"Can I give them 100 stars?!"

"Can I give them 100 stars?! I'm not even sure where to start this review...working with Dana and Rad to create our engagement ring was honestly one of the best decisions we've ever made! We are from Boston and I quickly knew none of the local jewelers could provide what I was looking for-- most of the rings we saw were very generic and clunky. Some of the jewelers had hundreds of options, which was incredibly overwhelming to start and then I would still realize that I didn't love any of them. We decided to start visiting some designers in New York to look for something a bit different. After combing the internet and getting recommendations from friends, we narrowed down our list and visited around five different jewelers in New York. As soon as we went to Dana Walden, we immediately knew we had found the perfect people and just dove headfirst into the process with them.

We arrived for our first appointment a bit stressed and frazzled after having been shopping for a while. We had debated back and forth about buying the whole ring together or buying a center diamond separately in Boston and getting it set somewhere else. We explained this to Dana and Rad, who reassured us that they would work with whatever decision we ended up making (which was immediately calming-- many places will make you jump through hoops to set a diamond from another jeweler, or even refuse to set non-heirloom stones). After hearing this, we were much more relaxed and Dana and Rad told us that we should take a step back and just chat a bit about what we were looking for in a ring. Dana and Rad walked us through their design philosophy and process while showing us some of their rings so we could see what they were talking about in person. This whole meeting was incredible-- my then-bf and I  really appreciated this non-rushed or distracted hour of one-on-one time with Dana and Rad themselves. Immediately after looking at a couple of their rings and hearing Dana talk about how he designs the pieces, I knew they would be the perfect match for the aesthetic we wanted. I had been struggling to find something that was timeless and classic that still had some modern element of design and didn't feel super generic. All of Dana and Rad's rings are exquisitely designed and feel incredibly light and elegant. They do a great job making even simple solitaires feel special and unique.

I quickly fell in love with their three stone ring (the Victoria-- I barely took it off my finger for the rest of the appointment and kept staring down in awe) because it was the first three stone ring I'd seen that didn't feel either really clunky or so delicate that I wouldn't be able to wear it on a daily basis. I also loved that the design would allow a wedding band to sit flush under the ring, so I wouldn't have to get one that curved around it. After settling on this ring, we came back to Dana Walden for a sourcing appointment so we could see the diamonds we could use for the ring that would fit our budget (the model had a smaller center stone than what we wanted). Before the sourcing meeting, we sent Dana and Rad a long list describing what we wanted in terms of stones (I was worried we were sending them way too much information) but it ended up working so well! My bf and I had an idea of what we should be able to get for our budget and were willing to compromise a bit on color and clarity in order to get a bigger stone. Rad understood this perfectly and sourced a range of the most incredible stones we'd seen-- all while being incredibly respectful of our budget. We loved that they pulled options all across the price range we had given them, and even one stone over our budget [we honestly couldn't tell the difference between this stone and the one in our budget, so it was even more reassuring to know that staying in our budget would actually give us the ring of our dreams and spending a bit extra wouldn't make it any better]. We were really worried that we were going to have to compromise what we could get for our budget because we were working with a *fancy designer* instead of a big jewelry store and came prepared to sacrifice a bit in terms of what we could get. Instead, we were thrilled that the stones Dana and Rad showed us within our budget were actually completely comparable to what we had seen at other jewelers and even online. This was a HUGE relief, as we didn't end up having to compromise size and quality of our stone to get the perfect ring design I'd been looking for. In addition to comparing the center stones side by side, Rad had also sourced two sizes of side stones so we could decide which we thought looked best with the center stone we had picked. This whole process was so cool-- we really played a big role in crafting the overall final product and ended up being able to get exactly what we wanted!

When we went to pick up the ring, we were completely blown away. It is beyond gorgeous and I can't wait to come back to pick out wedding bands!"

 

Lea H.
Brookline, MA

via Yelp