Go the extra mile for your loved one with a custom-made engagement ring

Nothing says thoughtful like an engagement ring you have designed yourself. The very best part of running Gemstones Brazil is being an intrinsic part of creating the perfect ring for a very special moment in our customers' lives. Today we wanted to share some of the stories we have been a part of and share some insider information on the work that goes into creating jewellery which is made with love, to celebrate love.

Patrick and Muriel worked with Gemstones Brazil and a friend of theirs, Seth, who happens to be a jeweller on creating the perfect ring for this beautiful proposal above.

Muriel said of the finished product: "It's exactly what I had imagined and it's even more beautiful in real life!" Gemstones Brazil also has the pleasure of working with Muriel and Patrick on procuring some golden beryl stones for the wedding band.

Of course, we also love working with directly jewellers to provide them with the raw materials for their amazing creations! We recently supplied California-based jewellery studio Tiffany Danielle Jewelry with an amazing pale, portuguese-cut aquamarine which she used to create this gorgeous ring stack:

Check out our collections of aquamarine and aquamarine cabochon, ethically sourced from our mines in Minas Gerais, Brazil

So, what do you need to know if you're about to embark on the magical process of designing a custom engagement ring? Here's three tips from industry insiders:

1. The best thing about a bespoke ring is that you can diverge from over-done, industry standard, cliché rings and experiment with something that would suit your loved one to a T - that means it won't necessarily be diamond! Bridal Musings has a brilliant guide on alternative gemstones.
2. Study up on the 'four C's': cut, clarity, carat and colour (our blog is a handy guide, covering each birthstone, but get in touch if you are looking for information on a stone we haven't written about yet).
3. DeBeers introduced the idea of an engagement ring costing the equivalent of three months' salary in the 1930s, and 80 years later, it's still not realistic for a lot of us! A custom ring does not necessarily equate to more expensive - in fact, if you do your research it can represent both the perfect design and the perfect price!

We hope this post was informative if you're about to embark on this exciting process - in the meantime, the rest of us can dream until it's our turn!