At least every other month, we get a question in our inbox asking about the logistics of repurposing family heirlooms for engagement rings. Where do you get started? How do you find someone you can trust? Do you have to work locally? What if you want to keep the stone, but create a new piece with it? And every time the staff agrees that we really should get to answering that question sometime, if only we could figure it out for ourselves. So when I heard that Gemvara (who I got to work with last year to create a custom ring for myself) was going to start offering stone resetting services, I was pretty excited. Because problem solved.
If you’re new here and aren’t familiar with Gemvara yet, let’s just say their platform is pretty rad: you get to design your ring from a combination of options on the Gemvara website (of which there are literally thousands of possibilities). Then Gemvara creates your custom piece right here in the United States, and you get a 101-day satisfaction guarantee on your purchase, as in, no questions asked. And since you get to choose all of the elements of your ring yourself, prices start at just a few hundred dollars. Plus, whenever someone compliments me on my ring, I get to brag that I designed it.
So when Gemvara announced Stone Reset, I knew that they were going to figure out how to do it in the easiest, most customer-friendly way possible. (Because that’s just their jam.) And you don’t necessarily have to be resetting a ring to use the service. I’ve had a pair of amethyst earrings collecting dust in my jewelry box since my high school graduation that I’ve been wanting to turn into a ring. They were a gift from my parents, but never quite my style. So Gemvara let me try out stone reset for myself, and I couldn’t have been happier with the end result:
Here’s how the process works:
- Start with a risk-free shipping kit: Gemvara doesn’t want you to feel pressured into buying anything, so they start by sending you a risk-free shipping kit. It’s fully insured so that Gemvara is on the hook in the rare event that something happens, but Gemvara also takes extra, extra care to make sure that nothing does. The kit comes with handy jewelry sizers, so you know exactly what size ring to order.
- Design Your Jewelry: Once Gemvara receives your jewelry in the mail, they’ll analyze the piece and send you a custom link containing a bunch of settings that match the size and shape of your stone. From there, you can customize to your heart’s content, still with no obligation to buy anything. Whenever you make a change to your setting (swapping out diamonds for sapphires, for example), Gemvara updates the design in real time, so you can get an immediate sense for how your finished piece will look. Gemvara has over twenty different natural gemstones to choose from, so you’re definitely not short on options. And since you only have to pay for the setting, stone reset is often significantly less expensive than purchasing a whole new ring (plus they’ve got a special APW-only discount at the end of this post).
- Tada! No really, it’s that easy: Once you confirm your design, one of Gemvara’s U.S.-based jewelers will get started creating the real thing for you, and it will be in your hands within a matter of weeks. Don’t find something you like? No worries; Gemvara will simply ship your jewelry back to you in another insured package, at no cost. Here are just a few examples of rings that customers have recently made using stone reset with Gemvara:
Including my own:
The best part about my new ring, though, is just knowing that it’s covered. Last winter, when I accidentally knocked the stone loose on the Gemvara ring I had gotten over the summer, I was half expecting them to find a reason not to fix my jewelry. I mean, I had no idea whose name the order was under, or where it even had shipped to originally. Most companies would not be forgiving. Instead, the customer service rep I talked to couldn’t have been more awesome. Not only did she search tirelessly for my damn order, but when Gemvara sent my ring back, they even included a personalized note with my good-as-new piece. So basically, when Gemvara tells me they are going to take care of a family heirloom, I believe them.
So if you and your partner are thinking about repurposing a piece of jewelry for an engagement ring, then Gemvara is here to make that process easy. Plus you still get all the bragging rights for being the genius who designed such a lovely piece. Just, you know, with about a fraction of the work it actually takes.
Gemvara is offering 15% off all stone reset orders when you mention A Practical Wedding! Click HERE to get your insured shipping kit today!
