I know! We looked at a 1.9 carat diamond that was awful. It was big, sure, but it was dark and had no fire. And we looked at it in a jewelry store with all those "special" lights. I've seen prettier 1/4 carat stones. And the kicker is they wanted $12K for that atrocity. And it was the ugliest ring I've ever seen...that big, ugly thing and baguette nastiness (I am not a baguette fan).

I agree with you on the feeling of righteousness. They spent money they could have bought a decent used car on a trinket. You got to give them something!

If you want to buy diamonds as an investment, you don't buy the diamond...you buy the mine. An investment and/or an asset is something that makes you money. Sure, a diamond might be worth X dollars to the insurance company in the case of loss but try selling it for what it is insured for. Not gonna happen. A house is only an investment/asset when it provides an income...like a rental (that you own, not the bank).

Yeah, lots of people seem to misunderstand appraisals. I see people all the time say "he paid x for it, but it got appraised for xx!". Yeah, all that higher appraisal means is that your premiums are higher. The insurance company will decide at time of loss how much actual replacement value is (hint: usually less than what you have been paying premiums for at the appraisal "value"). If your appraisal is really high, time to look for a more reasonable appraisal.

When I got married I swore I wouldn't turn psycho like so many brides to be. It sickened me to be in bridal parties to some of my friends and end up almost hating them in the end. I did my whole wedding start to finish for under $11,000 and everyone still says it was the best wedding they ever went to. I opted to have my grandfather "chaufer" me to the church, my talented sister-in-law made our cake, and for our table decorations we hollowed out pumpkins and took them to the florist to fill. I found my dream dress for $900 and only had a maid of honor and best man. I just didn't want to deal with the drama. Even on that tight of a budget we still had a horse drawn carriage from church to reception (it was only 1 mile! LOL) and a 4 piece quartet playing when we got there. I know people who spent 4x what I paid and they are divorced already. Same with the e-ring-who cares what it is or where it came from-it's the marriage that matters! I am going to upgrade my diamond e-ring to Amora when the time comes and hubby couldn't care less!

This made me laugh!

Miss Browner, I agree. After being here a while, I've come to adore you gals...so happy to share in each other's joy of getting stunning sparklies without all the pretentiousness.

We are one big happy sparklie family here

I would like to thank Academy and MissBrowner for starting this thread, Bumble Bubby, RaiKai, Lisa-Rimar, Borismom, Bronwyn and so many many more for their words....I could not have posted this post if it wasn't for you!!! I'll be taking pictures on the redcarpet and posting them soon LOL JK

Me, too! When I first started looking, it was all about diamonds. Then I found BTD and thought, "Well, money-wise... I could buy an Asha for now and pass it off as a diamond..." Then I saw the Avarra emerald custom cut option and told my boyfriend that along with my wedding set, I'll want an emerald jewelry piece to wear every day since I love the color of emeralds so much.

"Would you say emeralds are your favorite gemstone?"

"I think so... Yeah, I would."

"Then why not have an emerald engagement ring?"

And that was that. I went from a diamond-only snob to a bring-on-the-sims-and-colored-gemstones gal!

People can change... There might be hope for some of those other forums' diamond snobs.

LOL the red carpet!! That brought back a flood of posts I see elsewhere that are exactly like that, going down the list of usernames and vendors. Sigh, everyone needs something to do I guess.

+1 LOL!