Engagement season runs from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day, and it is the busiest stretch of the year for every jeweler in Bakersfield. Which means the single most useful thing we can tell you is this: the date you should start is earlier than the date you are planning to start.

Here is the realistic timeline, worked backwards.

If You Want a Fully Custom Ring

Start eight to ten weeks before the date.

A custom ring generally runs four to eight weeks from approved design to finished piece — and that clock does not start until the design is settled. Add time for the first conversation, for changing your mind at the wax stage (which you should feel free to do), and for sourcing a stone if you want something specific.

During engagement season, add a buffer on top. The bench fills up, and we would rather tell you honestly in October that December is tight than promise it and let you down in the third week of December.

Proposing at Christmas? That conversation should be happening now. Valentine’s Day? Early December is comfortable.

See how a custom ring is made for what happens at each stage.

If You Want to Reset an Heirloom Stone

Start six to eight weeks before.

These are some of the most meaningful rings we make — a grandmother’s diamond out of a setting nobody wears, into something that gets worn daily. Build in time for one extra step: we examine the stone first, and occasionally it needs attention before it can be safely reset. Better to find that out in week one than week six.

If You Are Buying From the Showcase

Two to three weeks is usually comfortable.

A ring from the case may need sizing, which we do on our own bench, often the same day. The reason to come in earlier than you think is simpler: selection. The best pieces move in November and December, and the ring you saw and thought about for two weeks may not be there when you come back for it.

If You Have Left It Late

It happens, and it is not hopeless. Come in and tell us the date — do not guess from a website. Depending on what you want, there are real options: a ring from the showcase sized quickly, a simpler setting that takes less bench time, or proposing with a ring you then design together afterwards.

That last one is more common than people think, and plenty of couples prefer it. Proposing with something simple and then designing the real ring together takes all the guesswork about her taste out of the equation.

Three Things to Sort Out Before You Come In

  1. Her ring size, if you can get it without giving the game away. Here is how — borrowing a ring she wears on the correct finger is the most reliable method.
  2. A rough budget. Tell us at the start. It is the most useful thing you can give us, because it lets us design toward it rather than showing you something you then have to walk away from.
  3. Any sense of her taste. A photo, a screenshot, a ring she has admired. You do not need a finished idea — working that out is part of what we do.

The Other Holiday Jobs — Book Those Early Too

December is not just rings. If you are planning to give a piece that needs resizing, re-plating, engraving or a repair before Christmas, bring it in during November. Most of that work is same-day for most of the year, but the last two weeks of December are the exception for everyone.

And if you are funding a gift by selling gold you no longer wear, that is a few minutes at the counter — here is how it is valued.

Come In and Tell Us Your Date

No appointment needed at either Bakersfield store. Tell us the day you are planning and we will tell you honestly what is achievable.

Rosedale Highway — 9160 Rosedale Hwy, Suite #600 — (661) 587-9298
Ming Avenue — 3769 Ming Ave — (661) 834-0824

Monday to Friday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm · Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm · Sunday closed.