Planning the Perfect Wedding 101: Pick The Right Wedding Vendors

You've got the perfect ring - now it's time for the perfect wedding ceremony!

Anyone who’s ever been married can testify: Planning the perfect wedding involves choosing the best wedding vendors. Select good ones and you’re sure to have flawless wedding design that lets you enjoy your big day with little worry. But make the mistake of choosing bad vendors and the happiest day of your life can become full of needless headaches over wilted flowers, missing cakes and more.

It’s easy to find yourself on the losing end of the wedding vendor search - but even easier not to with a few valuable pointers to choosing the perfect wedding vendors.

One of the first, and most surprising, pieces of advice is to look for wedding vendors on the higher end of your budget limit. While it may be tempting to cut corners on things like table linens, flowers and other seemingly small details, you’ll ultimately pay the price in unhappy guests and unflattering reviews. Cheap chairs, for instance, may look attractive but feature flimsy frames and thin, uncomfortable cushions. Quality Chiavari chair seating, on the other hand, will not only look beautiful but will keep your guests happy. Remember the saying that you get what you pay for. 

Another great idea is to collect magazines specializing in weddings that look closest to your dream ceremony. Are destination weddings on your mind? There’s a magazine for that. High-end, luxurious ceremonies? There’s a wedding magazine for that too. There are literally dozens of magazines catering to endless wedding types and they all feature high-end wedding decorators and vendors from around the country who have typically been vetted for quality.

Perhaps the best resource you have when it comes to picking the perfect wedding vendor is literally at your fingertips - the Internet. Say you’re interested in a cultural ceremony. Plug in a term like “Atlanta Indian wedding decorator” and you’ll instantly get the top Indian wedding vendors Atlanta has to offer. Check out their websites closely: You want vendors who have quality design, quality pictures and plenty of customer testimonials. Wedding vendors who take time to put their best foot forward online are certain to treat your wedding ceremony with care.

Whether they’re offering floral arrangements or table linens, perfect wedding vendors are key to having the ceremony of your dreams!

Diamond Clarity and Your Wedding Ring

Diamond clarity is the third key to buying a quality wedding ring. The more clarity a diamond has, the more precious and valuable it is.

But what is clarity in a diamond? What makes a diamond unclear?

Diamond is one of the hardest minerals on the earth. But despite its hardness, a diamond can have all sorts of scratches, trace minerals, and other impurities that reduce the clarity of the stone.

Your jeweler will call these defects “inclusions.”

The more inclusions a diamond has, the lower the value of the gem, so you want to buy a stone with as much clarity as you can afford.

The highest clarity rating is “flawless,” a term which you’ve probably heard in relationship with diamonds before. If you can’t afford a flawless diamond, you’ll want to get a diamond that is very, very slightly included. These inclusions won’t be visible with the naked eye and you’ll have a very good quality diamond.

If you really need to save money, you can get a lower clarity diamond, but don’t go lower than a slightly included diamond. This diamond will show quite a few inclusions at 10X magnification, and some will be visible with the naked eye, but you’ll still have a pretty good diamond clarity.

The 'Color Factor' When Selecting a Diamond Ring

When choosing a diamond wedding ring, the color in the diamonds plays an important role. The Gemological Institute of America sets guidelines that the industry follows, and you might be surprised at what you find there.

Several different systems have been applied to grading the color of a diamond over the years. Some have used numbers and some have used letters. So, when the GIA decided to create a system for grading color in diamonds, they purposely started with the letter d and worked their way down to z.

It's important to note that if you’re choosing a diamond wedding ring, and you’re looking at diamond with a grade of d, you’re not looking at a diamond that is four notches down the color scale. You’re actually looking at the highest rating a diamond can have.

When discussing the 'color' in a diamond, it might be surprising to discover that the the ideal is to get a diamond that is completely COLORLESS. Color in a diamond actually gives a dingy look that interferes with the natural beauty of the diamond and how it’s able to reflect light.

There are rare diamonds that offer unique colors such as yellow or pink, however we’ll discuss those in another post.

Choosing a diamond requires a close look at its color. You don’t necessarily need to purchase the highest quality of color, but at least make sure you chose a diamond that is colorless enough to fool the naked eye.

Perfect Cut Makes a Perfect Diamond Ring

When you start looking for a diamond ring, the cut of the diamond is one of the critical factors to consider. For this reason you will hear jewelers talking frequently about it.

Now, when a jeweler is talking about cut, they aren’t talking about the shape of the diamond. You can have different shapes to the diamond such as pear or teardrop shape, and still have a good or bad cut.

