Dear Brides,
I am having a custom wedding band made to match my engagement ring, and I had a frustrating time. I'm giving some advice with the hope that your experience goes more smoothly. I prefer not to bad-mouth the jewelers who frustrated me, so instead I'll recommend the one with good service.
First some general advice: If you want to have a custom piece made, you need to talk to a jeweler... a real old-fashioned jewler who can explain the details of the process and most importantly someone with the authority to make pricing decisions for his/her company. In some stores, it's very difficult to speak with anyone other than an unknowledgeable sales person. I also found that 2 of the 3 stores I visited needed to hire more Saturday staff. They were so chaotic. Please call ahead. Please try to make an appointment if possible, and please be explicit about your desire to meet with someone with the skills and authority you need.
In the end, I chose the jeweler who gave me the lowest price, but I wish I would have gone with the jeweler who provided the best experience. That was Amoroso Jewelers. I have visited their store in the Jewelry Building in downtown Boston 4 or 5 times, and I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for service. Most importantly, each time I've visited the two Amoroso brothers have been there, meaning I could speak with someone knowledgeable, and I could receive a price estimate on the spot. Other stores wanted me to leave my engagement ring with them for up to a week to even get a price estimate for a custom matching band. If I could start the whole process over, I think my time and sanity were worth more than the little bit of money I saved.
Best of luck, brides!
Holly