Brides moving away from diamonds in search of unique looks

By Jenn Hall

It’s no surprise that social media has shaped the engagement ring industry. Younger brides are looking at nontraditional options because they’re different.

“(Brides) have all of these beautiful pictures on Pinterest and Instagram now, with the world at their fingertips,” said Jessica Mann, owner of Peace Love Mann and a gemologist at Kristen’s Coin & Jewelry. “They see all of these possibilities and realize, ‘Oh, I can get anything I want.’”

This has created an increased demand for gemstones and other precious stones like opal, morganite, ruby, emerald, sapphire, rutilated quartz, tourmalinated quartz and amethyst or peridot. While precious stones like rubies and sapphires, along with other colored birthstones, have long been used for engagement rings, they are definitely growing in popularity.

“It’s exotic,” Mann said. “It can make (their rings) unique and special.”

And that’s just what Johanna O’Callahan got during her proposal.

“I always envisioned a gemstone, and I really loved the black onyx and other gemstones,” said the St. Joseph woman. “So, I told Sam (her fiancé) I do not want a traditional diamond. I want a peridot.”

Peridot became a beautiful representation of the couple. It is the stone that represents August. This was the month they first met, started dating and first kissed. The couple even named their black lab August.

Her fiancé had the engagement ring custom-made at Niche of Time in St. Joseph. The peridot takes center stage in a long, rectangular shape set on a gold band with small diamonds surrounding it.

“I didn’t expect (the diamonds) but I love it so much,” O’Callahan said. “It just makes it pop more. Every time I show someone my ring, they say ‘It fits you so well.’ I’m still trying to understand what that means.”

But that concept is exactly what Mann means when she says brides want unique, creative rings and something that means a lot to them.

O’Callahan loves the color green and says she’s not super traditional. She plans to continue that trend into her wedding, too.

“I don’t want to be a traditional bride either,” she said.

With such a special engagement ring, O’Callahan is still not sure what wedding band she will pick out. She knows it will be gold and on the thinner side. She said she also loves the look of textured bands.

The jewelry industry has changed drastically in the last few decades and again in the last few years.

“Yellow gold was hot then white gold was up and coming,” Mann said of the metals market. “Now you’re selling white, yellow and rose – a lot of demand for rose gold. It’s mixed metals, too, and it’s different.”

Since Mann started in the jewelry business 25 years ago, she has seen how styles have changed.

“It is so different,” she said. “The industry, the world. The biggest thing is there is such a huge influx of sales for lab-grown diamonds. They come in all different colors, shapes and sizes.”

Mann says the benefits are ethical because the stones are not mined. In the jewelry industry, there’s also something called the Kimberley Process that helps eliminate concerns about conflict diamonds. However, lab-grown gems look just like the naturals.

“As a gemologist, I literally cannot tell the difference,” she says. “I have to have a machine tell me. They’re that good.”

One reason for the increase in popularity is that they are a fraction of the cost of a real diamond. Mann said she could get a lab-grown diamond for a tenth of the price of a real diamond.

“This is a huge thing in the jewelry industry,” she said. “For us to be successful, we have to change.”

Yet some trends never die. Vintage-inspired rings became really popular a few years ago, and Mann said that trend never left.

But at the end of the day, Mann said one of the benefits of sticking with diamond or a harder stone like opal or ruby is they will stand the test of time.