When you’re ring shopping, it often feels like this: walls of glass shielding precious jewellery from you, that you can look at but not touch. Even when you have a staff member showing you a ring you’ve been looking at, it still feels like a forbidden move to physically hold it.
My tip while you’re shopping is this:
Pick up the ring!
If you don’t often wear jewellery, diamond and gemstone rings can feel like precious things that you’re not allowed to touch. They feel like delicate, expensive things so fragile that they can break if you hold them wrong.
When you do pick one up, it feels strange. You’re not really sure what to do with it. Do you hold it in your palm? Put it on your finger? Hold it up to your eye to look more closely? You probably don’t even really know what to look for, to judge if it’s something you’d like to buy.
If this sounds like your experience?
Then it’s even more important to pick up the ring! I promise you, it’s less delicate and fragile than you think - rings are made to be worn, after all.
Hold the ring.
Handle it.
Feel it.
Gauge the weight.
Look at the structure.
See how it sparkles.
Try it on. (If it’s not for you, that’s okay, seeing what it looks like on any human is still better than seeing it only in a showcase).
Use what you see and feel to ask questions. Any and all questions that pop into your mind. That’s what the person serving you is there for.
You may not really ‘get’ what you’re feeling and seeing at first. Though before long, you’ll start to feel the differences between rings that you can’t pick up on by sight alone. You’ll notice why some rings that look the same are considerably different prices (hint: a heavier ring, means more metal, which means it’ll last you a lot longer).
If buying engagement rings and wedding rings isn’t something you do all the time - which is most people - it can be hard to know what to look for, and what to ask about. Drawing on your sense of touch, instead of just looking at them, can help bridge that gap and help you formulate questions to ask. Fundamentally, those questions will help you get the information you need to find the perfect ring for you.
So, pick up the ring!