Cubic Zirconia vs Diamonds

I never would ha e know. Those were CZ if you hadn’t told me. If that’s what you can afford right now, I think it’s a totally fine option. And then you can look forward to upgrading in the future. It’s good to have goals to work towards!

“never would have known”

Need an edit button!!!

I definitely don’t think you can tell the difference! That’s beautiful. Go with what you can afford right now!

I wouldn't have known the difference without being told that these were CZ. I think it looks great and would go this route for the time being.

It looks great! I didn’t think anyone will notice at all

It looks great! I wouldn’t finance the diamond ring unless YOU feel strongly about needing to have it. No one will know the difference and it’s just a ring.

With rings that have small stones, like the wedding band in your photo, you will not notice the difference between cubic zirconia & diamonds with naked eye. Difference will be obvious for bigger stones. I definitely wouldn’t go in debt for a ring, so of course it’s appropriate to do what fits your budget & think about potentially upgrading later.
The only issue with cubic zirconia is that it’s not as long lasting as diamonds & it will turn yellow with time (needs to be cleaned more often).
Another option to consider is moissanite - it’s a precious stone which has durability & hardness of a diamond but sparkles much more, it is way cheaper than diamonds & it is completely ethical (lab grown & without environmental impact or troubled mining practices aka Blood Diamond). I personally LOVE it!

View Quoted Comment Unfortunately the moissanite option tacks on $300 to the price of the ring with the diamonds. As it stands, the CZ is $150, the G-H I2-I3 ring is $860, moissanite is $1150, and the G-H SI2-I1 diamonds are $1320.
I probably would upgrade in a year or so, so I'm not too concerned about the yellowing happening.

View Quoted Comment Yes, for a year or so you don’t need to worry about yellowing for sure!
I suggest maybe getting another quote on moissanite, because it is definitely cheaper than diamonds (I have several moissanite pieces). Also moissanite will be better quality vs. both diamonds SI2-I1 & most definitly I2-I3 (moissanite is comparable to ideal cut, D-E-F, almost flawless diamond). This is, of course, my recommendation for upgrading later. CZ are still a great choice for the budget & nobody will notice the difference.

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I think the price she was quoted sounds about right. Larger moissanite stones are definitely cheaper than comparable diamond sizes, but since diamond side stones are it's own huge industry, they're able to cut and produce them at a fraction of the cost compared to moissanite side stones. When comparing a diamond side stone to a moissanite side stone, the diamond will usually be cut better and lead to a better looking stone, although if you just look at the moissanite without comparing it to the diamond counterpart, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. This is what the company told me when I purchased my moissanite ring and wedding band, and I was lucky they didn't charge me extra to switch out the diamonds for moissanites in my pave band.

Chandra, it sounds like you're not planning on having the CZ band for very long so you don't have to worry as much about the CZs getting scratched up and changing colors. If that's what you feel comfortable spending now, I say do it! Like everyone else, I couldn't tell they were CZ. Have you tried it on with your e-ring though?

View Quoted Comment No I haven't tried it. The ring is from twobirch and it's all online sales. I was going to order their sure fit kit so they will kind of customize the band to fit my ring.