Irelia Fine Jewelry

I first came to Fernando and Irelia at end of last year (after hearing wonderful things about them from another very satisfied customer) with a mission to create a custom made engagement ring for which I would decide on its design. The whole process took a few months and every time Fernando showed the greatest patience with an amazing attention to details to make sure I was 100% satisfied. It is no surprise he is the best, his skills are one of a kind. No matter how detailed, no matter how difficult, he can make it work and produce something beautiful. Being an engineer, I was quite impressed with the technology used to create the design, fine-​tune features, and create the ring itself. My fiancée absolutely loved her ring and could not believe how beautiful it was and how it was created. Even if you are far from San Diego (I was in LA), I highly recommend his services for any jewelry related needs. Believe me you will not regret it.

I have come to this store twice already and found what i needed for my moms Birthday with the awesome help of Daniela. She will help you find what you need in any price range. I like this place because they a have an awesome variety of jewelry you can choose from. I definitely recomend it check it out talk to Daniela she can help you find what you need. They courteous and down to earth to help you.

After my fiancé proposed to me we talked about having a ring customs made. I have a stone that it very special to me, it was a pendant of my grandmothers and I always wanted to have turned into a ring. We went to a couple place to see what we could do about putting the stone in an engagement ring setting. When we got to Irelia we were beyond thrilled! Fernando took us in immediately. We told him what wanted and not only did he ask us about the ring he asked about us and what we were planning for our wedding. He gave us what my fiancé called a «warm and fuzzy» feeling. He made us feel so excited and welcome. The whole experience was so fun and thrilling. The next day he sent us a email of a digital copy of the ring. Two days later we were able to go down and try on a wax model. The ring was completed in about two weeks! When my fiancé brought home the ring I was beyond thrilled! It came out better then I could have ever expected! I am so thrilled to be able to wear such a beautiful ring every day! Thank you Fernando for everything! We are so happy!!!

I love Fernando and Irelia. This is the best of the best. I do not wear gold, but their sterling collection is spectacular and their service is superior. I wear every piece with pride and receive many compliments on everything from rings to earrings. I would recommend them to anyone even beyond San Diego. My best to both of them.
Christine D

I went to Irelia Fine Jewelry upon the recommendation of a friend, and quite frankly it was one of the best recommendations I have received. Given the quality, attention to detail, and overall materialization of my vision, I probably enjoy my now fiancé’s custom engagement ring as much as she does. We continue to receive a steady stream of what I would call ‘authentic complements’, not just family and friends that ‘have to’ say something, but random people in restaurants, strangers, etc. that feel the need to approach us and tell us how stunning her engagement ring is. Fernando and Irelia did a phenomenal job and I will be sending anyone I know who is in the market for custom jewelry their way.
Extra Details:
1. I did enough diamond research to be dangerous. My original gameplan was to purchase a diamond online and then have a jeweler build a setting. When I visited Irelia with this plan, Fernando convinced me to look as some diamonds in his inventory at which point I decided to go with him for both the diamond and setting. I cannot say definitively if I got a good deal on the diamond, but I can say that I paid an amount that was commensurate with online retail for similar quality and I had the added benefit of being able to examine the diamond in person without any strings attached.
2. By the way I was treated relative to the money I was spending, I would categorize Irelia Fine Jewelry as ‘higher end’. I was presented with diamonds that were at or above my specifications. There was no hard selling on Fernando’s part and I didn’t feel it appropriate to haggle given the level of respect I was shown.
3. Irelia Fine Jewelry has no middle men. They source diamonds directly from Israel and they construct the settings in house. That is two layers of cost that are removed which I believe allows them to sell higher quality pieces at more affordable prices.
4. I based the engagement ring design on a Tiffany ring I liked. Fernando actually pointed out all of the flaws and photoshop tricks of the Tiffany’s design. He then enhanced my engagement ring to make it better as well as have it fit perfectly with a wedding band in the future.
5. I gave Fernando a very ambitious (and borderline unfair) deadline to complete my engagement ring so I could propose on a trip to Hawaii. I also told him not to compromise on quality to meet the deadline. He went above and beyond to make sure I boarded the plane with the engagement ring when he absolutely did not have to.
6. Fernando and Irelia were legitimately proud of the ring they made me. It was personally satisfying to see that they were as excited to show the completed ring to me as I was to see it.
Thanks again!

