We have friends who recommended Green Lake to us, and we're so glad they did! There's absolutely no pressure: the first time we visited to look at engagement rings, my fiance had his credit card out in his hand to buy a ring when we decided to look into something we'd seen somewhere else. The designer, Daniel, didn't try to talk us into buying the ring or convince us to stay. We ended up working with him when the other thing was a huge flop, and he was great! My husband doesn't like diamonds, and I wanted something unique, and Daniel didn't bat an eye when we said we didn't want a diamond solitaire engagement ring, or that we wanted it to be yellow gold. He recommended green sapphire--and then got in three separate shipments for us so that we had our choice of sizes, prices, and colors. He helped us design filigree for the ring that's unlike anything else (based off a Medieval tapestry), and helped us understand the whole process. The only snafu was that he accidentally called me when the ring was done, rather than calling my husband so he could surprise me.
We went back about 6 months later to get our wedding bands. I wanted a shadow band to go with my wrap engagement ring, and my husband and I wanted something that would tie our rings together, so we decided to each do hammered yellow gold. Mitchell spent a lot of time with us, showing my husband different types and sizes of bands, and then making sure that the custom specs were right for my band.
When we picked up the wedding rings, we were a little disappointed at the texture, which was barely hammered. They took the rings to the back, and it took the jewelers about 5 minutes to create the exact texture that we were looking for!
Not only is the in-store experience really great and laid back (including coffee service and fresh cookies), but they have a really, really good online tool, which lets you manage your custom order, approve waxes, designs, and photos, and gives you a gallery of the project once it's done. And they'll never make an exact replica of a custom design, so you'll always be the only one with your ring!