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Diamonds are by far the most popular gemstone for engagement rings, or any type of jewelry, for that matter, but there is no law that says you have to have a diamond ring. Not every girl likes or wants a diamond engagement ring, and the alternatives are endless.

Ilona wanted an opal. I love opals, too, and I really love opal jewelry, but I'd warn against it for an engagement ring. Opals are very soft, and can crack or shatter easily. They are not really suitable for everyday wear. That doesn't mean you can't have opal jewelry -- an engagement ring doesn't have to be the only jewelry your husband ever gives you (hint, hint).

When they say "Diamonds are forever," it's not just because they're a symbol of everlasting love -- it's because they are the hardest substance found in nature.

If you go to a major chain store to buy your engagement ring, you'll get to look at a selection of a few dozen rings in a case and choose from what the shop has in stock. It's okay to shop this way, but for the best bang for your buck, and to be sure you get exactly what you want, I find it's best to buy the ring by its individual parts. You choose all the metals, the gemstones, and the settings.

The style of setting is mostly a matter of taste, so I don't really have any recommendations one way or the other in that regard, but I do suggest that no matter what style of ring you choose, you select a secure head for the stones in your ring. The head is the piece that holds the stone in place, and there are dozens of designs to choose from, some far more secure than others.

You may like the look of a certain setting, but if it's not secure, you risk losing your diamond, or whatever gemstone(s) you may have in your ring.

It's funny to me that even though the Hope Diamond, which is blue, is one of the most famous gemstones in the world, most people don't realize that diamonds come in colors other than white. In fact, some diamond colors, like yellow and champagne, are quite common -- just not in your typical engagement ring.

As with any gemstone, trace elements within a diamond or other elements present during the stone's formation will affect its color. The vast majority of colored diamonds really only exhibit a hint of color at best. The most valuable colored diamonds are the ones with the naturally vibrant colors. Yellows and browns are the most common and least expensive of the colored diamonds, while shades of red are the most rare and most expensive.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Every other Tuesday, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

I've covered the basics of the four C's, so now it's time to go into a little more depth, starting with some new technologies that can affect diamond clarity. As a consumer, it's very important that you know what it means to have a clarity-enhanced diamond, because this affects not only the look of your stone, but its value, care, and durability.

Simply defined, a clarity-enhanced (or CE) diamond is any diamond that has been treated to reduce the appearance of inclusions. There two main ways this is done.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Every Tuesday, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

I've covered carat weight, cut (shape), cut (quality), and color now, so this brings us to the last of the four C's: clarity.

A diamond's clarity refers to any surface imperfections, known as blemishes, and any internal characteristics, called inclusions. Clarity is graded under 10X magnification.

An explanation of the clarity scale follows.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Over the coming weeks, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

Did you know that diamonds come in every color in the spectrum? I'll talk more about fancy colored diamonds in a future post, but for now I want to discuss how gemologists grade color in white or colorless diamonds, which have always been the most popular gemstone for engagement rings.

You've probably never really thought about how diamonds can vary in shade, and you probably wouldn't even notice such subtle differences unless you were looking at two stones side by side, but color can have a tremendous effect on the look of your ring -- not to mention its price tag.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Over the coming weeks, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

Last week I wrote about diamond cut in terms of shape. Whereas shape is largely just a matter of personal preference, cut quality as graded by a gemologist will have a major effect on two important factors: the brilliance and the price of your diamond.

When grading cut, a gemologist will start by measuring the proportions of a diamond. The best relative proportions will vary a great deal depending on the shape of a diamond, so rather than simply stating the measurements, gemologists rate the cut on a scale. There is no worldwide standard for this scale, but the Gemological Institute of America, the leading authority in diamond grading, uses a five-step scale from Poor to Excellent.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Over the coming weeks, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

I'm just getting started on a series about diamonds, kicking of with the four C's. If you missed the post about carat weight, find it here.

Cut is technically just one of the four C's, but really there are two different ways to talk about cut, and both are important when you are considering a diamond purchase. There's cut quality, which is graded by a gemologist, and there's the more obvious meaning of cut, which is the shape of the stone.

Meg spent two years working in the jewelry industry as a store manager for a retail and wholesale jeweler in Virginia. During that time, she studied under two Graduate Gemologists and went through diamond and gemology certification programs through the Gemological Institute of America while working closely with wholesale vendors, bench jewelers, appraisers, trade show specialists, and others within the industry. Over the coming weeks, look for more from Meg on diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

When selecting an engagement diamond, one of the very first things you'll need to consider is the size of the rock. Not only is size the most visible characteristic of a gemstone, it's also got the biggest effect on the price. So what do you need to know?

All diamonds are measured in carat weight. One carat is equal to one-fifth of a gram, and carats are divided into hundredths, called points.