Engagement rings and wedding bands have been a part of a wedding celebration forever. Nowadays the girls even take it a step further and show their future husbands pictures of what it is they want. A girl knows what she wants, right?!

The Four C's of diamonds

When it comes to choosing your engagement ring, it's not as simple as choosing a design and off you go. Your fiancee will have to do some research beforehand into the Four C's of a diamond so he knows what he is paying for.

CUT

• Refers to the symmetry and proportions of the stone. The better cut a diamond has the more brilliant. Remember, beauty is in the cutting- it is where the cutter truly expresses artistic skill, as the other 3 C's are determined by nature alone.

COLOUR

• The more pure the colour in a diamond, the more rare. Colour describes the amount of colour the diamond contains. This can range from colourless to yellow with slight tints of yellow, grey or brown. Colours can also range from intense yellow to brown, blue, green, pink and red. These fancy colours are rare and therefore more valuable.

CLARITY

• Clearness or purity of a diamond. Diamonds have small imperfections in them known as inclusions - the fewer the inclusions the more valuable the stone. The clarity grade is determined by the number, size, nature, and location of the internal (inclusions) and external (blemishes) imperfections.

CARAT WEIGHT

• Carat is the unit of weight for the diamond. A carat is further subdivided in 100 points (0.01 carat = l point). One carat is equal to 0.20 grams. A .75 carat diamond is the same as a 75-point diamond or a 3/4 carat stone. The larger a diamond the more rare and valuable.