McKay Diamonds & Jewelry

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

Joe and Sandra, I am the fiance of Tom, who left you a positive review Aug 3, 2011. I wanted to belatedly add my own thank you for the experience we had at your shop last summer. In particular, I want to thank you for giving me some of the best and most sane advice Ive ever received in my life (seriously). In fact, I wish someone had shared this wisdom with me sooner; it could have saved me some headaches and heartaches through the years. When coming to McKay to have my grandparents wedding rings sized for my fiance and myself, I asked you about my grandmothers engagement ring and wedding band. I was concerned about them, as they are more than 60 years old and were inexpensive and probably not the highest quality even when they were brand new. I asked you if I should be careful with them, removing my rings to wash my hands or do chores. Joe, you were so fabulous. It seemed you didnt even have to think about the question. Immediately you told me not to worry about them. You told me that these rings didnt need special worry or care because they dont have to last forever. (Believe it or not, that was such a revelation to me!) You said that what is important is that I enjoy them NOW, when they mean so much to us, when I love them and am so excited to wear them. (And I do love them! I love looking at my finger and thinking of both my deceased grandmother as well as the man I love and am marrying.) You also reminded me of the heightened possibility of loss if we remove our rings, especially around sinks and drains and when doing chores. Joe, you gave me permission to make these rings our own, instead of thinking of them as little bits of history that Im supposed to preserve. Indeed, if they show wear over time, so be it; much loved items (and people, for that matter!) often do. You also encouraged me to see the rings for what they are supposed to be -- symbols of constancy and promise and permanence, even during rough, hard, yucky times. The ring lives on my finger - even when Im working, cleaning, or arguing with my partner - because that is where it belongs as a reminder of the choice weve made in this life. It is truly a symbol of the whole story of real partnered/married life to think of those rings being present on my finger both when I enjoy a calm sunset stroll as well as when I clean my bathroom. Thank you for helping remove my fear about my stewardship of our rings. Thank you for putting my focus where it belongs -- on my life with my partner, instead of on a material possession. Thank you for helping me appreciate the true value of that material possession, so that I am now allowing it to fulfill its role in my life. Your wise words have come back to me again and again -- and not just about the rings, but in other situations as well. Finally, Joe and Sandra, thank you for your fine workmanship on our rings and for your lovely and loving attitude and customer service when we were in your shop. It was a pleasure meeting you both, and I look forward to seeing you again. My fiance and I moved out of Utah shortly after our engagement, but we are returning this summer for the wedding. I suspect Ill see you for a cleaning and hello then!

EM

Emma Broome

My boyfriend recently proposed with a home-made wooden ring as he was uncertain what type of engagement ring I would like. As we are British (and not living in SLC) we used Yelp to assist in finding a jeweller. McKay Diamonds got 5 stars and great reviews, so we kept it on our shortlist. McKay Diamonds was the fourth shop we visited and Joe (the owner) could not have been more helpful. I knew what I wanted, and instead of saying “no, we don’t have anything like that” (as a couple of the other jewellers did), he explained that he could custom make a ring for us, and showed us a number of moulds he made previously which he felt may have been appropriate. In total on visit one we were in there for an hour or so discussing possible options. At no time did we feel pressurised to purchase as we did in another jewellers in SLC. We left, explaining that we wanted to think about it, as a ring is a big decision. Joe agreed. Three days later we went back. We really wanted a ring that meant something to us, so decided to go with McKay Diamonds, as Joe seemed honest, passionate about what he does, and all custom rings are made on site by him . We spent about another 2 hours with Joe, talking through designs, and in the end we settled on a sapphire surrounded by diamonds. However, to make it more personal, my boyfriend asked if Joe could incorporate the Teton Mountain range into the ring as he proposed on Jackson Lake and that was the view! Joe said “no problem” and he would incorporate it into the gallery which supports the sapphire. We supplied Joe with a couple of photos of the Tetons (the view which we had on the lake) to use. Twenty-four hours later, Joe calls to ask if we could come and have a look at the ‘rough’ ring he has cast in from scratch in metal to ensure it is what we wanted. We expected just an outline of the mountains, but Joe had made it three-dimensional and captured the entire range – in 8mm!!!! It was incredible! We were over the moon and confirmed that we would like him to make the actual ring. One week later it was ready (this was a shorter time frame than he originally stated, so even more impressive). We couldn’t be happier with the ring. Joe put an incredible amount of work into our engagement ring and it is better than we hoped. We believe is exceptionally good value for the amount of time and effort he put in. We now have something that holds a lot of memories for us by a man who is clearly very passionate about his work and wants to produce the best for his customers. We are certainly going back to Joe for our wedding bands next year, even if we have to get the shipped to the UK!

JO

John Bohman

I recently purchased a ring from McKay Diamonds, and got engaged to my now fiancee. I will readily admit that my review will be a little bit biased because of emotion, but I will try to be objective. I searched two different cities looking for a ring that would be just right for my girlfriend, and eventually decided that to get what I wanted, I would have to have a ring custom made. I talked to three or four different ring shops that made custom rings, and eventually settled here for several reasons. - I never felt that the proprietors tried to upsell me, I never felt pressured to get something different than what I described like I did in several other stores. - I felt that the proprietor was extremely knowledgeable about his craft, and could answer any of my questions without any problem. - The price was incredibly fair, and quite low too. - I liked that I was able to customize my ring entirely, from providing photos found online that showed a band design that I liked, to choosing the stone that went into as well (I decided to go with a Chatham Sapphire) and the setting for the stone as well. The ring was completed about two weeks after I ordered it, which actually was a little bit slow for Joe, and he apologized for that. He said that it normally takes about one week. Considering that most other places gave me an estimate of 3-8 weeks for a custom ring, I wasnt too upset that it took a little longer than estimated at the beginning (I was told a week and a half at the beginning). Customer service was good. I called the day before it was expected to be finished, and was told that it would be done about 4. I live an hours drive away, and didnt want to drive home in rush hour traffic, and asked if it could be completed earlier, and they managed to get it done about 12. I appreciate them making an effort to accommodate me schedule as well. Craftsmanship is, to my frankly uneducated eye, incredible. The stone is set so that the stone really shines and shows its color, even though its bezel set (no prongs to catch on stuff). The curves and lines are beautiful, and seems superbly put together. The ring has a good weight to it, and feels solid. The band design is very symmetrical and well done. My girlfriend told me "to give them 10 stars" when she saw the ring. Also, free sizing and care on the ring for life. So yay! The ring was everything that I hoped that it would be, and perfectly matched my hopes that I had for it when I tried to describe it to Joe, so kudos to him for taking my desires and translating it perfectly into a marvelous ring.