[legion]

I bought a few books off of Amazon. I recommend you do the same. The longest one was about $75 pages. Saved me some money!

Priority #1 is to set a budget. Do not deviate under any circumstances. Keep in mind the price of a setting and wedding band when determining this figure.

Next thing you have to realize is that there are various "grading" laboratories. Some are reputable, some are not. Some will objectively grade a stone, some will accept "suggested gradings" from jewelers. Do your research and you will find which are reputable. (I can't recall off the top of my head which are which.) Do not buy any stones graded by disreputable laboratories.

Finally, you have to find a jeweler you can work with. I went to a big jeweler here in town that had been in business for 75 years. I told them what I wanted and what I wanted to spend. (Round Ideal, .75k, D-F color, and VVS2 or higher clarity.) The first stone they showed me had a huge chunk missing from the side, I left without saying a word. I stopped by a small strip-mall jeweler that had been around a little less than a decade and they were willing to work with me. I worked with the owner. He ordered diamonds from around the country to show me and was patient until we found the right one. We repeated the process with the setting. We negotiated on the price. To this day, I buy all of my wife's jewelry from them, and the knock 10% off of their sticker price because I bought an engagement ring from them. The mall stores where all staffed by post-high school punks who were trying to score a big commission. A waste of time IMO.