For most brides-to-be, a white, bright sparkler taking pride of place on her left hand ring finger will always be the stone of her dreams. But what about the unconventional bride—the woman who wants to break from tradition and stand out from the crowd with something a little more unique? In addition to a growing array of rainbow colored gemstone engagement rings out there, a new crop of designers are offering black diamond engagement rings. You can read all about the trend and the mostly American designers behind it in this report from one of our favorite jewelry blogs, The Jewellry Editor. Whether a preference for black diamond engagement rings will take off and resonate with more consumers is anyone’s guess. But for those brides wanting to make a bold statement, we think it doesn’t get any bolder than a raven-colored stone, which for the most part, start off as white diamonds before getting a heat-treatment which produces the ebony color change. For retailers wanting to offer their bridal customers more variety in engagement rings also check out our interview with Doug Hucker, Chief Executive Officer of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) who tells us about the latest trends in gemstone engagement rings  and find out why millennials are choosing platinum rings in our exclusive interview with Jenny Luker, President of Platinum Guild International.

Rings shown are from Anna Sheffield  and Melissa Joy Manning.