My boyfriend and I have recently gone ring shopping/ browsing (he has been saving up the past few months and he told me his timeline is to propose sometime in the spring... May or June, probably around the time I graduate from grad school). It was a very fun experience, but now, a week later, after I thought I had everything figured out, I have all these questions about settings! We're extremely lucky: he is going to use my mother's marquise diamond from her engagement ring (just under 1 carat... I think 0.94 or something). So, I'm at least sure about one thing!
First ring issue:
I always imagined I would get, and did really like the look of, a very thin, dainty band (2 mm or under) with pave/ bead set diamonds along the front of the ring (of course, this was under the magic jewelry store lights.) I am now having second thoughts. My mom thought that would take away from the look of the central diamond (she's very proud of how pretty it is and that she thinks it's gorgeous on it's own). She owned the ring long before I ever will, so I thought maybe she has a point/ knows of what she speaks, and I did a quick online "solitaire vs pave" search.
I found a lot of discussions about some pave diamonds falling out over time. This seems like a real hassle. I was wondering if anyone here has had personal experience with this issue? I would also love to see some pictures of thin solitaire bands (just metal, tapered, engraved, whatever) on actual hands. I have lurked for a while, and I know that there are already threads with rings pictures...but, well, rings are pretty and I always like seeing more! And while I'm at it, if you have a marquise diamond at all, I would really appreciate a picture of your ring on your hand whether it is pave or not-- there aren't that many pictures of marquises, and most jewelry stores don't have them on hand (haha) for me to try on to get a feel for what the band + stone would actually look like together.
Second ring issue:
I want to be able to wear my engagement and wedding rings most of the time, so I thought a low set diamond would be a safer option. However, in the first jewelry store we went to (super fancy, super over budget!), the jeweler/ owner of the store said that a low setting is definitely a good idea, but that it would require either a custom shaped band that would look very strange by itself, or I would have to wear my wedding band on a separate hand because the low setting would make for too awkward of a gap with a straight wedding band. Is this the case with all low settings, or maybe he just said that because of the marquise shape? I suppose I would be okay with wearing my rings on separate hands if I had to, but I would prefer a straight wedding band on the same finger as my engagement. Does a higher set diamond actually cause a lot of problems? And does getting a low setting make it more difficult to find wedding bands?
Mostly, I'm just wondering how others have chosen to resolve these questions.
I realize that these are pretty wonderful "problems" to have, and I'm definitely enjoying my current blissed-out pre-engagement time, but I want to be able to tell my boyfriend the right thing; I want to make the actual purchasing as easy on him as possible, and I'd like to avoid the added future expense of upgrades, or changing settings.
ps- this is way longer than I intended, and if this post is better suited for a different board, I apologize, and please let me know!