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Monograms are a classic way to "brand" yourselves as a couple. Whether you use your monogram in your wedding or incorporate it into your home, it's fun because it's uniquely yours ... in a really, really traditional way.

Fortunately, for those of us who like the idea of a monogram but are interested in finding a more modern take on it, there is Echo D'Amour. Atlanta-based designer Chad Rullman creates jewelry based on "the beauty of symmetry," creating a mirror image (or echo) pendant. They are created in 18k gold or platinum and weigh in at 2.5 to 5 carats of ideal-cut colorless diamonds.

One of the things that make these pendants so very cool is that you can make yours out of any combination of letters or numbers. Want to use your wedding date? One initial? Four initials? No problem -- each Echo D'Amour piece is customized to your requirements, style, and budget. These are the kinds of pieces that will become a family heirloom -- you can't tell at first sight that they are monograms, so you'll always have a one-of-a-kind conversation starter!

A friend of mine called the other day to ask for help finding a diamond for his girlfriend. He's a law student at a competitive school -- the boy knows how to do research -- but he wanted to ask me about any secrets of the trade I could pass on. So I asked him what he was looking for in a diamond.

"She has one request. It has to SPARKLE!" Simple enough. You don't need piles of appraisal documents to know if a diamond sparkles -- you can tell by looking at it, right? You'd think...

Actually, how a diamond twinkles in a jewelry display case can be very different from how it looks in natural light, and most jewelry store sales clerks don't even know about the characteristic that could have the most affect on a diamond's sparkle: fluorescence.

Our friends at Luxist turned us on to diamond hybrids. If you're concerned about blood diamonds or just the environmental impact of diamond mining, you may be looking for alternatives.

Anna-Mieke Anderson became involved in the diamond simulant industry after learning about the history of her own diamond engagement ring. She researched conflict-free diamonds, but decided that just wasn't enough. She eventually found out about diamond seeding, a technology first developed by NASA. The resultant stones are hybrids that are both simulant and man-made diamond crystal.

MiaDonna, Anna-Mieke's company, focuses primarily on engagement and wedding rings. Their stones are graded through Global Gem Lab and guaranteed for life.

In fact, Anna-Mieke is so concerned about the global impact of diamond mining that she has started a non-profit foundation called Greener Diamond. Their goal is to give back to those affected by the blood diamond industry. Check out some of MiaDonna's wedding and engagement rings in the gallery. You can also read more of the interview at Luxist.

About a month ago, my husband and I bought a diamond solitaire to go with the wedding band I've always worn. I chose a bezel setting for my diamond, mostly because I think they're prettiest, but also because I know that they are the most secure. I wouldn't ever have to worry about losing my diamond -- or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I glanced down at my new ring (something I do hundreds of times each day) only to find that the diamond wasn't there anymore! I'm amazed with myself for staying as calm as I did, but I didn't freak out at all, and here's why. My many years of employment in jewelry retail taught me that this was a jeweler error. For the stone to fall out of such a secure setting as a bezel less than six weeks after it was put together could only mean that it was poorly set to begin with. I knew that the jeweler would admit his fault and make it right. He's an honest guy and I wouldn't have dealt with him for such an expensive purchase if I hadn't already established a good relationship with him.

Whenever you make a large purchase like a diamond ring, you should ask what the store will do if the stone accidentally falls out of its setting. Many salespeople will take this opportunity to push the extended service plan on you, but you shouldn't bite. When a stone falls out of its setting, assuming you have had the prongs regularly checked for damage, this is almost always due to jeweler error, and any honest jeweler will take responsibility for this and fix the problem without charging you extra. That means anything from resetting loose stones to replacing lost ones.

Fashion follows Hollywood. When Lindsay Lohan started trotting around Tinseltown in leggings, suddenly everyone started copying this style, much to the dismay of everyone's favorite fashion critics, and retailers across America struggled to keep an adequate spandex stock. Thankfully, it's not just the ridiculous trends that catch on -- when Ben Affleck gave Jennifer Lopez a 6-ct pink diamond engagement ring, there was a rush on pink diamonds (until the rest of the world realized that they were not movie stars and couldn't actually afford them). So then there was a rush on pink cubic zirconia.

The Bennifer engagement ring really sparked a big trend in Hollywood, and the rest of the world followed. Starlets no longer settled for traditional ring styles like round solitaires in Tiffany settings. Those rings are classic and glamorous indeed, but not unique enough to make a splash on the red carpet. Now we're seeing celebs with every color diamond in the spectrum, like JLo's pink rock, Heidi Klum's huge canary diamond, and Carmen Electra's black diamond ring, to name a few. In addition to the colored diamond trend, solitaires have gone the way of the dinosaur as celebs opt instead for much busier rings with lots of accent stones, and maybe even a non-diamond center stone, like the pink sapphire Nicole Richie received from ex-fiance DJ AM.

While many celebrities like to wear their extreme wealth on their fingers, Marcia Cross opts for understated elegance. Her one-carat round brilliant diamond solitaire is set in a classic Tiffany setting without any bells and whistles.

The Desperate Housewives star and real-life mom shows her sensible side with this ring. When you have young children, large rings can be dangerous, and get dirty in a hurry. Without lots of tiny accent stones or engraving, this ring is easy to clean and goes with anything on the red carpet.

