One of the most memorable times in my relationship with Chris, was talking about marriage and becoming engaged, including shopping for rings of course! There is something SO special about knowing that the time is coming, but not having any clue when that time will actually be.
There are SO many engagement rings to choose from. Shape, size, color, cut… it’s overwhelming! We started simple, by just walking into a store and trying some on! I know Chris ended up doing A TON of research, but initially we just figured out what looked good on my finger in terms of size and shape.
I never thought I would end up with an oval diamond. I was loving the round solitaire rings that I tried on in the beginning. I started with round, then square, then pear shaped, and finally tried on an oval. To be honest, I was kind of torn between a round and oval diamond in the end. I knew that I loved a pavé band though!
These are some of the other rings I had tried on.
This ring above, inspired my current engagement ring band. The designer of this ring was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, and made the setting to resemble the tower itself. My mom was born in Paris, so I immediately fell in love with this look.
This ring above has a double halo, and was my first crush on an oval diamond.
I was a huge fan of the pear-shaped diamond, and they are super popular right now, but I knew it wouldn’t work for me because of my job. I could imagine all of the torn gloves and scratches because of the sharp point. I also hate when my rings get stuck in my purse as I’m searching for something. The solitaire on the right was beautiful, but we noticed that solitaire rings are pretty pricey if you want a good diamond of a decent size.
This one was just for fun! I can’t even remember the carat count on this one, but it was massive. I’m not a huge fan of yellow diamonds, but many women love them and it really was still a beautiful piece. Basically, this ring is a really expensive car, on your finger. Something like 13 carats. INSANE.
We kind of got overwhelmed with the process in the end. Chris was very focused on ensuring I had the ring of my dreams, but honestly, I would’ve been happy with anything from him! I was just so thankful to be doing life with my best friend.
He ended up custom designing my ring, in the end, with Nathan Alan Jewelers. He creatively combined the top three rings that I had tried on and loved (they were all so different), and put them into one beautiful ring that I couldn’t have even imagined.
When it came time to search for our bands, I knew I wanted something to match and highlight what I already have. Although I won’t be giving away the exact look of my bands, in this blog post… you will get to see them soon! We both purchased our bands with Nathan Alan, and plan to go back for years to come. In my opinion, every woman needs a jeweler. Someone you can trust and rely on! I never take my ring elsewhere for cleaning or questions. I prefer a smaller shop with a story, and Nathan Alan (in South Coast Plaza), is exactly that type of business.
I personally rarely take my ring off. Yes… I wear it to work! I am very careful, but I honestly don’t do as many things with my hands these days. I wear gloves most of the time, and my ring is fit so that it doesn’t spin, or slide. That makes it a little hard to get over my knuckle, but it’s worth it to me.
For those times I do need to take off the bling, I wanted a safe place to store it, and not just a jewelry dish. The Mrs. Box is everywhere on social media, and as soon as I saw the customization options, I had to have one. They turned boring ring boxes into a beautiful, heirloom-worthy ring box. You can choose from pretty much any color of the rainbow, different sizes, and monogram it with your initials.
I loved these ring boxes so much, that I had to arrange for a little giveaway in honor of my upcoming wedding! One of you can win a $150 gift card to The Mrs. Box for your own special ring box (or as a gift for a lucky bride friend). Be sure to enter on my Instagram page! It would look epic in your stocking this year!!
And tell me in the comments what your favorite engagement ring style is!
