there is so much more to cut. The best cut equals the most sparkle! And I like sparkle!
An "ideal cut" diamond is one that is specially cut to ideal proportions - the exact mathematical angles that create the maximum refraction of light. "Hearts and arrows" refers to the visual pattern that you see when you view an ideal cut diamond from above, which he was happy to let us take a peek at. Ideal cut hearts and arrow diamonds are considered to be the most beautiful diamonds in the world. They are more work to cut, so they are rare. They actually account for less than 1% of all diamonds.
Next came picking out the setting. Dennis has many catalogs and countless options. While you don't get to actually touch and see them all, the photos in the catalogs are very detailed. No matter what you're looking for, you will find something you love. Plus, you can be assured that your ring will be a lot more unique than if you went shopping at a corporate chain. At the same time, if you're like me, too many options can become overwhelming. But no worries! Dennis is there to help. After paging through a catalog and not loving what I was seeing, I described to him what I was looking for and within a few minutes he located a setting in one of the catalogs that was exactly what I had described.
We were so lucky to have heard about The Goldsmith. We are young and poor, but even we were able to afford an incredibly gorgeous engagement ring and wedding bands. If we had gone to the mall or a chain, we would have paid a lot more and ended up with a less brilliant diamond. When we took my ring to be appraised, it was valued at far above our paying price. Seriously. When we told the appraiser what we had paid for the ring, they could not believe what a great deal we got on such a high quality product.
We have only gone to Dennis for engagement ring and wedding bands, but in addition to diamonds, Dennis also offers colored gemstones, gem remounting, jewelry and watch repair and custom jewelry design services. Both my mother-in-law and our family friend have gone to him time and time again for these other services and have been nothing but pleased. Dennis takes pride in his craft and truly cares about his customers. I would recommend him to anyone!