My girlfriend and I have been invited to three weddings this summer. Two of them our friends of hers (and she’s a bridesmaid in one of them) and the third is one of my cousins. My friends have been giving me a hard time, telling me all my girlfriend is going to be able to talk about is when is she going to get a diamond ring of her own? That’s fine with me, because I know the answer to that question. It will be this summer, which means it is time for me to get serious about shopping.   [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Verragio Diamond Engagement Ring[/caption] We have talked enough in general terms so that I know the type of engagement ring she would love to have. I even managed to swipe one of her rings and figure out what size she is so we don’t have to worry about resizing the ring after I buy it. That was the easy part. The difficult part was figuring out all the differences between grades of diamonds, types of cuts, what the diamonds were mounted on, getting matching wedding bands, all of it. I wasn’t going to let it overwhelm me, because I knew enough to reach out for a lifeline. I took a long lunch one day from work and headed down to the local jewelry store. I knew I was going to have a lot of questions to ask and I didn’t want to monopolize their time when they might be busy. I told the sales associate exactly what my situation was, and before we even looked at various diamond engagement rings, he explained to me the 4 C’s of diamonds – cut, color, clarity and carat. Once I felt like I had a good enough understanding, he showed me several different options all within my price range. I settled on a diamond and platinum engagement ring that had matching his and hers diamond weddings bands as well. I knew it was the type of ring she was looking for and it was going to make her happy. Now I just have to make sure she doesn’t see it for the next two months. One of the weddings is in Key West, and I plan on proposing on the beach as the sun is setting.