The buying checklist

Print it, or just refuse to pay anyone until every line is true.

Before shopping

• Budget set from your finances, not a formula, and not on card interest.
• Her style decoded from existing jewelry, saved photos, or a discreet friend.
• Ring size obtained, or a deliberate half-size-up guess with resizing planned.
• Shape and stone type chosen (the finders upstairs settle both in minutes).

Before paying

• Independent certificate from a major lab, verified by number on the lab’s own site.
• HD photos or video of the exact stone, not a render.
• Return window of 30 days or so, in writing, no restocking games.
• Resize policy confirmed, ideally free or cheap for the first adjustment.
• Cut grade Excellent or Ideal; color and clarity at the thresholds, not the maximums.

After it arrives

• Inspect in daylight; match the inscription to the report.
• Insure it the week it arrives, roughly one to two percent of value per year.
• Store it somewhere boring until the big day, and fly with it in a pocket, never checked luggage.