American Idol Judge Weds in Dozens of Diamonds

Wedding jewelry for most of us consists of a diamond ring and matching band and perhaps some pearls here and there. But if you’re a celeb, the high-end jewelers come out in droves to make sure you’re dripping in their diamonds – and American Idol judge, Kara DioGuardi is no exception.

The superstar songwriter and Bikini Girl wanna-be walked down the aisle on July 5th in Prospect, Maine wearing a Vera Wang gown and almost 100 carats of diamonds from jeweler to the stars, Neil Lane.

She sparkled in a 30-carat diamond-and-platinum bracelet and chandelier earrings with 20 carats of diamonds. The total value? $250,000.

"She wanted something glamorous," jeweler Neil Lane told People about DioGuardi's wedding bling.

I guess 250 large qualifies.


Kara got engaged to Mike McCuddy, a general contractor, on December 8th after a year and a half of dating. The engagement took place while they were on vacation in Mexico and the alternative engagement ring was another Neil Lane creation featuring a smokey topaz center stone instead of the more traditional diamond fare.

In fact, many women today are going for colored stones instead of diamonds for their bridal bling – including the Today Show bride, who is sporting an emerald solitaire on her ring finger for her big day.

What do you guys think? Would you wear a colored stone engagement ring or are you afraid to buck with diamond tradition? Weigh in! And in the meantime, take a gander at Jewelry.com’s education section about the many ways to skin the engagement ring cat.

Ok. Bad metaphor. But you get the idea…