I'm getting married myself and going through exactly what your friend is going through. One thing I found was that diamonds are cheap in Nepal. It may be due to the fact that diamond price greatly varies based on its cut, color, clarity and carat (they call it 4 c's of diamond).

http://www.diamondideals.com/education/find/four_cs.cfm

In Nepal people usually do not ask for these factors while buying diamonds, while in US, these factors play huge role in their price. High clarity diamonds are ridiculously expensive here in US.

After doing some research, comparing prices among kay vs bluenile vs "local jewelry district in boston" vs "new jersey indian jewelry store" vs "nepal ko store", I have made up my mind to buy it in Nepal itself. Its cheap and nobody cares about 4c's. Anyways diamonds are overrated and carry low resale value.

Just my two cents.

Hi Keyser,
Well if you do decide to buy gold jewelry in Nepal, make sure you do not buy them from any store. There are lots and lots of gold jewelry sellers in Nepal selling low carat gold at high carat value.
If you need to find place to buy such jewels please let me know. I have been doing business with one gold jewler in Nepal for last 4 years. I import some of his products (not sold in Nepal) to few big fasion houses in Europe. His products are really good and he buys them back for the price he sold them to you in case you decided to sell it back in few years time.

Thanks a bunch for your suggestions. Tyrion, based on your research, what sort of jewelry could be purchased (diamond) for 5-10 lakhs? We think he's covered as far as gold is concerned but he wants to purchase diamond jewelry, too. We went to Macy's, Kay, and some other jewelries recently and it seems like most goods are overpriced. There was a ring at Macy's for 23k. While he wishes to purchase diamond jewelry, he certainly doesn't wish to splurge either.

Being totally clueless about these things certainly isn't helping. Good luck on your wedding, though. Which house do you belong to by the way? I can't stand the Lannisters but Tyrion is charismatic!

Hurray, any idea on how much would it cost if my friend were to take some gold bars from here?

Hey Keyser,
Brut gold price everywhere is the same. Why does your friend want to take gold bars? Is it to give them to a jewler in Nepal to make jewels from them? If so, I can bet you that the gold jewler in Nepal will keep your friend's gold bars and make his jewels out of gold that he buys in Nepal. Nepalese jewlers love foreign gold bars and believe them to be purer than the gold bars they buy in Nepal from authorized government banks.
Like Tyrion said, if your friend does not care about the quality of diamond he can buy his jewels in Nepal. Diamonds in Nepal are cheap because most of them are low-grade diamonds with majority being "dust-diamonds" (tiny pieces of diamonds collected while cutting a bigger diamond). Some of the diamonds in nepal are synthetic diamonds "moissanite" as well.
Yes some jewlery brands are over priced here in the west, but you have some guaranti in quality and design. But the same jewels are 3-5 times cheaper in Nepal.

Hurray, are you a jeweler?

Hey Riddle,
I am not an artisan jeweler but a jeweler dealer. I try to find the best artisans for big jewellery names, primarily based in Europe. There are excellent jewlers in Nepal, but very few that you can really trust. For example, if you want a gold ring that weighs 6 grams, the artisan asks 8 grams from you. Fair enough as he needs more gold since some will be lost during the process or will be transferred into dust during cutting and polishing process. But the artisans will refuse to give you back the gold dust or the wastage. He will keep it for himself. Ok, now in nepal the labor is not expensive so the artisan needs that extra gold to make up for this low wage. But even if you offer him a higher wage he will still keep the wasted gold. And most of them will not engage in making simple, solid design gold jewels. They want to make intricate designs. Have you even wondered why gold jewels in Nepal are so much more detailed with lots of joins compared to the western jewelry designs? Well, the trick is, the more detailed a jewelery piece is, the more joins you will need on that piece. And gold is joined or soldered by a different metal which costs peanuts. So now you go and buy your gold jewels from a store in Nepal, you will pay according to it's weight + the labor cost. But the thing is, the solder or the metal used to join parts of the jewel weighs in also. Hence you pay the price of gold for the metal used to solder gold. This is where the gold sellers make their money.
The other part is selling you 21 carat gold jewelry while it is only 20 carat, or in some cases 19 carats. That's a completely different story. You don't want to go there.

Diamond jewelery from US does not hold it's value if you want to sell it in future. Keep that in mind when you buy any jewelry from US brand name sellers. Better option would be to get jewelry made in Nepal (not to buy ready made ones) from respected jewelry stores. That way you won't lose the value of gold/silver/diamond in long term. Price and value of diamond from US is way to hyped and that's why jewelry stores in US will not buy back the jewelry they sold and if they buy back, they will only pay you about half of what you paid for or they will pay you back 100% if you agree to buy much expensive jewelry from them.

