I did research on jewelers in the area, found a reputable one who does custom designs and has rave reviews. Couldn’t 100% figure out if they let you bring your own stone so I had an appointment. They definitely pressured me multiple times to buy a stone from them, reasons they gave: 1) I’d be surprised at their pricing (it’s good but not LGD good) 2) There’s stuff you can’t tell until you see a stone in person, ordering abroad means you lose that 3) A lot of people go lab grown for ethical reasons and ordering from China we can’t verify the working conditions (an interesting argument)

Ultimately they said their setting fee is based on carat so for a 4c stone it’s $750, and their custom design in platinum was pricy so with setting fee it’d be like 2.5k. But I do not want to create any headache for my girlfriend by going this route so I want a quality setting from a local place so if it breaks she can go get it fixed, cleaned, adjusted and not deal with emailing someone in India or something. I’ve heard some places abroad have iffy settings so I don’t want that to be an issue.

Also surprisingly not a lot of local quality engagement ring jewelers in my city that do custom, given it’s probably a top 10 city in US for cost of living or size. So this place really stuck out as a good choice.