I had my engagement ring setting changed and I have nothing but excellent things to say about Irelia!!! Great service, communication, and the ring could not be any more beautiful! It was exactly what I envisioned. We got our wedding bands from Irelia too, great prices and quality! We will forever be customers and we refer all our friends and family.

Fernando is the man. I bought a ring at Jared, took it to Fernando, he replicated it and it cost me half of what it did at Jared. He educated me and pointed out all the flaws with their ring and crappy diamonds too. Stoked I went with Fernando. Saved me tons and gave me much higher quality diamonds.

My fiancé’ gave me complete control over the design of my engagement ring. My entire experience with Irelia and Fernando can best be described as thrilling. My ring went from just an idea to my most treasured possession in about two weeks. The price is very affordable and the staff almost feels like family. I lucked out choosing this place. I really did.

They made my wife’s custom wedding band based on her exact request and it’s perfect. They guarantee all their work

— best prices by like 50% compared to larger chains.
— super friendly and genuine people that earned my trust
— talented production of final product
— enjoyable experience overall (customer service, email follow ups, etc)

My fiancé had only wonderful things to say about Fernando and Irelia. They worked together for months on designing my engagement ring via email and in person appointments. My fiancé even showed me a 3D model he received that helped him decide on texture alterations for the final design. He said that Fernando gave him practical and straight forward advice, but accommodated certain unique touches that my fiancé knew I wanted such as opals in addition to the diamond. This is my first Unilocal post because I wanted to do something to thank Fernando and Irelia for their wonderful work and the most beautiful ring I could have imagined.

Irelia jewelry is a hidden San Diego gem… I first found them at the lil Italy farmers market and saw they did custom high end jewelry as well… I had a beautiful heirloom engagement ring and added a custom hug ring for it… fernando was fantastic all I had to do was show him a drawing of what I wanted and it was made… friendly timely and affordable… they did an amazing job making my ring… and now maintaining it!

Couldn’t be happier about our experience with Fernando and Irelia. After shopping around at several other stores we stopped by Irelia one afternoon to take a look. An associate greeted us right away and took down our basic information. We briefly met Fernando and Irelia and scheduled a sit down appointment for the next week. It was so nice to be able to talk to Fernando one on one and have him explain the process and answer all our questions. Going in to the meeting we thought he might try and push us into committing to something that day but that was not the case at all. He showed us some stones for comparisons sake and talked to us about what we were looking for, but there was no hard sell. We decided that day that we wanted to work with him. My now fiancé took the lead from that point on, working with Fernando to make sure every detail was perfect. He tells me that that process went very smoothly and Fernando was great to work with. I will also say that compared to some of the other rings we looked at in other stores Irelia’s prices are very reasonable. And the fact that there is no extra charge for customization is amazing! We got exactly the design we wanted and the finished product is even more beautiful than I imagined. It also feels very special to have something that my finance and I collaborated on and that he had made especially for me! One more thing, we hoped to have the ring done before my birthday so that we would be able to celebrate our engagement with family coming into town. Although my fiancé tricked me into believing it would not be ready in time, it was in fact completed in more than enough time and we are so excited to be able to celebrate with our loved ones this weekend. Thank you so much Fernando and Irelia, we will definitely be returning for our wedding bands.

My husband still plans on writing a more detailed review as he spent more time working with Fernando to design my engagement/​wedding ring. As the wearer of this ring… I absolutely love it! The entire design process was incredibly fun and I am beyond ecstatic with the final product. Fernando is incredibly responsive, helpful, and creative.

