Marriage Proposal Ideas, Diamond Advice, Tips

2007-08-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Mondera Coupons

2007-02-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

Check out our page on Mondera coupons for some even newer coupons. Currently, there are a couple of coupon offers there ranging from 10% off everything (except diamonds) to $150 off a diamond purchase.

Even though these coupons will change on a fairly constant basis, that page will always have the most recent Mondera coupons. You can also check out other coupons like Blue Nile coupons or a variety of other merchants here.

With Valentine's Day Coming Up, Get Creative!

2007-01-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day approaching fast, it's time for you to start thinking about it even if you aren't going to pop the question then (if you are, check out over 100 marriage proposal ideas to get some ideas). Even though we normally only talk about engagements, diamonds, or wedding tips, I thought that I'd mention a few tips for the approaching holiday.

Instead of doing the usual roses and chocolates, try to get creative. If you still want to go the traditional route, great, but try adding something to it. Instead of just going out to eat, why not relive a fun memory the two of you had together? Why not plan a special night out?

The more you go out of your way and try to personalize the event, the more it'll be remembered. Just like with any special memory, you need to make it memorable. If the two of you don't celebrate the holiday much and prefer not to do something elaborate, why not surprise her (or him) with something out of the ordinary.

If she'd never expect a singing telegram from you, why not send one as a joke? If you normally just have plain old roses delivered to her office, why not deliver chocolate roses (often cheaper too) to her office -- one for each employee near her. This would surely get her a lot of attention and earn you a lot of brownie points.

You don't need an elaborate plain to make it a good one. Just give it a little extra thought.

Mondera Coupons: 10% Off and $160 Off

2007-01-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Check out our new Mondera coupons to save 10% on your purchase from Mondera or $160 off a diamond with their design your own ring feature. You can also head over to www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/mondera-coupons.html to see the latest Mondera coupons and deals. We have a policy of providing the latest and greatest coupons. Be sure to also ask about how to save an extra $25 to $200 or more on top of any coupon by contacting info@marriage-proposal-ideas.com.

Blue Nile Coupon $50 Off

2007-01-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

There's a new Blue Nile coupon at www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/bluenile.html for $50 off your purchase. Be sure to check that page for details and updates on the most recent (and some exclusive) diamond jewelry coupons from Blue Nile. Also, you can save an additional $25 to $200 or more off of your purchase by contacting info@marriage-proposal-ideas.com with details on what you were checking out at Blue Nile. We have a policy of always offering the best Blue Nile coupons and deals to our visitors.

Happy New Years and some special things to come!

2006-12-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to make a quick announcement and wish everyone a happy New Years! Be sure to spend plenty of time with family, friends, and loved ones. There have been plenty of marriage proposals lately, so I also wanted to wish everyone best of luck with your future plans together as well.

Finally, I just wanted to make a quick announcement that there will be some exciting things coming in 2007 for Marriage-Proposal-Ideas.com and a few other new sites. Stay tuned!

Brian

Blue Nile Coupons

2006-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Blue Nile is by far one of the more popular diamond jewelry sites online, and Blue Nile is especially known for diamond engagement rings and loose diamonds. We often have Blue Nile coupons that you can take advantage of -- often times even several exclusive Blue Nile coupons.

Even if there are no normal Blue Nile coupons, we have some exclusive deals setup through us where we can save you more from Blue Nile in three ways.

First, we have several current deals up on our Blue Nile Coupons page, which can often times save you some immediate cash on your Blue Nile purchase.

Second, we have an exclusive refund program setup where if you use our link to Blue Nile on our Blue Nile Coupons page before making your purchase, we'll send you payment (via Paypal, money order, or check) of typically$25 to $200 or more as a way to say thanks for using our link to Blue Nile. Simply e-mail us at info@marriage-proposal-ideas.com to find out more information and to get a quote.

Also, if you contact us at info@marriage-proposal-ideas.com (remember the dashes) and provide us with the exact item number that you are looking at, we can check into it for you and often times tell you ways of saving even more directly from Blue Nile. This can range from $50 to several hundred dollars usually -- and you can use this with our current Blue Nile coupons and refund program.

