Honestly, all the above ideas are great, but if you want to save yourself a lot of trouble, try a botique. Movado, Tiffany's, Cartier, etc... pretty much only carry high quality diamonds. Yeah, it's expensive, but you know it's high quality. If someone says ask your wife, "What a nice ring," all they need to reply is, "It's a Movado/Tiffany/Cartier," and most women would drool.
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Oh, and by the way. For mounting metals, I suggest paladium for something that is white. White gold turns yellow over in time and platinum scratches very easily. A lot of jewelers won't know what paladium is, but it is a precious metal like the other two but looks whiter and brighter than platinum and cost about 1/2 the price. :-)
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Last thing, if you plan on completely surprising her without any imput from her regarding the setting, get the cheapest simple setting you can find. After she says YES, the two of you can look for a new setting together, and that way she can get exactly what she wants and you can still surprise her without having to guess which type of fancy setting she might like. Good luck!!!
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Skip the boutique, you are paying for the box and the bow. It is worthless to pay for a name when you can get a better quality diamond at 1/3rd of the price. And, no, the diamonds you are paying for aren't neccessarily higher quality they are just way more expensive. In reality you could say the ring was made by the same jeweler who made some famous wife's ring and no one would ever know. Other girls will be impressed if the ring sparkles and looks nice, not by a name. :-)
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Ever walk in a Tiffany's or Cartier? They don't carry anything cheap, price or diamond wise, and yes, you pay a premium for the name. Yes, you could say that, "Oh, my wifes ring was made by Cartier," and no one would know. Except your wife. And your wife will kill you for that. I've also never seen a real Cartier that is not sparkly, ever.

Maybe the women in the thread understand, but if two chicks are talking, and one says "Tiffany," the other ones eyes open wide (normally).
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I didn't read the thru the last pages, but heres my take on it.

"Buy the ring you'd be happy with getting as if it was being bought for you".
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Yes, I have been in Tiffany and Cartier and the rings in there cost 5 times as much as they should. If your wife/fiance/girlfriend is that caught up on a name and impressing her friends by name dropping and not a nicer ring then get a second mortgage and buy a ring that costs $50K when you could buy it for $10K on your own. You are paying for the name the box and the bow, nothing else, the rings are no higher quality than what you could buy from a respectable jeweler. But I guess in this material world we live in the name on the box is more important than the fact that it is something you picked out yourself and put the time and effort into buying or the love you are giving it to her with. :-)
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One of my friends found information here:
http://www.pricescope.com/

He said it definately helped him in the price/diamond realm.
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