When a diamond is being cut, the objective is to cut the angles of the diamond so that the light is drawn into the heart of the diamond and then redirected back to the observer’s eye. This cut is what gives the diamond it’s glint and glimmer.

If the cut is wrong, light can leak out the side of the stone and be lost on the person observing the diamond wedding band. A good cut will reflect the light nicely.

When you’re looking for a diamond ring or a diamond wedding band, ask the jeweler to demonstrate the difference a variety of cuts makes in the reflective qualities of the diamond. It will help immensely in choosing the diamond wedding band that’s right for you or your future bride.

Keep Your Diamond Wedding Bands Beautiful

With a little regular care your diamond wedding bands will stay sparkling for years to come. All it takes is some soap and water once a month.

Your wedding band can get pretty dingy at times. Cosmetics, hand lotions, even the oils in your skin reduce the ring’s luster. The good news is, with minimal gentle care you can keep your diamond wedding band looking like new.

Put some mild soap in a small bowl of water. Set your wedding band in the soap and water mixture. Get a soft brush. An eyebrow brush or lipstick brush will work quite well.

With the band completely submerged gently scrub the band. Then take it out and dry it with a lint-free cloth.

Need a stronger cleaning? You can mix water with ammonia in a 1:1 ratio and soak your ring for a bit before scrubbing it. Or, if you’re really serious about cleaning your diamond wedding band (or have a lot or rings to clean), you can buy one of the many ultra-sonic cleaners on the market.

Of course, your other option is to take it to a professional jeweler. They’ll generally clean your diamond wedding band for you for little, or no, money.

Sell Your Gold and Get Cash Today!

We've heard all the advertisements; we're bombarded through the radio, newspaper and TV. There's alot of hype about selling your gold and getting cash, but you have to be careful. If you're not careful you'll get a lot less money than you should.

The price of gold is extremely high. To put it in perspective, gold was selling for about $250/ounce in 2001. Today it is selling for $925/ounce. Quite a difference! All the gold stored in your jewelry box is therefore worth a lot more now than it was in 2001. Gold buyers encourage people to therefore trade in their gold for cash.

A few online gold buyers recently received a ton of bad press for extremely low payout rates. This has hurt the entire industry, however, there are some honest online gold buyers that pay a fair price. Do a bit of research and you could walk away with a enough money for a vacation!

Gold-Cash.com publishes their rates on a daily basis. Where most gold buyers go out of their way to hide their payout rates, Gold-Cash.com goes out of their way to advertise them, demonstrating their commitment to being an honest gold buyer and paying customers fair value. They are licensed and insured to trade gold for cash, members of many industry organizations and have no hidden fees or minimums.

These are all major considerations when looking for a reputable gold buyer. Now is a good time to sell your old jewelry for cash, and Gold-Cash.com is the company that stands above the rest.

Gifts for Each Anniversary

At Eternity Wedding Bands we're firm believers that with jewelry, anything goes. Meaning, there are lots of guidelines on jewelry - how to wear certain jewelry or how an engagement ring or wedding band should be set. We believe, however, that you can do what you want. Dont be pressured into what society thinks is the 'right' way to wear jewelry, but wear it how you think it looks best. That's what individuality is about, and what we promote at Eternity Wedding Bands.

With that in mind, some times it can be difficult to come up with a great gift idea. So below we provide the jewelry gift that traditionally symbolizes each anniversary.

ANNIVERSARY - GIFT (with links to some examples)
1 - Gold Jewelry 8 Strand Gold Heart Necklace
2 - Garnet (all colors) Garnet Gemstone Pendant
3 - Pearls Pearl Necklaces, Pearl Bracelets and Pearl Earrings
4 - Blue Topaz Blue Topaz Pendant
5 - Sapphires (all colors) Sapphire and Diamond Rings
6 - Amethyst Amethyst and Diamond Pendant
7 - Onyx Cuff Links with Black Onyx
8 - Tourmaline (all colors) Multi Color Tourmaline Necklace
9 - Lapis Lazuli (all colors)
10 - Diamond Jewelry Diamond Stud Earrings
11 - Turquois Smoky Quartz and Turquoise Necklace
12 - Jade
13 - Citrine Citrine and Diamond Earrings
14 - Opal
15 - Ruby Ruby and Diamond Rings
16 - Peridot
17 - Watches
18 - Cat's Eye
19 - Aquamarine Aquamarine Gemstone Pendant
20 - Emerald Emerald Eternity Ring
25 - Silver Jubilee
30 - Pearl Jubilee
35 - Emerald
40 - Ruby
50 - Golden Jubilee
55 - Alexandrite
60 - Diamond Jubilee
75 - Platinum

And to the woman who receives all of these, we want to hear from you!!