From friend requests, to writing on walls, to changing your status to “in a relationship” and then “engaged” “married”, etc.  These are brand new dating conventions of the modern age and are now just as important as the ones listed above.  Social media has added a whole new complexion to dating, and how you deal with these new milestones can make or break a relationship.

The best way to handle these – either a kiss or a poke – is to play it cool.  Don’t rush things!  You’ll find that good things happen when you take a back-seat and just enjoy the ride.  For example, you’d never want to rush that first kiss, for fear of being denied and just making things awkward.  And you wouldn’t tell a girl that you love her after just a few dates (trust me, it’s never a good idea).  So, in light of this, you should apply the same rules of your practical life to your online life.  Don’t ever rush a relationship request — this can scare your potential girlfriend away before you even realize what happened.  Have a discussion first, and make sure you both are ready to announce to your respective social networks that you’re in a relationship with one another.  Also, refrain from “stalking” at all costs.  Allow your special lady to have her own online life!

So, guys, remember follows the “rules of engagement” – and – when you’re ready to change that relationship status from “in a relationship” to “engaged,” make sure you check out Ritani and our beautiful collections of diamond engagement rings to pop the question!

Do you have any other tips for building a healthy online relationship?  Let us know in the comments below!

Courtesy of the Associated Press

After months of bets being made and much speculation, Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced their engagement.  It’s pretty impressive that they were able to keep it a secret for as long as they did.  All eyes have been on the couple and the Royal Family trying to find any hints of an engagement, and today the couple announced that they have been engaged since October.   Ever true to their quest for privacy, Prince William popped the question while the couple was enjoying a secluded safari trip in Kenya last month.  Infusing much sentimentality to the occasion, William offered Kate his late mother’s engagement ring, which is a stunning oval sapphire ring surrounded by a glistening cluster of fourteen round-cut diamonds.   The Prince was quoted as saying that giving his future wife something that once belonged to his mother, the late Princess Diana, was very important to him as it ensured that she was sharing in all of the excitement that they were experiencing and would continue to experience in their new life together.  At the time of her engagement to Prince Charles in 1981, Diana chose the 18 carat sapphire and diamond ring from the catalogue of famed London Jewelers, Garrard Jewellers.  At the time it seemed very controversial that the soon to be princess chose a ring that could be bought by the public, but it soon turned into “the” symbol of the engaged couple.  With many commenting on whether the Prince was wrong to give his fiancée a second hand ring from a broken marriage, I have to comment on the opposite.  I think Prince William using his mother’s ring enriches the occasion with a level of sentimentality and tradition.  Kate Middleton seems to share many of the qualities once expressed by Princess Diana and what a fitting tribute than to be continually reminded of such a profound figure in her soon to be husband’s life than to wear her engagement ring?  Now Kate will be walking down the aisle with something borrowed AND something blue.

Check out the invitations to two upcoming events in Burlington, Mass. and Charlotte, N.C.:

Long’s Jewelers
Burlington, Mass.
Tuesday, October 26th
5:30-7:30pm
Long’s Jewelers of Burlington, MA invites you to their Platinum Party! Take advantage of a limited time offer of special pricing on select Ritani wedding bands and engagement rings.  Join us in sipping champagne as we savor fine wedding cake by Konditor Meister. And while you’re there, enter to win your own custom cake by Konditor Meister. Contributing bridal editor and jewelry expert Alison Rowe will also be on hand to discuss the latest trends as well as provide personal style consultations. So come on in to see Ritani’s beautiful platinum bridal ring collection!

Fink’s Jewelers
Charlotte, N.C.
Saturday, November 13th
12-5pm
Fink’s Jewelers is hosting a Platinum Party, offering you the perfect chance to view Ritani’s exclusive collection of platinum jewelry. Special guest Alison Rowe, contributing bridal editor and jewelry expert, will be on hand to discuss the latest trends and provide style consultations to all who attend. Plus, enter to win either a custom cake made by tizzerts or a Ritani wedding band set! So stop by for some champagne and fine cake, and while your there don’t forget to check out Ritani’s unforgettable line of platinum jewelry.

“Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.”

Sounds like Leo has found his nitch in the Sci-Fi/Thriller/Mystery market.  (His last movie was Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.”)  I decided to be a nice guy and save you the time and money and just give you the ending…the idea that Leo wants to plant is for you to buy an engagement ring from Ritani.  Somewhere in your subconscious you want to buy a ring, and Leo is going to help us out there.  One day you might wake up with a Bella Vita, Endless Love, or Romantique engagement ring sitting on your girlfriend’s finger without any memory of putting it there, but rest assured you did.

