Engagement Ring Blog

Tacori July 21, 2010

Tacori Introducing the New iPad Catalog

Leading jeweler Tacori is bypassing the traditional catalog this season and “going green” with its new iPad catalog. Tacori is set to unleash the new catalog exclusively on the iPad. With some of the hottest new options available to them, consumers will be able to have updated pricing and styles right at their fingertips. Retail staff can also use the iPad application as a useful platform for interacting with customers. The possibilities include show customers different ways to style jewelry, as well as options not available in the store. Customers will also have the luxury of building wish lists to come back to for future reference.

The Tacori bridal business has seen an upwards swing in business by 76 percent since this same point last year. With that in mind, Tacori hopes the new progressive application will give retailers more of an edge. And even though the new application is primarily beneficial for Tacori retailers, Tacori reps say that many apps are in place for Fall of 2010 to help make the consumer experience more rewarding.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Celine Dion Preparing for Twins

Songstress Celine Dion is happy to announce she’s expecting twins. The singer underwent her sixth in-vitro fertilization recently and is fourteen weeks along in her pregnancy, with the gender of the twins to be confirmed next month.

Dion and husband René Angelil already share one child together, nine year-old René-Charles. Dion and her manager-husband married in an ultra-lavish ceremony fitting for the Canadian diva. As a bride, Dion wore a lavish gown by designers Mirella and Steve Gentile, featuring a sweetheart neckline, a necklace with rows of diamonds and a twenty-foot train. The bride complemented all this with a nine pound crown featuring 2,000 Austrian crystals.

With news of the arrival of their twins, Angelil commented, “We’re ecstatic. Celine is just hoping for a healthy pregnancy. She was hoping for one baby and the news that we are having two is a double blessing.” Dion has been experimenting with in vitro fertilization for a while now, and also credits acupuncture as a helpful tool in getting her pregnant once again.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Elizabeth Taylor’s Love Letters

Elizabeth Taylor has dusted off her love letters exchanged with Richard Burton and is letting Vanity Fair publish portions for its July issue. It will be the first time that Taylor makes her love letters with Burton public and the actress will be a featured on the cover (albeit in a photo from her stunning heyday). The only letter that Taylor was not willing to share was the letter that Burton sent her just days before his death. Taylor actually didn’t receive the letter in the mail until a few days after Burton had died.

“Richard was magnificent in every sense of the word. And in everything he did…he was the kindest, funniest, most gentle father.” Taylor has said. “All my kids worshipped him. Attentive, loving–that was Richard…from those first moments in Rome we were always madly and powerfully in love. We had more time, but not enough.”

The love letters reveal the pair’s love-torn relationship that was often dramatic, high-strung and even silly. In many letter, Burton calls Taylor playful names and jokes around, while also professing how much he loves her. Their two marriages served as examples of how loving someone isn’t always enough to keep a healthy marriage. The pair fell in love while working on the epic film, Cleopatra, in 1961, and married for the first time just three years later. During their marriage, Burton presented Taylor with a lavish 70-carat flawless pear-shaped engagement ring, which was later named the Taylor-Burton diamond.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Al and Tipper Gore Separate

After forty years of marriage, Al and Tipper Gore have chosen to separate and will likely end their marriage. The AP obtained a copy of an email sent out by the Gores, which read “it was a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration.” The Gores’ rep confirmed the statement, but declined to give further details.

Though their marriage had always been strong, it was also often tested by Al’s governmental roles and also the death of their six year-old son. The pair had met and fell in love the night of his high school graduation dance. Tipper later wrote in a memoir that “it was like everyone else melted away.” Al later proposed marriage to tipper along the banks of the Charles River during her junior year at Boston University.

The pair married and exchanged wedding rings in 1970 at the Washington National Cathedral. Over the years the pair have often commented on their marriage, encouraging married couples to stay together. “One of the lessons I’ve learned from [Tipper] is a way to enrich my own experience of life by opening up to the heart as well as the head…she’s been a great teacher for me.” Al Gore once said.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Eva Longoria Loves to Splurge

“Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria is not one to be cheap. Her 2007 wedding featured a lot of jaw-dropping bling, a score of fantastic fireworks in the French sky, and an after-party in a seventeenth-century castle. The wedding ring, especially, was a sight to behold: a Piaget’s Possession ring made with 18K white gold and two rows of 80 brilliant cut white diamonds, separated by a row of 27 square-cut diamonds.
And now this week, Longoria splurged again for hubby Tony Parker’s 28th birthday. “I got him a lot of things.” Parker revealed at the Las Vegas nightclub where the party was held. “I got him four-wheelers because he wanted a new four-wheeler, and I got him a Microsoft surface computer that he can touch and play with.” Parker added, “Whatever she gives me, I’m fine with it. I’m happy.” The pair have been celebrating Parker’s birthday for two weeks, with their travels taking them from Miami to Los Angeles to Vegas for the big birthday blowout.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Splitsville for Heidi & Spencer?

