Big Day Small Talk Episode 3: Talking Diamonds
Good morning! It's a beautiful day. It's time for another Big Day Small Talk. And today, we're talking diamonds!
Welcome to Big Day Small Talk! And today we're here with Bert Wheat, and Geoffrey Wheat.
Does Geoffrey have a middle name?
It's actually Maxwell.
Is it really?
Yes.
I'm excited to be here. I've always had, like, a soft place in my heart for Diamond Galleria because I feel like you guys started right around when House of White started. They are now carrying the Hayley Paige Hearts on Fire line. Which, you know we are a Hayley store. We love all things Hayley Paige. But, before we get to Hayley Paige stuff specifically I wanted to just use this opportunity to talk engagement. Ring shopping. I thought this would be a great little video to have that girls could slyly just send this link to their significant other and say "No pressure. Here's some information"
Ok, so engagement is looming. What do you think couples should do first?
First off, we are a no pressure store. You might come six or seven times over two years to determine exactly what she wants. Some girls do THE wishlist. This is THE ring. Some girls do four or five, or some just do basics. I want an oval center stone. No halo. Some diamonds down the side, approximately this size stone. So, it's a homerun, as long as he buys that.
Yeah, it's like check, check, check.
Pinterest is a guy's friend. Girls post a lot of things they like. Girlfriends. You know, you can sneak an ask."I'm thinking about popping the question. Can you kind of get out of her what she likes."
It's a lot less telling if you're girlfriend's having lunch with you and is like "So if you were getting engaged what kind of ring would you want?" Where as, if your boyfriend is asking you, all the sudden, alarm bells.
That's what our sales people do. We kind of narrow down with just a few questions on shape and size and budget and color. And that first time may just be an education. You might not make any selection.
And I think it's so important for people to be open to talking to your team. They've never shopped for a diamond engagement ring before.
And to that point, one of the things we hear often is that they couldn't afford what we have. Or "I didn't even go there because it was too expensive".
Oh yeah, I hear that all the time.
We have engagement rings. Literally diamond engagement rings that start at $500. And I don't mean we have 1. We have like 30. If your budget is $500 or $50,000. So regardless of the budget or where you are in the process, or what you're looking for whether it's a ring you want to take home today, or do a custom. Custom can be fun. It's no more expensive.
What is the timeline on custom? When is it a good idea to go custom?
We do a lot of custom. It may be that she likes the shape or look of a Tacori ring, but she wants some yellow gold. And so we have all the designer rings. We have all the major brands. Maybe she wants part of this one, and part of this one, and part of this one. And so we'll just make it in-house. We can do a complete custom ring in about 4 weeks.
Oh, that's really nice! And otherwise people could buy a ring same day?
Yes.
If you've decided "I HAVE to marry this woman right now!"
We do often get the guys where we're like "Well, when do you want to do it?" and he's like "I'm thinking Saturday". Ok! Well, that narrows it down.
When you start shopping, what do you think the thing is that girls are most particular about? Is it stone shape? Is it metal color?
I would say stone shape is first. Now, 80% of all engagement rings are round. But that other 20% changes pretty frequently every five years or so. When we first opened, right up until the last year or so, if you weren't buying a round center stone you were buying a princess cut. Everything was princess cut. And now it's ovals and pears.
Have you ever had someone come in and say "He proposed and I hate the ring. What do I do?"?
In most cases, like, let's say he did design it and let's say she wanted pear and he got round. That's not necessarily a big deal. We can recast it in a round stone. Ultimately we want them to be happy.
It is an exciting time. And it should be fun and I think you should work with people who acknowledge that and who see the joy in that. You guys enjoy the celebration of it as much as the jewelry itself.
I think people see Diamond Galleria and it is so polished and so professional that people assume that it's a chain store.
It's just us! Right here in Evansville Indiana.
And Geoffrey!
Do you think it's essential for a guy to know the girl's ring size?
A range. Most rings can be sized up or down one and a half, sometimes two ring sizes.
So we're going to get an up close and personal look at the Hayley Paige Hearts on Fire line. So let's take this handheld and take a close look at these.
If he doesn't know the girlfriends and she has no pinterest and he has literally no idea what kind of ring the girl wants, we'll suggest a very Tiffany inspired simple classic mounting. In this case, with no diamonds down the side. But it is kinda personalized with the peek-a-boo diamonds down the sides of the stones. So this isn't a significant investment. Not at all. So in this case, he buys the diamond. This is the one he asks her to marry him with. This is under $1,000, so he spends his budget on the diamond and then puts it in this.
And I always say too, let's say you were thinking you wanted something more intricate but he went with something more simple. Then go with lots of diamonds in your band. Just really bling it up with your band.
What's popular now is two bands, one on each side. So if you do a solitaire with a band on each side, it really makes it stand out. And then let's say she doesn't want to wear her stone, then she can just wear one of the bands. I wish I would have had my nails done.
No, it's ok Bert. I would have sent you for a manicure on me, I just had a busy week and hadn't gotten around to it. And I always like to acknowledge. I chipped my thumbnail getting my son out of his car seat this morning. So, there we go. But yeah, these are all so fun and unique. I didn't even notice...so, in real life, I didn't see this. But now I'm seeing it as I look through the camera. The color variation in these. Which, it has that classic Hayley Paige hologram look. Oh my gosh. That is genius.
Hayley, we both had the opportunity to meet her, and what was it that I said? It was actually very smart for me. She's the anti-Kardashian. She literally has a finger in every design here. She didn't have a team of people pick it. She literally drew them out. For Hearts on Fire it's a terrific partnership because Hearts on Fire is the world's most perfect diamond. It's a very high end diamond brand, and there are several Hayley Paige pieces that don't even have diamonds in them. They're just gold.
So it's like, they wanted the style. Not necessarily the diamond.
They wanted her. And so none of it, other than the engagement rings, none of them have significant diamond weight. Their cost, on average, is less than $1500. So it's totally different for Hearts on Fire.
It's all about that personality and that character to it. And I think she is such a big personality, I think most people would think her jewelry collection would be big and expensive. But it's not. Look how delicate. Look how dainty that is. That is just so sweet and lovely. I love that. And again, these band options. That's going to give amazing personality and style even to the simplest of rings.
Like this one doesn't have a stone in it at all. It just has a beautiful little knot. Retail on it is $749. This is 18K gold.
I love the Mrs. So this is one of our favorites, too. All the work in there with just the really delicate little stones. And then I love this.
That's a new look. Or, it's a new look that has come back.
Right? My grandmother's ring looked like this.
Now, a twist on it, it's similar to this but it's with a V as the wrap.
Again, that totally feels like a throwback. A freshened-up version of an older trend. Which, yes, everything comes back!
Yes it does!