All That Glitters...

July 2005 Issue #003

Get the lowdown on the latest trends in engagement rings, bridal jewelry, honeymoons, gifts and much more...

If you like this magazine, please make sure you let your friends know all about the interesting articles featured. Or, if this magazine was sent to YOU by one of your friends, please subscribe online here -- All That Glitters Subscription Form.

It's summer now and a time to celebrate the glorious sunshine, June weddings and glamorous honeymoon destinations.

Contents:

1. News and views on celebrity happenings

2. Surviving your honeymoon.

3. Tiffany's Lucida cut diamond. Do you love Lucida?

Firstly, all the news and views on celebrity engagements and weddings over the past couple of months.

You would have had to be living on a desert island to have not heard about the Paris/Paris liaison. It seems poor Paris (Hilton, that is!) couldn't make up her mind which engagement ring to choose. But she's finally decided on a 24-carat yellow diamond sparkler, one carat for each of her 24 years.

One celebrity report notes that at a recent LA dinner, the party girl was seen to be passing it around to her friends for them to admire it and try it on for size. A dinner guest was reported to have warned Paris "That’s a very expensive ring to be passing around like that. Besides, taking off your engagement ring is bad luck," to which Paris replied simply, "I don't have bad luck." What a lucky girl!

The diamond industry is also celebrating the recent engagement of Tom Cruise to Katie Holmes in Paris. Katie has been snapped all over the world wearing her 15-carat pale pink diamond engagement ring, believed to be worth over $1 million.

Cynical critics have suggested the engagement is a ruse aimed at securing more publicity for the couple's recent celluloid efforts: Cruise's War of the World's and Holmes's Batman Begins both premiered last month.

Nine months after they married, pop princess Britney Spears has finally been presented with an engagement ring from hubby Kevin Federline. It seems poor Britney was forced to fork out for her own ring prior to their wedding last September because Kevin was short of cash.

The classically set single diamond ring set in a platinum band was designed by celebrity jeweler Cynthia Wolff.

And not to be outdone, singer Marc Anthony has celebrated his first wedding anniversary to J.Lo with a $5 million engagement ring. The ring reportedly features a blue 14.5-carat diamond set on a platinum band designed by jeweler to the stars Neil Lane.

Marc decided to give his bride the huge sparkler because he didn't get the chance the first time around. The pair married in a secret ceremony at J.Lo's Beverly Hills mansion after a four-month whirlwind romance. The sexy star, whose previous marriages to waiter Ojani Noa and dancer Cris Judd failed to pass the one year mark, reportedly treated Anthony to a $5,000 shopping spree in Malibu, California, for their anniversary.

Surviving Your Honeymoon

Once you've mortgaged the rest of your life for the dress and the ceremony, made all sorts of promises in front of everyone you know and danced with your long-lost fifth cousin twice removed, you deserve a little time off to recuperate. It's called a honeymoon.

Your honeymoon is that wonderful period of grace between the fantasy of your wedding and the reality of simply being an old married couple. It's a time for the two of you to get to know each other as well as two people who are going to spend the next couple of days alone with only each other for company can. But not so alone that you can't ring for room service.

According to a recent survey by Modern Bride magazine, newlyweds are certainly not loathe to shell out when it comes to spending up on their honeymoon - on average, newlyweds spend $3,700 on their honeymoon. For the average wage earner, that's almost 10% of their annual income.

Honeymoon spending is high for a number of reasons. Firstly, for most of us it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live it up, favoring luxurious resorts and exotic cruises over a two-star just-off-the-highway motel.

And the honeymoon is generally not the time for going to stay with mad old Aunty Gladys who you haven't seen since you were five. No, honeymooners want their day in the sun, a time to luxuriate in the newness of coupledom and they are usually looking for something special.

So if that means ordering that second bottle of champagne, or deciding on the lobster for dinner, most honeymooners don't give it a second thought.

To compile their list of Top 10 honeymoon destinations, the Modern Bride survey factored in romance, ambience, affordability, seclusion, culture and adventure amongst its list of important qualities. Here are the results for overall excellence:

1. Hawaii
2. Jamaica
3. Mexico
4. Tahiti
5. St Lucia
6. Italy
7. US Virgin Islands
8. Aruba
9. Las Vegas
10. Bermuda

While there are no real surprises on the list, the surprise is that there are not more distant, out-of-the-way places in the Top 10. Which only goes to prove that even honeymooners want value for money and the chance to explore new territory - but not too far from home. Of course, Italy is the one exception, but who couldn't imagine romantic visions of strolling through vineyards in Tuscany, or sipping grappa in a trattoria in Venice?

If your honeymoon is still in the planning phase, or even if you've already got your heart set on an exotic honeymoon destination, it's worth visiting OneTravel.com. They can offer you everything from the budget conscious "we smashed open the piggy bank to pay for this" honeymoon to the "let's max out the American Express card" type honeymoon and have some great deals available over the coming months.

Bon voyage!

Do You Love Lucida?

Although Tiffany's Lucida diamond cut has been around for a while now, I promised I would write about it, in answer to a couple of questions from our readers.

Tiffany & Co introduced the Lucida cut diamond in 1999 with an extensive advertising campaign featuring model Christy Turlington, who represented the classic yet contemporary feel of the design.

A specially designed setting was also made to showcase the cut of the diamond, featuring a thick band with trellis style prongs to hold the diamond in place. Since its launch, the Lucida cut has been copied and adapted by many well known jewelers.

Tiffany's Lucida cut is reminiscent of the antique-style Asscher or cushion cut. It has 50 facets, a high crown and brilliant cutting on the pavilion, which is the central part of the diamond. Because of the deep pavilion, the Lucida diamond actually looks smaller than, say, a square radiant or round brilliant diamond of the same carat weight.

For my money, if you want the look of the Lucida cut, but don't want to fork out your annual salary just for the little eggshell blue box (as pretty as it is!), then I would recommend the square radiant, which is very similar in shape and cut.

Specialist online jewelers like Blue Nile will create a unique engagement ring for you using the square radiant diamond with a band similar to that used by Tiffany & Co for its Lucida setting. And you'll still have change left over.

If there is something you'd like to see in upcoming editions of this magazine, or you have a question for me, feel free to contact me at alex *AT engagement-rings-guide.com.

*Please replace the "AT" with the symbol "@"

Have a happy summer!