Couples who wish to get engaged, make year long planning and preparations for their engagement. Wedding specialists are hired months before. The preparations get underway; shopping becomes a habit for the bride and groom. But most of the time is spent on selecting the most important thing for engagement and that is the engagement ring.

So many ideas, so many designs and a huge variety, these things make a mess when selecting a perfect engagement ring for your loved one. But don't worry. You are not the only one; many couples find themselves in the same situation. If you don't know what to do, it simply means that you have not done your home work first.

If you want to surprise your loved one with a perfect ring of his/her liking, then you must analyze his/her looks, his/her likes and dislikes, his/her style and the shape of hands and fingers. What you need to know is what styles fits just right and is also comfortable to wear.

Some important aspects need to be taken care of while you are selecting a ring. First prepare your mind, do some home work, choose what you want in accordance with your budget. Look for a ring that fits your loved one's style, then select a perfect place for shopping, window shopping would be quite helpful.

If you plan to buy a diamond ring, then learn all about the 4 C's, that are Carat, Cut, Color and Clarity and the different shapes that diamonds come in.

Diamonds come in variety of shapes and cuts, round diamonds, among all other shapes is the most popular style and round brilliant cut is ranked number one. Rectangle diamonds come in different cuts, like emerald radiant and princess cuts. Rectangular diamonds are not always of same size and shape. They could be perfectly square or of bar style.

Emerald diamonds have clipped corners while the radiant shapes are quite similar to the emerald diamonds but the radiant's faceting is different. There are a lot of other diamond shapes that can fit your style which include oval, heart shaped, pear shaped and marquise diamonds. You need to know all about these before stepping into a jeweler shop to get one.

For diamond clarity, look if the diamond crystals are clear or they are colored, imperfections inside the diamonds and if there are any cracks in it.

Diamonds are not always colorless. The diamond colors range from absolutely colorless to noticeable colors. Colors are represented by different color codes, D and E represent, absolutely colorless and colorless respectively.

Diamonds are measured in carats. It is the easiest way to determine the weight of a diamond. One carat is divided into hundred points. So a 90 carat diamond is assigned 90 points.

So if you are buying a diamond ring, these are some of the very basic tips that need to be taken care of. First do some home work on these tips, lean as much about 4 C's and then do some window shopping to apply your leaning practically. Then select a perfect ring. You want to make your love one happy? Of course you do. So put in some effort and surprise your loved one with a perfect ring.