Don’t let Leo get in your head!  Check us out online or give us a call to buy a ring…before it’s too late!

NHL-star Mike Fisher gave Carrie Underwood a 12 carat canary diamond valuing at an estimated $800,000. Like the canary diamond, but want a smaller size? Solution: The Masterwork Engagement Ring. The ring is a bezel set princess cut fancy yellow diamond center stone with micropave’ diamonds and a single row of micropave’ split shank.

John Krasinski, hunk of The Office, stayed classic, when he bought his now-wife Emily Blunt, from The Devil Wears Prada, a platinum sparkler worth $85,000.  Ritani’s version: a solitaire engagement ring with a prong set diamond center stone with bezel set single diamonds on  undergallery design.

Pretty informative, huh?  You just got an inside look on how a Ritani ring is made.  Don’t you want an engagement ring or piece of jewelry that we spend so much time on to sit on your finger?  Let us know what your favorite collection is and what type of video you’re interested in watching!

What you need: rubber gloves, three bowls, white vinegar, warm water, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Scent-Free dish soap, old soft bristled toothbrush, Seventh Generation facial tissue.

To loosen the dirt and grime, place ring in a bowl of 1 cup of warm water and ¼ cup of vinegar for 20 minutes.Wearing rubber gloves, take the ring out of the vinegar solution and place it in a bowl of warm water and dish soap. Lightly swish the ring around in the bowl.Using your toothbrush, scrub the ring gently. Make sure the bristles reach into the inner most parts of the ring between the diamond and the setting.Rinse your ring making sure all the soap is gone. Place on a tissue to dry.

1. 

   Always use care and eco-friendly products when maintaining your diamonds

The world cup is living up to its name and is taking the world by storm!  Everyone is talking about which country beat who (some countries I have never even heard of) and as well as predicting which two teams will end up in the finals.  With soccer being a European sport, I was surprised as to how intense America took to the competition!  I can’t tell you how many facebook friends I had to cut because that’s all they would post about…sacrifices had to be made for my sanity…

And then all at once, POOF, America was out and almost all the posts stopped.  Now that all the late evenings and early morning drinking is over  (with the game being in South Africa and all messes with our sleep pattern), people are probably thinking, “what’s left in life?”  Well, maybe you’ll start going back to work and making money…and then with all that money you’re making, you can spend it on fine jewelry.  A beautiful new necklace or diamond ring really helps the grieving process to an American defeat.  Ritani makes some of the finest hand crafted jewelry.  With collections such as Endless Love, Floral, and Romantique, Ritani really proves its point.  We have jewelry for every occasion, from graduations to designer engagement rings!

The ancient Greeks used to give their partners rings that were braided to look like veins.  They would wear these rings on the fourth finger of their left hands because they believed that finger contained a very important vein, the vena amoris, which leads directly to one’s heart. That tradition, of course, continues (albeit on the third finger!) today.

Indeed, when it comes to engagement rings, it’s true that diamonds are forever… but the tradition of giving diamond engagement rings isn’t quite at old… just 530 years, to be exact. The trend setter?  Archduke Maximilian I of Austria gave a diamond ring to his bride to be, Mary of Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century.

Before Maximilian’s historical gesture, the more common engagement ring consisted of a plain metal band that had a poem or message about love inscribed on it.  If the suitor was wealthy enough to purchase a gem, the ring would have a ruby on it (ruby being the gem of love at the time).

So, you ask: how did we get from the modest inexpensive band to the grand diamond engagement ring that we all have come to know and love?  One of the world’s best known diamond campaigns “A Diamond is Forever” has a lot to do with it.  Typically, diamonds were advertised by photographing young Hollywood starlets wearing the jewelry.  The industry then began to incorporate males in these shoots, giving the diamonds as a gift to their objects of affection.  Eventually, diamonds transformed into the ultimate gesture of love, and the public began to see that love could best be symbolized through the gift of a diamond (and the bigger and higher quality the diamond; the bigger and higher the quality the man’s love for the women he is proposing to!) Needless to say, the campaign was huge success and if you ask us: a win for women everywhere! Like most, we are firm believers in beautiful symbols to express love… and what better way to achieve that than via a Ritani engagement ring!