If you are looking to may be one day sell your gold jewels and not lose too much of money, you better buy them in Nepal. The concept of gold jewelery in Nepal is completely different from the concept we have in western countries. In western countries we do not buy gold jewels to sell them back. We buy them for their design, beauty and brand. That is why they cost more.
Imagine going to Tiffany's and buying your ring and trying to pay it according to it's weight and the current value of gold. It just won't work that way. In Nepal diamonds are rare, there are only two well known diamond importers in Nepal. So a jeweler will happily buy if you bring him your diamonds jewel to sell back.
So the bottom line is, if you plan on one day selling your gold jewels, buy them in Nepal. If you plan on wearing your jewels for it's beauty, design and above all it's putiry and haven't thought about selling it in future, buy them in the US (not imported jewels but US made ones) or buy them from a well known jeweler in Nepal. When I say a "well-known" jeweler in Nepal, I do not mean a jeweler who has a big, fancy shop with many employees in the hub of New Road or Durbar Marg. If you want some information, I can give you the name of one of my suppliers in Nepal.

Sawcheen (are you from OK btw?) and hurray, thanks a bunch for your input. Except for engagement ring, what are some other 'popular' jewelry items? Kinda like, "must have", not necessarily in terms of them being required to be made of diamond but in general. I know men traditionally wear bracelets and rings, but what about women? ring, tilahari, earrings, bracelets, what else? And how feasible is it to have ring/tilahari/earrings/bracelets made of diamond? Would 10k suffice? His mom (my aunt) already has quite a few gold jewelry (typical Nepali ladies' mindset/savings, of course), he believes. so these would be addendum (for the lack of better word)

As far as i know grading of a diamond differs in nepal and USA or any other country. NEpal ma A grade ko diamonds arent imported at all re... that is why its expensive in USA and cheaper in Nepal. the amount for the gold remains the same, while there is a huge variation in prices for the diamonds we'd purchase. BTW Nepal ko diamonds ma you dont get any guarantees or certificates, USA ma you do!

Hi Keyser,
10K should be fine. A "tilhari" is a must-have even if the bride will not get many occasions to wear it in her life. It is a very traditional design (made mainly, rather only by newari jewlers).
A ring, pair of earrings, tilhari, few bangles, a diamond phuli and a gold necklace should be fine for the bride. As for the groom, a ring, a bracelet (optional), a chain should be fine.
You will end up spenfing 6-70% of bride and the rest on the groom. From my point of view this should be enough. But I have seen a wedding of one of my very close relatives where more than 50K was spent just on gold jewelry. I found it such a waster of money and got a bit disgusted by the showing-off nature of the whole ceremony.
Anyway good luck.

Keyser,
If you don't care about diamond quality (the 4 Cs), buy them in Nepal. Regular people can't tell the difference. But if you really want to by a good quality diamond, but it in the US. But you can't sell it back if one day you are short of money.
If you really want a good quality diamond jewelry necklace, then buy diamonds in the US and get the jewlery made in Nepal with those diamonds. But finding a diamond seller might not be easy. It is not impossible though.

Hi Keyser,

If i were to suggest you, buy your engagement ring in the states as you'd be wearing them every single day or most of the days,... While rest of the diamond jewelry or gold, its better to get it in Nepal, as its cheaper and besides we normally do not purchase diamonds to sell them. Meaning you'd spend alot in the states, and the there isnt much resale value for diamonds unless you buy a green or a blue one...

I am suggesting you to guy the engagement ring there cause the quality of the diamonds are good(get a certified one). Please make sure if you plan on purchasing it in Nepal, ask them for the best quality, cause normally if its a bad one, once you get them and after a month or two, they(diamonds) turn yellow. There are few places that sells quality diamonds here in Nepal, not all are trustworthy :)

Good Luck!

You could go to a store and check they sizes, UK ra US sizes are different so make sure you get the right sizes hai :)

And yeap, if the diamonds aren't of a good quality, they turn yellow after couple of weeks, hot water ma boil garyo bhane safa huncha but then they turn back to yellow.

You can buy design ring only  in US / abroad , buy diamond in Nepal and ask the jeweler to put on.

its simple, just ask her :P she should know her size or drop in a jewelry shop and ask! if you really feel awkward, go to any jewelry section in a mall, try out random ring sizes, check the size of the ring that fits you on the tag... lol

About the dress, i think it varies in religion to religion, on what kind of culture you follow.. In my culture, the bride buys her own wedding dress, but swayamber ma, the guys family is supposed to give her a set of clothing, that includes jewelry too! Check with your relatives or your family on it!

Thank you, mercynova.

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