Gemstone characteristic that lends value to a gemstone. Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem maker is called a lapidary or gemcutter; a diamond cutter is called a diamantaire. The traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between "precious" and "semi-precious"; similar distinctions are made in other cultures. In modern use the precious stones are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, with all other gemstones being semi-precious. This distinction reflects the rarity of the respective stones in ancient times,
Traditional Vietnamese wedding bride and groom. During the reception, the bride and groom "chào bàn", which is the customary process of going from table to table to personally thank guests for their well wishes and to collect cards and gifts. Usually, each table selects a representative to give a quick congratulatory toast to the bride and groom. In the US, some couples opt to leave a box at the sign-in table for guests to drop in their gifts, but this is frowned upon by older traditional Vietnamese. In modern weddings, brides usually change into three different gowns during the reception. Her dresses usually