Lastly, if you tell us what you found at Blue Nile or any other diamond jewelry site, we can conduct a free diamond search for you to see if we can find you any cheaper deals. We almost always can. We're also more than happy to stick to only the diamond jewelry site that you are already looking at if you want.

So, remember to check our Blue Nile Coupons page and to take advantage of our refund program and free diamond search to save you hundreds to thousands of dollars!

Online Shopping Vs. Local Jewelers

2006-12-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Many people are afraid to buy online, but the question is, should they? Personally, I think that many people are afraid to buy online because they don't know what to look for in a diamond. From my experience, I'd actually be more afraid to buy from a local jeweler than online. And I have a few reasons why...

Some of the bigger online jewelry stores, like Blue Nile, are not only much larger and can afford to offer lower prices, but they also only deal with GIA and similar certified diamonds. Many local jewelers either deal with uncertified diamonds, or they certify the diamonds themselves, which is unethical (due to the potential bias). Some local jewelers also try to get around this by saying that they have "independently certified diamonds," but they often times will have someone else certify it who gets a percent cut in commission for every sale, which is yet another form of bias.

Bigger online jewelry sites won't do this, because it can really ruin their image online quite easily. Large online stores will also often mention every quality of the diamond from its cut to what type of symmetry it has and so forth. Many local jewelers and even smaller online stores will often leave the cut out.

This is very deceiving, as they'll pretend that their price is a lot cheaper than anywhere else. In reality, they're often comparing the price of their "fair" or "good" cut diamond to an "excellent" cut diamond. If you were to compare a lesser cut stone online to the normal lesser cut stone in a store, you'd see that the online one is by far cheaper. In fact, many local jewelers won't even carry "excellent" cuts and they'll still have a lesser cut far more expensive than an excellent cut diamond online of the same size and everything else.

This is why you have to be careful. If you do shop for a diamond, make sure that it's GIA certified and that it's an excellent cut (if it's a round shaped diamond) or a "very good" cut if it's a fancy shaped diamond (like princess, emerald, etc.) -- GIA only recognizes excellent cuts for round shaped diamonds.

If you know what to look for then, you'll notice that online prices are virtually always cheaper often times by thousands of dollars. If you get GIA certified diamonds, it's also reassurance that you are getting what it claims. This way, you don't have to be worried about being surprised -- something that local jewelers try to trick consumers into thinking will happen if you shop online.

Even when shopping online, be sure to compare similar characteristics and certifications. Many smaller online jewelry stores try to do the same tricks as local jewelers.

Another thing to be careful of (both online and offline) are stores that claim to have the best cut diamond and make up their own names. For instance, they'll re-name a cut to something like "The Leo Diamond" or "Hearts on Fire" and so forth. GIA doesn't recognize any cut other than fair, good, very good, and excellent (also known as ideal). Any jeweler claiming that their cut is the best without a GIA certified report saying that it's an excellent cut is most likely lying to you. Some jewelers rename their own cuts that are really only "good" cuts (which is unethical and tricky), whereas some will be more ethical and rename an "excellent" cut to their new name (still pretending that their cut is better). But keep in mind that these "re-named" cuts are almost certainly not GIA certified, which means you have to trust your jeweler on this...

From my experience, people are simply amazed at excellent cuts that they buy online compared to the other diamond that they see from their local jewelers. But again, the trick is to know what you are looking for.

We have a free diamond search where we'll search thousands of diamonds for you from dozens of the top diamond jewelry sites to find the cheapest prices on high quality diamonds for you. You simply provide us the details, and we'll find you what you are looking for. I normally save people at least $1,000 or more. On top of that, we can offer exclusive coupons from virtually any online diamond jewelry store out there.

If you're still clueless on what to look for, I encourage you to take advantage of our free unbiased searches.

Diamond Buying Advice and Tips

2006-09-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

I want to talk a little bit about diamonds – something many of you might be shopping for right now. Diamonds can be a bit tricky to shop for. There are okay diamonds, there are good diamonds, and then there are great diamonds. Most consumers don’t know that the majority of jewelry stores carry mainly okay to good diamonds. They’ll often pressure you to pay more for certain features of a diamond that don’t really matter much, yet they’ll ignore the features that really do matter and make a diamond look nicer. Not only are your typical jewelry stores overpriced, but you’ll often walk away paying more for a lesser quality stone! Now there are good jewelry stores out there, but you do have to be careful.