It seems that everything about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' relationship has been completely over-the-top, and the bling is no exception. When Tom proposed to Katie atop the Eiffel Tower in June 2005, he gave her this five-carat oval-shaped diamond set in platinum and rose gold, surrounded by smaller diamonds in a pavé setting. The rose gold, which has a shiny rust color, is not used often in jewelry and gives this ring a unique look (as if a five-carat diamond is not unique!). Nearly as wide as Katie's slender finger, this weighty gem sits high and constantly flops to the side of her finger due to its massive size.

It's important to clean your diamond ring regularly to remove the oil, dirt, and other substances that build up and dull its shine. First and foremost, close the drain on your sink! That open drain is an invitation to heartbreak if you accidentally drop your ring while cleaning. Experts recommend using anything mild to clean your ring, including jewelry cleaning solutions, mild soap or detergent (such as Ivory dish soap), or window cleaner. Always handle your ring gently and avoid touching the stone as much as possible (the oil from your skin is a big part of what you're trying to wash off). You can use a soft brush, such as a child's soft toothbrush, to gently reach into the spaces in your setting and to clean the back of the stone where most of the dirt builds up. Rinse your ring thoroughly in warm water and dry it with a soft, clean cloth. Voila -- instant restored sparkle!

It's said that "A diamond is forever," and while that slogan has been huge for jewelry retailers, most of them hope you'll adopt the unspoken follow-up into your jewelry philosophy. The full saying is, of course, "A diamond is forever -- until you can afford a bigger one."

Most major jewelry retailers offer trade-in programs where you can exchange your original purchase toward something bigger and better down the road -- provided that you're trading up to something at least twice the value. (This is the Zales policy, which is pretty standard throughout the industry.)

This sounds like a nice idea for the couple who doesn't have the money to buy what they want when they're first engaged, but we have to wonder -- doesn't an engagement ring (no matter the size of the rock) have huge sentimental value? Is this something one could really trade in? Grooms, how would you feel about your bride trading up for something "better" than what you first gave her? Tell us what you think!

So the buzz this week is that singer Ashlee Simpson and fiancé Pete Wentz are expecting a little bundle of joy. We don't know anything about that beyond what we've read in the papers, but we DO know that Ashlee is sporting a new much larger engagement ring.

And here we thought you had to wait until after the baby was born to get the big rock.

Simpson's original engagement ring (you know, the one she swore was NOT an engagement ring, but only a promise ring, although with a baby possibly on the way one wonders what exactly she and Pete were promising each other) -- the original ring was a simple diamond band. This new ring is a substantial rock: an emerald-cut diamond surrounded with sparkly baguettes. Nice.

Brown is one of those colors that you either love or hate. Champagne diamonds are a good reason to love the color. As colored diamonds gain popularity in engagement rings and wedding jewelry, more of these sparkling brown gems are hitting the market.

Brown diamonds are known by several aliases, most commonly "champagne" and "cognac". Their color can be anywhere from very lightly tinted brown to very rich, dark chocolate brown. Diamonds with more intense orange shades will fetch the highest prices in this group, but because brown is the most common naturally occurring diamond color, these stones sell for significantly less than their colorless counterparts. Expect to pay anywhere from $500-$5000 per carat, depending on the intensity of the color and quality of the stone. High clarity stones with intense natural color will command a higher price, but you should be able to find plenty of beautiful choices without exceeding the $5000/ct range.

If you want a rich brown gemstone, diamonds are about your only option on the market today. Other gems exist in brown, but they don't have the sparkle and shine that diamonds posses, and haven't seen anything like the demand for champagne diamonds. Whether you want a champagne diamond engagement rings or just some brown accents in your wedding jewelry, flip through the gallery above for some ideas.

To learn more about how to shop for diamonds, read the posts in the Personal Gemologist series.

Hip hop culture has had a surprising impact on the wedding industry. I mean, look at the amount of "bling" now available on dresses -- we're past having just a little sparkle on the trim and have moved into a world of serious gems worked into the design of many dresses.

However, when it comes to the man in your life, make sure you're choosing jewelry for him and not for you. Just because you like lots of diamonds, and even if he likes lots of diamonds, that doesn't necessarily mean he wants bling-a-riffic wedding jewelry. If you're picking out his wedding band, be sure to get a complete understanding of what he wants -- if he says he wants diamonds, find out if he wants three small stones or something from the gallery above!

When you shop at big box stores like Costco, there are only a few things that don't come in packs of 12 or more. Luckily, diamonds are one of those things you can buy individually. But would you want to? The store isn't exactly known for romance, but it is known for value, and you can actually get quite a bargain when you shop in their jewelry section.

You might think you'd have to compromise on quality when you shop there, but that's not the case, either. Costco carries a wide selection from lower quality diamonds to high quality pieces that might even be nicer than you find in neighboring jewelry stores. Costco is not a jewelry store, though. Their employees are not trained to educate customers on diamonds, but all of their diamonds are clearly marked with their specs, so if you know your four C's, you can browse Costco's rings without the "help" of some commission-minded salesperson. This might actually be an advantage.

Okay, it's not your typical diamond engagement ring, but Paris Hilton has been seen sporting a big B.M on her all-important finger. And, by B.M., I don't mean bowel movement -- she's been seeing Benji Madden for a couple of minutes (you know, the twin brother of Joel Madden, who is baby-daddy and engaged to Paris' BFF Nicole Richie but has yet to walk down the aisle).

The ring is a gift from Benji, along with a big B necklace she's been seen wearing in addition to items from his line of clothing. She has said of Benji that "he is gentle and kind and quiet, and just being together is good enough for us."

I give it a week.