I agree that the DD Pearl Factory ladies are more high pressure! Dh and I were wandering around a couple of weeks ago on our anniversary trip, and since he hadn't bought me a card (he swears he thought he could buy one at Disney -- yeah, right

), he decided to get me a pearl.
He picked an oyster with a large cream pearl and they had us yell "Aloha!" as they opened it, then they rang a little gong. They tried to sell us a (gorgeous!) baguette diamond setting for a pendant but it was almost $600! Not that I wouldn't have loved it, LOL, and it would've gone perfect with my wedding ring.

But we ended up with a yellow gold sort of swirly deal with a diamond at the top ... she called it the "Infinite Love" setting. Very pretty! Altogether it was about $208.
It only took about 3 minutes to drill and set it, and then I had to leave it alone for 24 hours for the glue to set (they tape it up with scotch tape!). Oh, and they do a lifetime guarantee on the pearl and setting, which is nice.
I think if I do it again, though, I'd like to try it in Japan.