I remember it like it was yesterday…
Friday, March 16th, 2012.
The day Hubby asked me to marry him.
It was one of the best days of our lives (and not only because the weather that day was INCREDIBLE!). It was happy, warm, and down-to-earth, just like us.
And since that fateful day, I’ve had a pretty beautiful piece of bling in my life…
My Engagement Ring. 
Designed by Mark Broumand, this ring ticks ALL my engagement ring requirements!
Firstly I knew I didn’t want a “traditional diamond”. Coming from a family of pseudo-jewelers, I know more than most how overpriced and overvalued “the perfect diamond” is. I knew I wanted something different.
When Hubby and first began talking about rings a few months before our engagement, I instantly started thinking about colored stones like sapphires and emeralds. But once I found Mark Broumand’s selection of colored diamonds, I knew I’d found what I was looking for.
Ultimately Hubby and I picked out my fleshy-pink diamond set in rose gold together.
I just love how unique the color is (and just different enough that most people don’t notice it’s pink until they come up close!).
But it’s actually UNDERNEATH the diamond that I find the most beautiful…
Enrobing my center stone is an embellished rose gold jacket with plenty of carvings and swirls you can only see once you turn the ring over. Almost like a hidden surprise!
Mark Broumand does this with plenty of their ring designs (like this luscious yellow diamond set in a yellow gold jacket) — it makes for such a unique and beautiful trademark of theirs.
People are always so shocked when I slip off my ring and flip it over — I don’t think many people expect to find so much beauty UNDERNEATH the diamond as well!
This ring also happens to be the right shape too.
From the beginning I was also dead set on having a pear-shaped stone.
It HAD to be pear-shaped.
Why?
I’ve LONG had an obsession with pear-shapes (I even buy designer purses in pear shapes!) — I find them elegant, beautiful, and a little more organic in nature.
And as far as rings are concerned, I find most other stone shapes to be less attractive on the finger, especially if you have short fingers like I do. I knew wanted a design and stone that would sit low on my finger (my ring never snags on anything!) and that would elongate it in an elegant way. No ring shape does that more for me than a pear!
Ultimately I ended up deciding not to get a matching wedding band made as I wanted the option to wear my wedding band without the ring since my job can be rough on jewelry and I hate to potentially damage my engagement ring wearing it to jobs. I instead picked out this Tiffany Jazz band since it made my engagement ring feel “complete” but was also incredibly beautiful on my finger on its own.
I love that I managed to find a wedding band as unique and different as my engagement ring too! For a few months Hubby and I despaired to find any wedding bands we both liked. Hubby originally wanted a rose gold band to compliment the rose gold in my ring but couldn’t find ANYTHING. Not even in any antique shops!
In the end, it was my grandfather who came to Hubby’s rescue — his own wedding band was a braided design of rose gold, yellow, gold, and white gold — and he gave it to Hubby to look at before the wedding. Because of the nature of the design of the ring it couldn’t be resized but to our disbelief and astonishment, it FIT! I just love that we both managed to find mixed metal rings incorporating rose gold!
Of all the things I’ve ever owned or will own, I know this ring will forever be one of my truest treasures. I feel so lucky EVERY time I slip it on my finger. I feel luckier still to have married someone I can’t wait to see everyday and whom I would be lost without.
The past 3+ years of our marriage haven’t been easy. We married young so we’ve had a lot of growing up to do. We promptly quit our jobs after marriage to launch our own businesses, demolishing our home savings (temporarily) in the process. We’ve slowly rebuilt our savings. We’ve slowly grown up. We’ve adopted a second dog together, traveled around the world from Old Town in Cartagena to the glaciers in Juneau to the ruins of Tulum to walls of Westminster Abbey. And all together, with our rings on our fingers.
I’ll be forever grateful that fate brought my husband into my life. And that I have such a beautiful ring to remind me of him whenever we aren’t together.
Of all the things I’ve ever obsessed over, my engagement ring is BY FAR my greatest obsession!
