Q&A: Looking for an Pear-Shaped Diamond for a White Gold Pave Setting Within a $9k Total Budget

Hello!

I am looking to purchase an engagement ring, from either James Allen (top choice) or Blue Nile (close second choice), and would love some assistance in narrowing down my options.

I’m looking for:
– Pear shape diamond, somewhere between 1.0 and 1.4 carat
– 18k white gold setting, Pave style
– Budget is up to approximately $9,000 total

Please let me know if there are more details that would be helpful!
Thanks for any help you can offer!

These diamonds look great – I will be looking in a little more detail later this morning (haven’t had a chance to dive in fully since you sent them over). But for now, I was curious what main guidelines/parameters/characteristics you looked for in these diamonds that separated them from others? I’d love to learn more in general about the selection process for narrowing down the options.

Also, would you be able to help with finding a pave setting to go along with it as well? And I assume that with the setting and one of these diamonds, I will still remain within my $9k budget?

So for the setting, I do really like the second one – but I was curious if the prongs on a setting holding a pear shaped diamond will always look like they do on this one? Or if the way the prongs look will vary based on the specific setting/ring itself?

Couple questions about those three diamonds as well:

For the 3rd diamond (the IF one), is there any concern about the color rating being an H as opposed to at least a G?

While each of the L/W ratios are the same, the 2nd diamond stood out as having a smaller depth compared to the other two (and thus a larger length & width) – how will this affect the diamonds “brilliance” and “ideal-ness” of its cut?

Is there anything in the differences of the “girdle” between the three that is noteworthy?

Is the price difference from the IF diamond simply due to the color being a lesser grade than the other two, in spite of the clarity being higher grade?

Like you said, the French pave has larger diamonds, which means it also has a slightly thicker band, and I was leaning toward that one, but my only concern is that the thicker band / larger diamonds in the setting might not highlight the pear diamond, as well as the thinner/smaller setting band, might… do you think that difference would be noticeable?

So here’s what I think I’ve decided on:

18K WHITE GOLD 0.32CT FRENCH CUT PAVE DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RING

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/1.21-carat-h-color-if-clarity-sku-6811700?a_aid=dmnd1357

If there’s anything else you see that is worth mentioning that I should consider, please let me know… otherwise, thank you SO much for all the help here! You made the process much less stressful and easier than it otherwise would have been! Really appreciate it!!

Will do, thanks!