It's wedding season here at POPSUGAR, and to celebrate, we're taking a look at stars and their bling. Jennifer Love Hewitt is the latest star to show off her bauble, but there are plenty of celebrity gems out there to ogle. Check out all the famous rings from Blake Lively's oval stunner to Reese Witherspoon's cool cut and more. Some of the relationships have come and gone, but ring photos are here to stay. Click through to see over 100 of the precious gems!
Former Mad Men actor Jared Harris is engaged to Allegra Riggio, and he proposed with a very unique-looking ring. Allegra posted a Vine video of the engagement ring, designed by Erica Courtney, which has a heart-shaped diamond. As we saw with Kate Middleton's sapphire stunner, sometimes the unique celebrity rings can inspire new trends — so maybe heart-shaped rings will be the next big thing. I have to admit, it harkens back to my younger days getting jewelry from those toy vending machines at the grocery store . . . in a good way. What do you think of the unusually designed sparkler?
Does buying a ring from Costco make the whole proposal experience less romantic? After all, it is also a place where you buy bulk quantities of meat. In the meantime, Tiffany & Co. brings up dreamy images of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Lately, more attention has been drawn to these two very different retailers because of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit the luxury jeweler has brought against the wholesaler. The high-end jewelry company contends the "Tiffany" rings sold in Costco falsely lead people on to believe they are genuine Tiffany goods.
In the meantime, more people are finding that taking the practical route and shopping for a ring at the superstore is definitely better for the wallet, The Atlantic says. There is the assumption that Tiffany rings are overpriced, while you're getting more bang for your buck with a Costco ring of the same quality. And informal appraisals have found that to be true. Good Morning America appraised a diamond from Tiffany and one from Costco in 2005 and found that a particular diamond ring cost 58 percent more than its actual value at Tiffany, while another from Costco cost 17 percent under its real value.
What do you think — would you buy a ring from Costco over one from Tiffany?
Do a diamond's origins matter that much? We have come to a point in which scientists can create diamonds in the lab that are virtually indistinguishable from mined diamonds. If you're contemplating buying this lab-grown gem during your engagement ring hunt, here are a few things you should know:
It's not cubic zirconia. Everyone's familiar with cubic zirconia, which is known to imitate the look of a diamond but does not have the chemical makeup of one. Gems that mimic the look of diamonds are classified as a diamond simulant. Others that go under the simulant category include moissanite, quartz, and glass.
You won't be able to tell the difference between a lab-grown diamond and a mined diamond. If you go to the legitimate sources, you'll find that their gems are essentially the same as mined diamonds. The gems have the same physical and chemical properties as mined diamonds. The proper names for these diamonds are laboratory-created, lab-grown, or man-made diamonds.
It's cheaper. Although the price varies on different diamonds depending on the shape, cut, carat, clarity, and color, president and CEO Stephen Lux of Gemesis Diamond Company, a producer of lab-created diamonds, says "generally speaking, Gemesis lab-created diamonds retail for approximately 20 to 30 percent less than mined diamonds." Lux gave sample prices of what you can expect to see at Gemesis — a 0.50 carat can range from $500 to $2,500 while a 1.00 carat can go from $2,000 to $8,000.
The drawbacks. The main drawback seems to be the limits to the size of the diamonds, perhaps due to the technology and equipment of the producer. Gemesis sells colorless diamonds in sizes ranging from 0.50 to 1.50 carats, but they do have bigger sizes for colored diamonds. Another negative is the unromantic notion that the gem is created in a few days vs. taking millions of years to form.
Where to buy. Currently, the leader in the lab-grown diamond industry seems to be Gemesis. You can order diamond jewelry on its website, or you can also opt to order loose stones.
To all ring shoppers, here's a basic guide to buying an engagement ring if you have no clue where to start.
Your commitment is what matters, but you'd still be pretty upset if you lost your engagement ring, right? Before you get too caught up in showing off your bling like Carrie Underwood, make sure to protect your prized possession with jewelry insurance.
A good personal-article insurance policy will cover your engagement ring, wedding ring, or other jewelry — up to whatever amount you choose — in the case of theft, loss, fire, or something crazy, like the diamond falling out during a water-ski excursion. Policies vary depending on your coverage and the value of your ring, but there are some general rules. Now that you've found the perfect ring, here's what you need to know about ring insurance.
The engagement ring may be one of the biggest expenses of your wedding, and as with buying any big-ticket item, you need to do your homework. We tapped Jerry Ehrenwald, the president of the International Gemological Institute, for some quick guidelines on what couples need to do when they're buying an engagement ring.
An engagement ring can be one of the biggest expenses of the wedding and is also one of the most talked-about parts of matrimony. The price of the ring should depend on how big your budget is and how your finances are, but if you're wondering how much everyone else is spending, then take this short quiz to guess how much people spent on the average engagement ring last year.
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There's nothing like some sparkling eye candy to start the weekend off right. Whether you're spoken for or not, this ring roundup isn't just geared toward the wedding-aisle-bound (and hopeless romantics). It also provides a sound lineup of sparkly eye candy, fodder for those "treat yourself" moments, and more than a few aspirational pieces worth adding to your wish list. The girl who is trying to drop subtle hints will find her perfect (ring) match inside, but we've also got a feeling the girl who just loves a great statement piece will find what she's looking for too. From traditional princess-cut varieties to minimalist bands to more off-the-cuff gem-encrusted iterations, we've found rings aplenty — versatile enough to fit almost any style personality — at every price point. The prettiest, the quirkiest, and the most drop-down-on-bended-knee rings worth poring over, right this way.
We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Chuck Ross asks brides-to-be: is it all about the ring?
I’ve never thought to defend Mark Zuckerberg. Farmville made that almost impossible. But I’ll do it this once. This has nothing to do with Facebook’s horrid IPO or its lack of a plan to gin up revenue to support its bloated market capitalization. Instead, I must defend Zuckerberg against a small but vicious pack of hyenas who are accusing him of being a cheapskate.
Intertwined with his company’s public debut, the newly minted billionaire married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. Their ceremony was modest – it involved a backyard wedding at the medical graduate Chen’s home. Cheap Mexican food was served, most likely on paper plates. No honeymoon was embarked on.
But the real headline grabber, picked up by celebrity gossip site TMZ and others, was Zuckerberg’s thrift in the ring department. People who are concerned with such things estimate that the ring Zuckerberg bought for his bride cost a measly $25,000—or a micro-penny swing of Facebook’s share price.
At least one writer, the New York Post’s Rita Delfiner, complained that even Kris Humphries procured a $2 million stone for Kim Kardashian. Delfiner points out, without irony, that the former reality TV couple was only married for 72 days.
Channeling the frustration of women from Montgomery to Manhattan, Delfiner wrote “it looked as if Mrs. Mark Zuckerberg had won the lottery when she married the Facebook boss last weekend—but now she appears to be the unluckiest lucky woman alive.”
Few are crying.
I step up for Zuckerberg because I, too, plan to be up for review. My ring-purchasing prowess on display—most likely on Facebook. I’ll be engaged in the near future, and I’ll have to tackle this ring business. But I’ll admit that the thought of plunking down a large amount of money for a ring makes a part of me want to avoid the whole thing altogether.
Truth is, I’d probably already be married with kids if it weren’t for the engagement ring provision that holds so much cultural cachet in my—and many other men’s—social circle.
You hear the engagement ring terms being thrown around — cushion-cut, bezel, princess — but do you know what it means? If you choose to get engaged, will you know what you want? There's a surfeit amount of styles to choose from — enough to leave you dizzy — so we're going to test your bling knowledge. When you're done here, be sure to check out our other wedding stories!