I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to go over a few tips. Now, if you want a more in depth reading of our diamond ring buying guide, check it out here: www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/ringguide.html

However, if you already know somewhat of the basics, I’m going to let you in on a few secrets on how to save hundreds to thousands of dollars off of already low priced diamonds, and how to walk away with a great looking diamond.

1. If you’re searching for a round diamond, try to stick to an ideal or excellent cut diamond (ideal and excellent mean the same thing). This is what gives a diamond its sparkle, and most jewelry stores don’t carry very many of these.

2. Make sure that the diamond is not only certified, but make sure that it’s certified by a respected diamond grading institute like GIA. You’ll often find uncertified diamonds, or diamonds certified by no-name institutes or even certified by the jeweler himself/herself, for less money than similar diamonds because they aren’t always truthful. They’ll report the features of the diamond often being far better than what they are (trying to trick the consumer). So be careful and asked for certified diamonds (GIA is always a good choice and a very common one for great diamonds).

3. Shopping online can often save you hundreds of dollars compared to picking up a similar stone, or even a lesser stone, at your local jeweler simply because online companies don’t have as much of an overhead cost and can afford to sell them at a cheaper price. Depending on the state that you’re in, you sometimes don’t even need to pay sales tax when you shop online.

4. Worry less about clarity and more about color and cut. Jewelers often try to talk buyers into paying tons more for a higher clarity (clarity is how easy it is to see inclusions – all diamonds have inclusions for the most part – it’s just a matter of how easy you can see them). What most consumers don’t know is that an SI1 or SI2 diamond can save you hundreds to thousands compared to higher clarities, but the trick here is to ask for an eye clean diamond. An eye clean diamond means that NO inclusions can be seen from looking at the diamond from the top down (the part that shows). Even VS1 and VS2 diamonds aren’t necessarily eye clean, and buying an SI1 or SI2 diamond that is eye clean can get you a wonderful diamond that is a lot less. Also worry about color. A “D,” “E,” or “F” diamond is in the colorless range, and you won’t be able to see any of a yellow tint to it. A “G” diamond is usually okay, but anything higher you might want to double think. Many diamonds at jeweler stores are in the G, H, and I range. Depending on the light, you’ll be able to see a yellow tint on an H or I (or higher) diamond. So to sum it up, look for an eye clean diamond (and to save some money, maybe try the SI1 or SI2 range) and try to get a diamond preferably in the D, E, or F range.

5. Watch out for jewelry stores/chains that claim to have their own “ideal” cut diamond that is better than any other ideal cut diamond. Some stores take a normal ideal or excellent cut diamond and either just rename it or add a few facets to it (not really making any difference). This is okay – it’s mainly just a publicity thing. The second part to this is more of a scheme. Some jewelry stores will rename an average cut to their “ideal” cut and try to play it off that way, which confuses and tricks many consumers. With any diamond, just be sure to check its grading report and see what the cut is labeled there.

I hope you found our tips useful here, and I hope that you don’t fall for some of the common tricks out there. Diamond buying can be a scary thing (I know, I’ve been there myself!), but if you go into it a bit educated, you can walk away with some great diamonds at great prices.

I’d like to offer anyone reading this article a FREE diamond search (we can also search for rings and settings either together or separately with or without your diamond). Please visit www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/diamondsearch.html and let me know what your price range is and what type of diamond you’re looking for (as far as shape, size, etc.), and I’ll conduct a free search for you to find the lowest prices on the highest quality diamonds. We search our database of over 60,000 diamonds from dozens of the highest quality and most respected diamond/jewelry sites (we don’t accept them unless they have great return policies, no gimmicks, and the like), and then we offer our advice on each one we find for you. We’ll even call the jewelers on your behalf to ask some very important questions for you. And if you think this sounds too good to be true, follow the above link to find out how we do it for free (the jewelry sites pay us a tiny commission for pointing a potential buyer in their direction, but we only do it if they have the cheapest deals on high quality, respectably certified diamonds). If you already know what you'll be buying and from what site, feel free to e-mail us and provide us with the diamond(s) that you are looking at and we'll offer you our free advice on each one.

