The setting of an engagement ring is the artwork that designers utilize to protect, accentuate, and complement the center stone that’s chosen for its heart. The same diamond, when placed in different settings, can have a wildly different profile. To that end, it’s important to understand what goes into engagement ring setting to figure out what’s right for you and your preferred diamond. At Smyth Jewelers, we’re happy to go into detail about one of our favorite topics: the beauty of engagement rings!
HALO ENGAGEMENT RINGS
The halo style is one of the more vintage looks, favored in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods at the beginning of the 20th century. The look of a halo ring comes from surrounding a center stone with a disc of jewels and precious metal. While the usual halo is arranged like a stepped ring, there are multiple dazzling ways to approach the halo, including shaping it like a blooming flower or a vintage-inspired frame with milgrain beading, colored gems, and filigrees.
SIDE STONE ENGAGEMENT RINGS
The side stone engagement ring is one in which the center stone is accented with numerous smaller stones (usually of comparable size) along the shanks of the ring. The number of stones in this style and their wide “canvas” opens the door for creative application of the side gems. For example, designers can choose between looks like prong-, pave-, and channel-settings, as well as different shapes, to create wildly distinct pieces for the benefit of fiancées-to-be. This is also another style that’s a great pairing with colored gems, since they don’t steal too much of the show from the center stone.
THREE STONE ENGAGEMENT RINGS
The three stone ring is a style that pairs a large center stone with two mid-sized stones on either side. Since these rings also tend to feature jewels along the shanks of the ring, the effect is stepped at first glance. Many designers will choose side stones that reiterate an aspect of the center stone, like dimensions or shape, or they’ll select jewels that complement the center stone. Rare diamond shapes like trilliant, half-moon, and trapezoid can more easily be found in this look that beautifully symbolizes past, present, and future for a woman set to tie the knot.
SOLITAIRE ENGAGEMENT RINGS
A solitaire engagement ring setting is built around a single center diamond, but that doesn’t mean that it’s an underwhelming style compared to the others. On the contrary, many women prefer solitaires for the cleanliness of their presentation, the designs or filigrees that can be worked into the rings’ metal, and the way that attention can be drawn exclusively to a single jewel. When you’ve selected a big, glitzy diamond—maybe in an exotic shape, like a pear or emerald cut—it’s nice to have a setting that really shows it off without distraction!
SHOP ENGAGEMENT RINGS AT SMYTH JEWELERS IN MARYLAND
For the best designer names in engagement ring settings, choose Smyth Jewelers. Between our three showrooms, we have a vast selection of ring mountings -- and the designs available at our Timonium location number in the thousands! When you pair the fact that we have the biggest selection of engagement rings on the East Coast with the hundreds of loose diamonds in our inventory, why would you go anywhere else? If you’d like to find out more about the engagement ring settings we have available at Smyth Jewelers, don’t hesitate to visit or contact us at any of our showrooms: (410) 252-6666 for Timonium, Maryland; (443) 321-0300 for Annapolis, Maryland; or (410) 461-4044 for Ellicott City, Maryland!