The drama continues for Hills couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt as there are rumors abound that the pair are headed for divorce. TMZ reported earlier this week that Montag was planning to move out of the house she shares with Pratt and to sell her engagement ring. An unidentified rep for the reality TV star said, “[she] is looking to move out due to all the fake bad press that Spencer controls.” Meanwhile Montag moved out of the home and into the beachside house with one of her best friends, Jennifer Bunney, with whom she plans to shoot a reality TV project in July. Bunney recently told reporters, “Heidi has spent so much time with Spencer and now she wants to be able to spend more time with herself and her friendships.”

Montag and Pratt are stars on the popular reality TV series, The Hills. Since becoming famous, the pair have been featured on a number of tabloid covers for a variety of antics, including Montag’s ten plastic surgeries and several feuds. The pair had a very public marriage, which was splashed all over the tabloid covers. For the wedding, Montag wore over $1 million in diamonds from designer Neil Lane, including a pear-shaped diamond floral necklace with multiple diamond chains.

Diamond News July 21, 2010

New Diamond Heist Movie Produced by “Lost” Creator

Though it may have no title yet, the new movie about the unprecedented 2003 Antwerp diamond heist does have an Oscar-nominated writer and award-winning producer at the helm. Largely based on the 2009 Wired magazine article entitled “The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist”, Field of Dreams writer Phil Alden Robinson has been selected to write the script. The story details how a group of tieves managed to bypass ten layers of security to reach the vaults in the basement of a building in Antwerp’s famous diamond district, stealing millions in diamonds and jewelry.

Six years of research for the article Wired magazine led journalist Joshua Davis to a revealing interview with the ringleader of the crime, currently located in a Belgian prison. The ringleader apparently revealed exactly how they pulled off the heist.

The film will also be produced by J.J. Abrams, who created “Lost”, which just saw it’s series finale this week. Abrams plans to produce the film through his production company, Bad Robot, and a collaboration with Paramount Pictures.

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Mario Lopez Hoping for a Bigger Baby

Former “Saved by the Bell” star Mario Lopez is feeding his girlfriend and mom-to-be a whole assortment of fatty foods with the hope that she’ll produce a “chubby baby”. He can’t say enough good things about his pregnant girlfriend, Courtney Mazza. “She looks beautiful pregnant and I just pamper her. I’m constantly trying to feed her because I want to have a really healthy, chubby baby.”

The couple are happily engaged with Mario proposing with a gorgeous engagement ring. Meanwhile Lopez is keeping extremely busy with his gig as an Extra TV host and a possible reality TV series. “It’s not 100 percent confirmed, but it is looking pretty good.” He says. “It follows me juggling through everything and wanting to learn. There’s so much out there for women but not so much for men, and I want to be a very hands-on dad. I think having a humorous but informative way to tell that story would be great for a show.” And not only is this entrepreneur working on the reality show, but he is also prepping his own book on fatherhood! Lopez describes it as a book “women could get for their guys to be prepared for fatherhood.”

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Baby in the Works for Mariah Carey?

Singer icon Mariah Carey has been fueling a lot of baby rumors lately after abruptly pulling out of the Tyler Perry film based on Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Carey’s rep declined to give any reason for the swift departure, saying “I’m not at liberty to discuss her personal life at this time.”

Both Carey and Cannon renewed their marriage vows earlier this year in a lavish Beverly Hills ceremony, which featured Cannon gifting Mariah with a custom-made ring pop covered in diamonds. Regarding the constant pregnancy rumors, Cannon added that the couple definitely want children. “We’re going to do it,and when we do it we’re going to let you all know. But right now, we’re trying to enjoy the newlywed aspect.”

Cannon seems to have nothing but great things to say about Carey, likening their relationship top a romantic comedy and saying they would have a wedding everyday, if they could. “We are both kids at heart. She is the funniest person ever and she has a great sense of humor.”

Celebrity July 21, 2010

Kate: One Year Later

Kate Gosselin certainly has seen her ups and downs since the divorce from Jon Gosselin over a year ago, but she’s determined to “start over”. With her new special, Kate Plus 8, set to air on TLC on June 6th, Kate seems to be bouncing back after a dismal performance on Dancing With the Stars and a lot of public feuding with her ex, Jon Gosselin. And she’s busy. Very busy. “[Nine year-old daughter Cara] was upset with me because I forgot to sign them up for something at school. I said, ‘Cara, I had a really rough year. This is a new year. You’ve got to give me that. Let’s start over.’ So I’ve really worked to keep my word with them.”

Kate first met Jon Gosselin at a picnic in 1997. Before things got bad between the couple, Kate apparently said, “I never believed in ‘love at first sight’, but this came really close. Jon came walking across the grass and I saw him and was instantly intrigued!” Jon proposed to Kate with a modest engagement ring only six months after and the two exchanged wedding ringswith an elaborate garden wedding and subsequent honeymoon in Disney World.

The feisty stage mom had also been busy doing interviews backstage on Dancing With the Stars, as well as reporting from the ET news desk. Even after Kate got booted from Dancing With the Stars, she still felt only a minor speed-change. “It was just about two weeks before I was like, ‘Oh, hey, I’m resettled back into life. I feel like a normal mom again.’

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