奶油咪咪的喵言貓語

(承接 【結婚心得報告】 溫哥華選擇訂婚戒指 (Engagement ring)-上 的鑽石挑選原則)

2.最好不要去mall裡的珠寶店買: 他們鑽石都會比較貴，便宜的品質比較不好。還有他們通常已經將鑽石鑲嵌在底座上，所以很難判斷其品質，例如你就很難看出來鑽石是真的無色純淨還是因為白色底座反射光的加持。另外在店面裡特殊燈光的照射下，店員的鼓舞下，試戴戒指有時候會讓人容易心動而衝動的買下一支戒指，不得不小心。

3.可以考慮直接向信譽佳的進口商購買單顆鑽石(loose diamond): 除了因為省卻了廣告費跟中間商的費用而可以買到經濟實惠的鑽石外，還可以在顯微鏡下仔細辨認鑽石的品質，再依自己的喜好選擇底座的款式跟材質來鑲嵌，自由度高。不過要選擇可信任的珠寶商就是最大的難題。

4.另外找珠寶商鑑定(Appraisal):除了鑽石公司提供的書面證明外，最好還是另外找一個珠寶商來客觀評鑑鑽石，他們通常會開一張證明，而這個appraisal通常就是保險公司理賠的依據。

以下是阿湯哥整理在溫哥華的一些珠寶商及感想:

1. http://www.spencediamonds.com/
-good for window shopping.  they have thousands of rings in the store that you can take from the display case to try one.
-they don't contain real diamonds.  just fake ones on display
-they also give you a little tutorial on dimonds and let you look through a microscope at different grades of diamonds.
-price too expensive

2. http://www.minichiellojewellers.com/
-family owned business on robson
-on 2nd floor so you would not normally notice it when walking along robson
-prices are quite good and helpful staff
-they can help you look for a diamond with certain specifications if they don't have it
-you can give them the criteria and price range of the diamond you want

3. http://www.diamond.ca/vancouver.htm
-probably the best prices in vancouver that I found
-they do not have a retail store
-it's more like a small office where they show and sell you the diamond. 
-they are more of a wholesaler and supply diamonds to other stores
-they however, keep on calling you every few days afterwards to see if you still want to buy the diamond
-they sell loose diamonds and help you set it in a ring setting

4. http://www.affordablediamondsonline.com/
-a very informative site
-online sales are by far the cheapest because they have lower overhead
-it is very difficult find a good company online: lots online
-are they reputable, will they send you the diamond after you pay
-worry about what you get without even seeing it.
-customer service is rather poor
-but price is very good.
-huge selection of all diamonds with different specs because they don't carry in store. they order it for you when you buy it

最後一點，(這也不算是溫哥華選擇訂婚戒指的心得吧XD)如果準新人可以到西岸的 Portland 這個玫瑰城市的話，它們不僅有很多珠寶商，最棒的是這個州不收消費稅，這樣就可以省下不少錢，所以住在美國的朋友們可以考慮一下喔
(謎之聲:不過機票算進去的話就不一定了吧)

題外話:

對於訂婚戒指我一向是沒啥幻想，印象只有電影裡的男生拿出鑲鑽的戒指給女生，然後女生才點頭的。對我來說，由「節儉」的阿湯哥手中收到這個rather貴重的禮物，令我感動的是背後的象徵意義而不是其真正的價值。