Unfortunately my experience with Irelia was not a positive one. It started out great but ended very poorly. I came to Irelia at the suggestion of a coworker who had designed his wife’s engagement ring with Fernando and was thrilled with the results and the service he received. My fiancé and I were in little italy one Saturday so we decided to stop by the shop. Fernando greeted us with open arms and we actually started the design process for both mine and my fiancé’s wedding bands on that day!
Fernando made some drawings and said he would get back to us in a week or so with some designs. I was forewarned by my coworker that communication can be a bit spotty but was assured that he always comes through so I initially wasn’t worried. Fernando and I went back and forth for a couple of months refining the designs then he just fell off the grid: (I tried reaching out to him several times but after 3 months with no response I gave up.
I should have prefaced this by saying that it was a little over a year before my wedding when Fernando and I first started the design process so perhaps he got too busy to worry about an event so far away? Or maybe I annoyed him with my requests to tweak the designs but we do intend on having these rings for the rest of our lives so I wanted them to be perfect. The least he could’ve done is let me know why he didn’t want to work with me anymore…

These guys are super awesome. Having first seen them at the Little Italy Mercato on Saturday mornings, they have led me to three separate custom gifts for my GF. They answer any question posed and will create whatever your lil’ol noggin can think of. THIS is where I will be purchasing my engagement ring.

This 5 star review is way over due because I am now a happily married woman with two gorgeous rings thanks to Fernando & Irelia!
My first encounter with the beautiful jewelry made by Fernando was when my then boyfriend presented a diamond ring to me the day he proposed. I was immediately in love with my ring; it was beyond anything I had expected and was the ring of my dreams.
Later, after I met Irelia & Fernando, I learned how they worked with my husband to pick the perfect diamond that was of exceptional quality and within my husband’s budget. My husband had such a wonderful time meeting with Irelia & Fernando before the engagement. They really educated him about the differing qualities of diamonds, fine jewelry insurance, and made the process stress free.
After my husband proposed we realized I had to get the ring resized (I always thought I was a 6, but I’m really a 3 ½!). The next morning, we went to Irelia and she opened a little earlier for us and Fernando immediately resized it in a matter of minutes since he knew I wanted to show it off! They were so sweet and we had a great time hearing about their love story as we waited.
Fast forward to our wedding planning, and we wouldn’t have gone anywhere else to get our wedding bands, but Irelia. My husband decided on a modern tungsten band and Fernando made a beautiful half-​diamond band to compliment my engagement ring.
We had the BEST experience with Irelia & Fernando, not only do they sell and make exceptional quality jewelry, but they are wonderful people to work with and really have a passion for their business. We cannot THANK them enough for making rings that our family will forever cherish. To us, it is so much more than fine jewelry, the rings embody our life-​long commitment to each other as well as the beginning of our family.
THANK YOU so much Irelia & Fernando! We are so happy with our beautiful rings!

My Fiancé and Fernando designed my beautiful engagement ring. I seriously am beyond thankful and blessed that my fiancé had the help and guidance from Fernando when designing my ring. My fiancé said he changed the design several times and Fernando was willing to help and communicate with all of his suggestions, he really appreciated the quick response and professionalism. I am the pickiest person in the world and I always thought I would have a say in my engagement ring design and these two BLEW me away. I seriously couldn’t have picked a better ring myself. I get so many compliments its definitely the cherry on top! Thank you so much Fernando we will be back for our wedding bands!

Update: My BF received a phone call from Irelia Fine Jewelry on the following Thursday. They did apologize for the mishap, but then said that they thought they had reached out to everyone who had appointments over that weekend but somehow missed us. We appreciate the apology, but we decided to go with another jeweler who is more organized.

So happy we went here. My wife’s engagement ring is an antique and very unique. We wanted a band that could match it so we knew we had to go custom. They did such a good job with it. The design is perfect and has such detail. It was a bit pricey at about $ 2000 but for something she’s going to wear forever it was worth some money.