When it comes to wedding rings there is nothing more certain than "you pay for what you get". A cheap ring will end up looking cheap and a cheap diamond will not have the luster of a better grade.

If you consider that the wedding and engagement rings are something that will be worn eternally then the cost of quality will fade into time. Don't be limited by what you see on a shelf as the true beauty of gold is that it can be fashioned into any design personnal to you.

To help you work through the maze its best to have a little understanding on gold and diamonds, we've outlined a brief overview to help you on your way

4C's - Diamond Colour:

The whiter a diamond's colour, the better this reaction it has to light. To grade this whiteness there is professional colour scale that begins with highest rating of D for colourless, and travels down the alphabet to grade stones with traces of colour or visible shadings. Between M and Z fall the poorest grades.

It's this absence of colour that gives a diamond its great value.

4C's - Diamond Clarity:

They are graded on a scale that ranges from Flawless to Imperfect:

Flawless-no external marks or internal inclusions
IF-surface blemishes but no internal inclusions
VVS (1&2)-very, very slight inclusions
VS (1&2) - very slight inclusions
SI (1,2,3) - slight inclusions
I1, I2, I3-inclusions visible under 10X magnification as well as to the human eye

4C's - Diamond Cut:

Cut gives a diamond brilliance. And brilliance is what a diamond is all about, especially in the eyes of the consumer.

Exact angles, proportions, symmetry and polish are all are taken into consideration before a diamond cut is assessed as superior.

Proportion:
A well-cut diamond reflects light back evenly in the face-up position, with no dark areas. It returns the most amount of light to the eye, as brilliance. And it displays what is known as dispersion, or fire, meaning those spectral colours of light that add richness to a stone's sparkle.

Symmetry:
This is judged by how well the facets line up against each other, which determines how efficiently they throw light between them.

Polish:
When buffed to a smooth finish a diamond has polish. A diamond's sparkle comes from both its reflection and refraction of light.

4C's - Diamond Carat:

This is NOT "CARAT", the method of determining the purity of gold. This CARAT is the weight of the diamond.

The price of a diamond will always rise proportionately to the size of the stone. Large diamonds are rarer and have a greater value per carat.

Size is often wanted, naturally; but overall quality counts in the long stretch.

Gold:

in jewellery is usually alloyed with copper and silver. White gold, very popular on the fashion scene right now, is created using nickel or palladium, zinc and copper. Alloying copper with gold creates pink gold.

When buying gold jewellery, always look for the carat mark. Pure gold, or 24-carat, is generally too soft for use in jewellery, so gold is alloyed with other metals to increase its strength. Eighteen carat gold is 18/24ths, or three-quarters pure gold and jewellery of this fineness is marked 18k or 750, the European designation meaning 75% gold. In addition to the carat mark, every piece of gold jewellery should be stamped with a hallmark or trademark of its maker and sometimes its country of origin.