S'more bling

One part of the planning (ie buying) that I didn't think I would get that excited about was buying the bands. It's not that I have anything against them, I just hadn't thought that much about it. The engagement ring seemed exciting and pretty, the bands just seemed...practical. Even as I started out looking at bands, it wasn't that exciting. Rings for Matt were mostly super plain (he was not into bling or brushed surfaces or stuff like that) and the rings for me were just o-kay. My engagement ring is a s-u-p-e-r thin pave diamond band with a round center stone and most of the chain (read cheap) jewelry stores just didn't have anything that could work with the size. I tried a plain platinum band that was almost thin enough and thought it was beautiful, though not particularly exciting. I also tried on several diamond bands, but they didn't match my ring. Finally, I caved and went to De beers, which is where my ring came from, and tried on the matching band. It definitely looked the best on (and was exciting and okay, i loved it), but it was really pricey. Like pretty much as much as the e-ring. Which just seemed wrong.

Meanwhile, back at the ponderosa, Matt (who at that point could care less about rings) mentioned that he liked how my brother-in-law's ring had beveled edges. But he wanted the beveled edge w/o the brushed metal and he wanted it in white gold. So I did a quick internet search and found this beauty.




It was exactly what he had described! The only trouble was Blue Nile is an online-only jeweler, so we'd have to order on faith. After checking the return policy (30 days, no problem), we took a leap and ordered. And it's beautiful. So man ring = done. And we got two super cool discounts b/c I'm an internet-shopping genius.

1) I did a promo code search for Blue Nile and found that we could get $50 off if we paid with a Visa. Done.
2) I had it shipped to my friend in NJ so we wouldn't have to pay NY state sales tax. And that saved another $50. Done.
So we shaved off a cool hundo with just some clever interneting. I'm so proud of this it's embarrassing.

Now back to me. I was still struggling with the plain platinum band or the super expensive diamond band. Both were beautiful, but you only ever get one wedding ring (knock on wood), so you want to love it. And Matt was no help. His feedback was, "the diamond one looks way better, but it's so expensive." Uh, thanks. That's pretty much exactly what I've been thinking. So I stalled a bit and decided on a lark to check out the webpage of a jewelry store where a friend of mine had gotten a gorgeous vintage engagement ring. It's called Doyle and Doyle and is located in the lower east side of Manhattan. (The website is doyledoyle.com if you're interested.) I tooled around on their super cute site for awhile and found this sparkler.



Possibly perfect? It's the same width as my e-ring and is a diamond pave band and...it was about $1000 cheaper than the de Beers ring. The only issue was it was in white gold instead of platinum. So I emailed a salesperson on the site (and she got right back to me, great customer service) and asked if they could do it in platinum. She said that they could, but platinum and white gold actually look the same when they're new b/c they're both coated in Rhodium and at worst I would have to re-coat it in 10 years. Besides, the ring's design only showed the metal on the inside anyway. I was sold! So I made a trip to the store to check it out in person. Still pretty sure that it probably wouldn't work out.

Luckily, this was the greatest jewelry store ever. I mean, I was seriously in love with this place and haven't stopped singing its praises since. It's tiny and instead of jewelry cases, they put the jewelry in frames on the wall to save room. And they had the most beautiful estate pieces you've ever seen. It's definitely the place to shop for good jewelry and I'll be a fan for the rest of my life. It wasn't super cheap, but at $250-$5000, you could definitely get something for a special occasion.

The ring I had my eye on wasn't a vintage piece, however. They actually have a custom designer on staff who creates vintage inspired pieces. And I think I tried every one of them on. It was so fun. And after being seriously tempted to get a diamond and sapphire band instead, I bought the one I had originally seen. Only that picture didn't do it justice. It's GORGEOUS and matches my e-ring like it was made for it. How did that happen? Too perfect.

In fact there were two catches,

1) It takes 8-10 weeks to make a custom ring and I only had 9. But they assured me they could get it done in 8. So now it's just waiting. (But I want it noooooowwwww---Veruca Salt)

2) B/c It's an "eternity" band, meaning diamonds all the way around, it can never be resized. So I have to order it perfectly today. And never get fat hands. This actually has been making me nervous. When they measured my ring finger, they swore I should be wearing a 4. Yes, 4.0. As in a child's ring. But the 4 on the sizer was so hard to get off, if bruised my knuckle. And my e-ring is a 4.75 (although too big). Eventually we decided on a 4.5--which will probably still be a little big, but give me some room to grow in. :)

Anyway, that's the ring story. And I can't wait to see them all together!

Oh, except in my "it's so sparkly" excitement, I forgot to ask about the quality of the diamonds. Duh. My diamond-educated fiance informed me that this was a total bonehead move. So I called the store in a panic, sure that this was the reason it was so much cheaper. But they got back to me and I found out that the diamonds are the same quality as my center stone. Which is pretty unheard of for an eternity band since all the stones have to be matched. Moral of the story: it worked out this time, but I'll remember to ask the practical questions next time I'm dazzled by some "ice."