How to pick the right engagement ring

Don't you just wish your 'hubby to be' would take you to Tiffany's and say "pick one" while many employees are the only other people with you, waiting eagerly to help you in your decision? I can think of many girls that would die for that opportunity, but let's snap back to reality for a bit...

This blog may sound like it's directly aimed at the male population, but ladies this really is for you too. Your taste and personality are unique and will reflect your ring and some guys even want their girlfriend's opinion (or her female family members) on which ring they would like so let's get down to business on choosing the right ring for you.

Let's begin with the four C's: carat, color, clarity and cut. The weight of a diamond is measured in carats where one carat is subdivided into one hundred points meaning that one point is .01 or 1/100 of a carat. When the carat measurement is more so is the cost and value of the ring. Color is chosen based on personal preference and value with little to no color usually being desired. The colors of diamonds range from colorless to light yellow, brown and gray which are also called the normal colors. Fancy colors are bright yellow, pink, blue and green. Red, purple and orange are classified as the extremely rare colors. Color is typically graded using the GIA scale which contains twenty-three letter grades ranging from D (colorless) to Z (heavily tinted). D is completely colorless, E and F are essentially colorless (the difference between the three is hard to decipher and can only be seen by experts to see if the diamond is unmounted), K, L and M are faintly tinted, N-Z has a light tint that can be seen. Clarity in diamonds is based on the number, size, type and locations of inclusions (imperfections) that occur in the diamond during formation. A GIA scale is used to determine clarity which has five main categories of clarity characteristics with eleven grades total. FL on the GIA scale stands for flawless and means that the diamond is free from all inclusions and blemishes at a 10-power magnification. IF is internally flawless and shows no inclusions at 10x magnification and insignificant surface blemishes can be seen.  VVS1-VVS2-VS1-VS2 have minor inclusions that are difficult to see face up at 10x magnification. SI1-SI2 display noticeable inclusions easy to see at 10x magnification. Last on the clarity list are I1-I2-I3 that have obvious inclusions and are easily visible to the unaided eye. Clarity is based on rarity. The fewer and less significant characteristics, the higher the clarity and the more value and cost a diamond is. Cut is the last of the four C's and refers to the diamond's shape and to its quality determined by its proportions of symmetry (the precision of the cut design, especially the facets) and polish (the smoothness and luster of a diamond's surface).

The picture above shows the different cuts of diamonds which can be chosen by your own personal taste. Listed above are round, princess, marquise, pear, heart, oval, emerald, cushion and asscher.

Good luck choosing your dream diamond!

Audra

The do's and dont's of popping the question

For the person popping the question (and I'm not limiting this to just men because some women propose too) this is probably one of the most nerve-wracking times in your life. If you have been with your significant other for awhile and have talked about marriage it may be no surprise as to how your loved one will answer the question, but this can still be scary. Breathe. Remember this will be one of the happiest moments of your life so try not to worry so much. As always, my thoughts are that you should do things how you want to and do what makes you most comfortable, but below you'll find some useful tips to help you out.

Do's:
1) Pick a place or something that is important to you both. Maybe you both are fans of the outdoors so proposing while hiking or out on a boat in the middle of the water would be best. Maybe you both enjoy movies so putting together a little homemade movie about your love story is what works for you.
2) Be creative! If you're having trouble with creativity, enlist the help of people who know your significant other best, but make sure they won't spoil the surprise.
3) This may just be personal opinion, but I feel you can never go wrong proposing at home with a bunch of candles and flower petals everywhere. You can also make this your own by putting together a scrapbook of your relationship from day one until now.
4) Take this time to tell your boyfriend/girlfriend how much they really mean to you and that you want to spend the rest of your life with him/her.

Dont's:
1) Propose in front of family and friends. While you may want to include your relatives and closest friends during this special time, if your boyfriend/girlfriend should happen to say
no this would make for a very awkward situation.
2) Put the ring in food. It doesn't end well.
3) Pick a location to ask where you and your boyfriend/girlfriend won't get to have that special moment that you want. For instance, choosing a place that might be too loud or distracting might not work in your favor and this is something that you will remember for the rest of your lives (in some cases though it's perfect, see Tiffany and Sam's story and you'll see why. It's all in how you execute your proposal whether this last tip will actually work).

I'll leave you all with Tiffany and Sam's fairy tale that I found on howheasked.com. Props to Sam, I love Taylor Swift and this is an incredible proposal!

Audra

Welcome

Hello all! I have been wanting to start my own blog for awhile now, but couldn't think of what I wanted to write about. I figured I should talk about what interests me (obviously) and kept going back and forth with ideas. Finally, I thought of what I really want to do with my life after college and it hit me like a ton of bricks- a blog about WEDDINGS!

As a senior now, I think back to my freshman year and how I had no clue about what I wanted to do with my life and over the past four years I figured it out. I changed my major to communications with a specialization in public relations and advertising after careful thought and consideration at the end of my sophomore year. I absolutely love the PR side of things and hope to one day own my own wedding and event planning business so what better way to start achieving my dreams then with this blog? I came up with the concept 'Something Borrowed' because these are some of my ideas and I want to share them with you and of course it's a term heard often at weddings.

Feel free to post comments regarding what you like and don't like, feedback is greatly appreciated. Also, please share this blog!

XO Audra