For three nights we were staying in the Dusit Thani hotel right next to the Burj Khalifa. We had been to Dubai before so we knew that we can pay a little extra for an upgrade to get breakfast, happy hour drinks and dinner. I had also contacted them before hand to tell them the occasion. They were all top class and had scattered rose petals everywhere built a swan towel and provided a complimentary box of chocolates.
We were still full of adrenaline and Fiona was desperate to begin the hunt for the ring so we began operation sparkle. Operation Sparkle was the code folder I made in my gmail account which contained all my research into diamonds. This included the design I wanted, tips on looking at diamonds through a microscope, the importance of the four Cs and where the best place to go were and what other people had recommended. http://www.truthaboutdiamonds.com and http://www.jamesallen.com/ were the inspiration and sources for all of this. Below was the design I had in mind!
Fiona had mentioned a lot over the past year what she wanted in a ring: two sapphires with the diamond centre. So this was what I based all my thoughts own. I actually preferred pear sapphires to make it look slick and lead into the diamond which is the design she ended up choosing.
The shop that was recommended on the web was Cara's in the gold and diamond park. Of course we were both nervous still as we knew no-one that had done this before but our concerns were alievieated when we saw how busy the shop actually was.
We were given our own booth and assistant who asked us what we were after. I explained the exact size and spec diamond I was after and he proceeded to get a massive photo album esque book containing nothing but diamonds. It was like dealing with cards as Fiona flicked through the different diamonds. They were in a credit card casing with the attributes for each diamond. I estimate the $ worth for that one album to be around 500K (it was a big book). The scariest thing was that was one album in an entire bookcase.
Fiona was flicking through all the diamonds and she was in here element. Clearly she was looking for the sparkle factor so the cut was more important to her than anything else. There was one diamond that stood out to the both of us which none of the others matched and we were done. Well not quite.
Next up we had to choose the pair of sapphires. We were advised to choose them to be of equal size and shape as possible and their jewlers will shape accordingly. This did not take long. Fiona being Fiona insisted on a platinum band and then we were ready to negotiate and haggle!
This took a very long time. I asked for a calculator to slow down the negotiation so I could find it "easy to translate to GBP" but really the longer it goes on the more it plays in my favour as they have a vested interest to complete the sale and move onto the next customer. It really was a busy shop.
We narrowed and narrowed our differences and once we were within the "call" range I went for it and said the phrase lets shake on it for x. Deal done and once I paid the deposit we were told it would be ready in two days.
I was not 100% sure until we got out of the shop whether or not Fiona was definately happy and I was delighted to hear she was ecstatic. Operation sparkle was over and I had done it!
We were still full of adrenaline and Fiona was desperate to begin the hunt for the ring so we began operation sparkle. Operation Sparkle was the code folder I made in my gmail account which contained all my research into diamonds. This included the design I wanted, tips on looking at diamonds through a microscope, the importance of the four Cs and where the best place to go were and what other people had recommended. http://www.truthaboutdiamonds.com and http://www.jamesallen.com/ were the inspiration and sources for all of this. Below was the design I had in mind!
Fiona had mentioned a lot over the past year what she wanted in a ring: two sapphires with the diamond centre. So this was what I based all my thoughts own. I actually preferred pear sapphires to make it look slick and lead into the diamond which is the design she ended up choosing.
The shop that was recommended on the web was Cara's in the gold and diamond park. Of course we were both nervous still as we knew no-one that had done this before but our concerns were alievieated when we saw how busy the shop actually was.
We were given our own booth and assistant who asked us what we were after. I explained the exact size and spec diamond I was after and he proceeded to get a massive photo album esque book containing nothing but diamonds. It was like dealing with cards as Fiona flicked through the different diamonds. They were in a credit card casing with the attributes for each diamond. I estimate the $ worth for that one album to be around 500K (it was a big book). The scariest thing was that was one album in an entire bookcase.
Fiona was flicking through all the diamonds and she was in here element. Clearly she was looking for the sparkle factor so the cut was more important to her than anything else. There was one diamond that stood out to the both of us which none of the others matched and we were done. Well not quite.
Next up we had to choose the pair of sapphires. We were advised to choose them to be of equal size and shape as possible and their jewlers will shape accordingly. This did not take long. Fiona being Fiona insisted on a platinum band and then we were ready to negotiate and haggle!
This took a very long time. I asked for a calculator to slow down the negotiation so I could find it "easy to translate to GBP" but really the longer it goes on the more it plays in my favour as they have a vested interest to complete the sale and move onto the next customer. It really was a busy shop.
We narrowed and narrowed our differences and once we were within the "call" range I went for it and said the phrase lets shake on it for x. Deal done and once I paid the deposit we were told it would be ready in two days.
I was not 100% sure until we got out of the shop whether or not Fiona was definately happy and I was delighted to hear she was ecstatic. Operation sparkle was over and I had done it!
