ModernJeweler.com |

Americans may take longer to reach the altar and tie the knot than they did in generations past, but fortunately for jewelers love and marriage still go together. Matching bridal sets are still the bread-and-butter business for most jewelers.

Besides the continuing importance of bridal jewelry, the retailers we spoke with are noting some other general trends, including that white metals continue to dominate. In addition to the importance of good supplier relationships, retailers note that working well with young couples at the wedding stage also creates loyal, lifelong customers who come back for anniversary rings and other life-passage jewelry.

TONY RIXOM, UNIQUE DIAMOND, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

“Pretty much the majority of our business is bridal. The most popular metals are platinum, white gold, and palladium, which is really coming on. We have been seeing a grassroots interest in palladium. In Vegas, we saw that many designers are now carrying palladium.

Our jewelry is classic and traditional. Favorite diamonds, which seem to be international mainstays, are rounds and princesses. But right now, asschers and cushions are fabulous for us. Our bread-and-butter price points average $6,500 to $10,000, but $50,000 to $100,000 purchases are now becoming very regular for us.

We’ve been with Unique Settings for five years. We met them at a show and liked what we saw, and did a test run with their solitaire settings. Now we do all of our bridal business with them. We’ve found that they combine quality with professionalism and quick turnaround.

Unique has perfected working with palladium and it has solved the issues of porosity that plagued working with the metal for a long time. We asked Unique about making its current white gold and platinum pieces in palladium, and they put people to work on it and solved several casting problems along the way.

Unique’s ability to deliver on time has meant a lot. There’s nothing worse than promising an anxious customer that you will get a piece of jewelry to him in time for an anniversary only to have it arrive late, or badly finished or with the wrong head. That never happens with Unique.”