The Bling
A lot of people have asked me if getting engaged was a surprise. I was very surprised when he proposed, but absolutely not surprised that he proposed. We have been together for nearly 7 years, and have talked about marriage many times along the way. A few years ago, we discussed the fact that we both wanted to pick out a ring together, and that it was very important to him that it be an antique ring for a variety of reasons, including ethical ones. Likewise, he felt that all diamonds were not the right choice (and that they’re “boring”).
So once we got engaged, we started ring hunting. Finding non-diamond rings that were not ridiculously expensive was hard. (Who doesn’t love a $25,000 sapphire?) We really lucked out finding the jewelry store we went to in Baltimore. Our saleswoman also felt that new jewelry was relatively soulless (or at least was smart enough to agree vigorously when we said we had zero interest in the new stuff). After about 10 minutes with no luck, she announced that they had a tray of antique settings in the back. The original stones had been taken out, but we could have them reset. Score!
We found my 1930s setting with 14 single-cut diamonds there. The original setting was meant to hold a whopper of a center stone–we’re guessing at least 5 carats. So they cut out that head and replaced it with one small enough to hold my new sapphire.
Since that’s a little out of focus, if you’re having trouble picturing it exactly, think about this one, but with a sapphire instead of a diamond:
(That one is the same size as my center stone, I’d love to see what this setting looked like with the 5-carat wopper!)
kmeil said,
March 2, 2009 at 8:01 am
I can’t wait to see it in person!
Margo said,
March 4, 2009 at 9:52 am
So beautiful!
NineMay said,
March 5, 2009 at 10:02 am
When will I get to see the final result?
Erin said,
March 5, 2009 at 10:04 am
MMM–when you come down for your bachelorette party!
“With ____ ring…” Wait, What Ring? « MildlyCrazy’s Blog said,
March 6, 2009 at 9:40 pm
[...] but I have already started obsessing about finding wedding rings. As I think I mentioned when writing about my engagement ring, we are searching for antique rings. But just being old is not enough. We are looking for [...]
The Engagement Story « MildlyCrazy’s Blog said,
May 10, 2009 at 9:04 pm
[...] The next day, we started the search for my ring. [...]
Something Old « MildlyCrazy’s Blog said,
July 15, 2009 at 5:52 pm
[...] have a couple of options for my “something old,” including my antique engagement ring; and the chuppah we’ll be married under, constructed from my great-grandmother’s wedding dress [...]