I’ve never done a single diamond search where I haven’t saved someone at least a few hundred (typically A LOT more). Feel free to also e-mail me at brian@marriage-proposal-ideas.com.

As always, visit www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com for free proposal ideas and advice or www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/deals.html for current diamond deals and promotions. We always try to have the best deals on the internet and an exclusive deal directly through our site as well to beat any other deal out there.

Brian K.

brian@marriage-proposal-ideas.com

www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com

Marriage Proposal Tips

2006-09-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Marriage proposals can be just as hard, if not harder, than selecting a diamond engagement ring! Luckily, they don’t have to be as expensive. From my experience, I’ve heard hundreds of men and women talking about throwing hundreds of dollars into a proposal. Now some of those can turn out quite nice, but others are easily outdone by several ideas that cost next to nothing. A nice dinner or a nice hotel stay IS NOT a good proposal idea all by itself. Now you can easily incorporate that, or any other idea, into a great proposal idea, but there are a few things you should be careful for and try to accomplish.

1. Try to make the proposal unique and personal to the two of you. What special things do the two of you have in common? What’s a place or something that only the two of you share?

2. Try to incorporate your past memories into the idea somehow. The two of you obviously have at least some type of a history, and hopefully at least most if not all of it is a happy one! Why not incorporate all of that into a proposal idea? Why not revisit all of the excellent memories the two of you have and pick out the things that stand out in your relationship. If you use some of this in your idea, you can build up all the happy memories and emotions into one big climax – popping the question.

3. Try to do something or have something that can be remembered. Try to create something that you can take away from the proposal as a remembrance of your proposal day to always bring back those good memories. As an added bonus, it can also make for great bragging rights!

4. Be sure to do something that both of you are comfortable with. If she (or he) doesn’t like big crowds or public affairs, do something more between just the two of you. If she’s the wild or crazy type, then do a wild or crazy proposal idea! If she’s the romantic type, try to add a touch of that in it to. If she’s a bit of everything, then incorporate everything into one big event.

5. The proposal idea does NOT have to be one event. You can make an entire day of it … or even an entire week of events if you really want. This way you can cover all of your ideas – just give it a little thought!

6. Try to pick up on little clues from her/him that you have learned about each other throughout all your time together. If she absolutely loves the songs by the guy on the corner with his flute that the two of you always pass by, why not get that guy in on it??? Do you realize how easy it would be to pull that off as part of your proposal, yet how AMAZING something like that would seem to her?

7. Make it a surprise! If she wants to pick out her diamond ring ahead of time, that’s fine. But keep the proposal a complete secret! You want her to be totally shocked by it. Guard it at all costs!

It's not too hard to come up with the perfect marriage proposal idea, but you do have to put some thought into it. I encourage everyone to think about their marriage proposal ideas long and hard and try to think of how you'd remember it 10, 20, or 50 years in the future.

Visit www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com for more marriage proposal ideas and advice.

Introduction and About Our Site

2006-09-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Since I just started this blog, I'd like to briefly introduct myself before I make my first post. My name is Brian, and I run www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com along with my wife, Julia, where we have a free marriage proposal ideas guide that covers over 100 marriage proposal ideas, and each idea is not only followed by a detailed explanation of how to pull it off and personalize it, but also by the opinion of a man and a woman for each idea. We made it so that each idea can easily be combined with others or your current idea to make for a completely unique proposal.

Our hope is to solve your every need before you propose -- from helping you with your marriage proposal ideas to helping you pick out the perfect ring. We feel overjoyed everytime we're able to help someone in either of these areas. I'm also a diamond consultant. Although I don't sell any diamonds myself, I try to set up special deals through as many of the top jewelry sites as possible and try to help people select high quality diamonds for less. It's amazing how easy it is to save someone hundreds to thousands of dollars and have them still walking away with a better diamond!

I hope you join us as we provide you with advice on everything you need to know before you propose.

Visit us to check out our free marriage proposal ideas and diamond buying advice or e-mail me at brian@marriage-proposal-ideas.com. You can also check out our latest promotions, coupons, and discounts for the top diamond / jewelry sites at our diamond discounts page.