Man Made Diamonds, The Affordable Alternative

Diamonds may be a woman's best friend, but modern man made diamonds are so good as to be indistinguishable from real diamonds. And when you look at the huge savings on price, man made diamonds may be a woman's best decision.

Increasingly, engaged couples are considering the cost of some wedding jewelry. In today's high pressure high cost lifestyle couples are really wondering whether or not it is appropriate to spend big on, say, a diamond engagement ring.

The more spent on wedding jewelry the less available later for the important things in the marriage, like a house. Or the kids when they arrive. Is it responsible to spend so much to buy a diamond engagement ring when these more important things may need to be compromised later?

Especially when you consider that good quality man made diamonds cannot be distinguished from real diamonds, even by jewellers.

Faux diamonds are big business. The pearl jewelry industry was revolutionised by the advent of cultured pearls. Synthetic diamonds are doing the same thing to the wedding jewelry business.

There are a range of ways to produce synthetic diamonds. Modern technology is very adept at making any product which will sell well and faux diamonds are no exception. And the quality is so good that many of the alternatives to diamonds perform exceedingly well when compared to diamond using the common diamond quality tests.

In such tests as hardness, refractive index, fire, brilliance, luster and others the man made diamonds perform admirably. Sometimes even better.

Brilliance is a test of the amount of light which enters the stone and gets reflected back. It is affected by the quality of the cut of the stone.

Fire is the ability of the stone to break light down into it's component colors and is also affected by the cut. "Fire" can be seen as color coming out of the stone.

Luster is the amount of light reflected back from the surface of the stone.

Moissanite, for example, outperforms diamond in brilliance, fire and luster and is only very slightly lower on the hardness scale. In fact a special piece of testing equipment had to be designed so that jewellers could tell moissanite from diamond as so many were unable to.

And, of course, moissanite is much cheaper than diamonds. And if most jewellers cannot tell it apart from diamonds, could you?

There are a range of different processes used to produce a stone which is a good diamond alternative. Most produce fine quality stones which produce stunning quality jewelry which any woman would be proud to wear.

Moissanite is not strictly a man made diamond though, as it is, in fact, naturally occurring. Unfortunately it doesn't occur in sufficient quantities to be commercially viable for mining. But technology has come to the rescue by devising a method of producing high quality crystals.

Our preference for the best alternative to diamonds? Moissanite. A fine jewelry stone which will make a stunning engagement ring, or other jewelry piece. And you can buy moissanite wedding jewelry at a fraction of the price of diamond wedding jewelry.

And when the kids come along, buy them something extra from us from the money you've saved.

Find out more about Moissanite as well as Moissanite Engagement Rings at Peter's website, The Magic of Moissanite.

© 2005 Peter Crump

In The News:

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New York Times
Eloping to Vegas? Why Not Lower Manhattan?
New York Times, United States - Jan 7, 2009
“With these new digs, there might just be a new world wedding capital.� The city clerk’s office issued 66600 marriage licenses in 2007 and performed about ...
Manhattan's new Marriage Bureau earns wows as a place to say your vows New York Daily News
NY hears wedding bells, aims to compete with Vegas The Associated Press
Wedding Bells Ring In NYC Marriage Bureau WNYC
Downtown Express - Gothamistall 254 news articles

Washington Post
‘Bride Wars’ is a failed marriage | 1 ½ stars
Kansas City Star, MO - 13 hours ago
And their mutual friends will have to decide which wedding to attend. All would be well if only one of them would cancel (or if they would agree to a double ...
Video: Ann Hathaway's Stellar Year CBS
'Bride Wars' stars Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are funny allies Los Angeles Times
Two Weddings and a Furor New York Times
Tampa Tribune - Boston Globeall 759 news articles

New York Times
Movie review: Cliches nag 'Not Easily Broken'
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 5 hours ago
The opening wedding scene in the new Bill Duke film, "Not Easily Broken" is so overwrought and cliched, it's akin to sitting down with a promising novel, ...
Not Easily Broken ( ** ) AHN
Movie Review: ‘Not Easily Broken’ is a romantic soap opera that ... Providence Journal
» Inspirational drama anything but 'Broken' Chicago Daily Herald
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Kansas City Starall 81 news articles

FOR FAMILIES: A guide for parents to Jan. 9 and earlier releases
Chicago Tribune, United States - 10 hours ago
By Roger Moore | Tribune Newspapers What it's about: Best friends become dueling brides when they both book the wedding they've always dreamed of in the ...

Wearing white and eating cake, Brides magazine turns 75
The Canadian Press, NEW YORK - 20 hours ago
"The magazine is realistic about how people's lives are today, but still the focus is how to have a successful wedding and start a healthy marriage," says ...

Wedding war: Las Vegas versus New York
KVBC, NV - 8 hours ago
The city has renovated it marriage bureau and even built a 24000-square-foot wedding complex with the hope of becoming the most popular wedding site. ...

New York Magazine
City to Make Your Shotgun Marriage Just That Much Nicer
New York Magazine,  USA - Jan 7, 2009
Photo: Getty Images Perhaps sensing the economic downturn (and having eventually watched the Sex and the City movie), the city spruced up its civil-wedding ...

MLive.com
Bay County gets older, refrains from marriage, likes guns ...
MLive.com, MI - 19 hours ago
Luczak said economics could be partly to blame, as young couples struggling to get a foothold in life may be putting off the expense of a wedding.

Former First Lady Cornelia Wallace Dies At 69
NBC13.com, AL - 4 hours ago
Just 16 months after their wedding Governor Wallace was shot. The assassination attempt left Wallace paralyzed. Fifty-four days later, he left the hospital ...

KHOU
Houston wedding show could help brides on a budget
KHOU, TX - Jan 7, 2009
“I refuse to go into this marriage in debt, “ says Ashley. “That's no way to start out.� -- Watch the flowers. All those arrangements can quickly add up. ...

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