With This Ring...

Rings are always a Big Deal in weddings, whether you're talking about the engagement ring or the wedding ring. A standard has developed, as well. There is the awesome and gorgeous engagement ring, and then you buy a wedding band that, while beautiful, is really a supplement to the engagement ring itself. After the wedding, you'll have a beautiful pair of rings, right?

Well, for me... wrong.

My parents divorced when I was very young; to the point where I don't even remember them together. My dad remarried before I turned 6, so I've always had my stepmother in my life. I remember when I was living with her and my dad that I just loved her wedding ring. She only had one ring she wore; she did not have a ring and a band. I remember looking at it and loving the simplicity of it.

Now, don't get me wrong, Mr. JeffM proposed with a gorgeous ring, but I've always had this nagging voice in the back of my head vying for a singular wedding ring. The wedding ring should be special. While I love engagement rings (C'mon, what girl doesn't?), it's the wedding and a marriage you're working toward, and the ring that symbolizes that should be the centerpiece. It really bugged me that for some people the wedding ring is a mere afterthought.

(That said, if you disagree, that's fine! It's a personal decision, and I'll still be oogling your rings. Plus, I don't like ketchup or tomato sauces on pasta, so really my viewpoints are untrustworthy.)

After making the decision to go ahead with one wedding ring instead of a traditional wedding band, I started researching. I wanted something classic, but a little bit different. I wanted a sapphire because Mr. JeffM loves sapphires (well, anything blue really), and I wanted it to be a ring that represented us. And then I found it.

I placed the order. Lo and behold, on Christmas Eve (via Fedex) it arrived...

Merry Christmas, right? It is a sapphire and diamonds set in white gold. And can I just say how hard it is to have this beauty sitting in our apartment, and I can't wear it yet? I have to keep resisting the urge to "try it on to make sure it fits right" on an almost daily basis.

Needless to say, I'm very happy, and I cannot wait to start wearing it.

Miss GWU: Maybe a Muse for Wedding Bands?

I've received many comments on my engagement ring from its antique appeal to the clarity of the rock. One of my favorites coming from my best friend "It is delicate but significant." Sometimes I catch myself staring at it because when I do, I get one of those exciting butterfly moments of reassurance that my man, Mr. GWU, knows me...like really knows me. From the time we discussed taking the next step to become engaged and to the actual engagement, I gave him no guidance as to thee ring; abstract at best. We visited one jeweler where I decided I did not want more than a carat and some sort of unique design. Literally that was all. The rest was left to Mr. GWU's imagination (and wallet :). Mr. GWU did good. real good. Following the engagement and learning more about the months leading up to the finish of the ring, I was happy to find out that Mr. GWU went to a local, family-owned jeweler called IGorman. Located on 20th st, NW, they were founded in 1981 and remain a family business set on high quality design and warm customer service. Mr. GWU loved working with them, particularly with his specific designer, Alishan. And here is thee engagement ring:

I love the ring. Since this was such a good experience for Mr. GWU and they have been with us on this part of the journey so far, I was thinking I would probably go to them for Mr. GWU's wedding band. I want something substantial, probably white gold, with a unique design or etching, and a short quote engraved on the inside. Looking at the work of the designing staff, I'm pretty confident they can capture my thoughts and produce a great wedding band for Mr. GWU. Here are some thumbnails from their site: http://www.igorman.com/

Has anyone worked with IGorman before on wedding bands and have suggestions on designers or anything else related to this process? Is it better to buy a band that is on the snug versus loose side?

The Ring

I don’t remember when Mr. UVA and I started talking about getting engaged and rings. I think at a certain point in the relationship, we knew it would happen. What Mr. UVA did not know was the amount of information and pressure that comes with choosing a diamond.
Let me give you some background on Mr. UVA and jewelry purchases. Mr. UVA does research for a living and jewelry is no exception. At one point in the early stages of our relationship, Mr. UVA asked me what kind of jewelry I would like as a gift. I had been wearing the same earrings for about 4 years and rarely wore anything else. But, I had always wanted a simple jade bracelet. Mr. UVA – being the doll that he is – started his research. No exaggeration – about a year and a half later, I received a jade bracelet. I will admit - it is fabulous! When I went to Thailand with my family, women on the street would stop me and ask me where I got it. But the point is that it took a year and a half to pick a jade bracelet.
I had an idea of what type of ring I wanted and what type I didn’t want. I had been sneaking peeks in magazines and on the internet and had sent some images to Mr. UVA to steer him in right direction. He wanted to choose the ring without any additional help from me. He enlisted the help of his brother and a friend of his mom who used to work in the Diamond District of New York City (not a bad friend to have!) and bought a beautiful loose stone. We still had a setting to choose. We had heard of friends going with their boyfriends to choose a ring and had mixed feelings about it. It is a piece of jewelry that you will hopefully be wearing for the rest of your life so you want to make sure you love it but there is the surprise factor of soon-to-be fiancé on one knee with a ring he has chosen for you. Mr. UVA broke down and asked me if I would come with him to look at settings. I’m really glad we chose this route. Some of the rings I had been dreaming of looked totally awkward on my finger and I would have found out the hard way had I not gone with him.





So here is the ring:








{personal photo courtesy of apple's photo booth}

Doing Things Out of Order

We've been planning our wedding, as you know, since about last April. While this is wedding RELATED, this doesn't pertain to the planning of our wedding. I just had to share.

On Saturday, Mr. JeffM and I decided to have a nice romantic lunch at Harry's Tap Room in Pentagon City. I had Ahi Tuna Tempura and a side of their "Farm to Table" wild mushrooms, accompanied by some great white wine. Mr. JeffM had a bison burger and we closed the meal with some yummy after dinner drinks. He had chocolate Port (which is amazing) and I had some sort of white dessert wine. It was very good, but a little bit too sweet for me. (Seriously, the place is a bit pricey, but from the service to the food to the atmosphere... worth EVERY penny.)

We shopped around the mall for a bit. Mr. JeffM said he wanted to check out some video games at GameStop. I... decided I did not want to do that. 45 minutes later, we met back up and decided we apparently weren't done with wine and being romantic. No, no! We decided to trek over to Old Town to another of our favorite places, Grape and Bean.

We tried some different wines and had a cheese sampler platter. Even Mr. JeffM has really been into trying different wines and such recently. We talked about life, where we wanted to go and do. Things we wanted to accomplish. Who we wanted to go to the Super Bowl. How Horatio (our pooch) is devious, but we love him. We capped off the evening with two flutes of Champagne. (I also recommend Grape & Bean. Great romantic date spot or a nice spot for drinks with a gal pal.)

I feel so snooty going "wine" this and "cheese" that. Next thing you know, I'll be playing the harpsicord and letting go of my love for karaoke! (I kid... I could never abandon you, karaoke.)

Afterward, it was about 9 o'clock. I suggested we head home, but Mr. JeffM wanted to go down to the Waterfront. This surprised me. He is not a fan of the cold. Ever. He loves winter and fall (favorite seasons of his), but the whole being cold when he could NOT be cold and indoors is not something he particularly enjoys. It took a couple of minutes, but he convinced me and off we went. I was excited. The Old Town Waterfront at night is so beautiful with all the lights on the river.

We arrived, and the waterfront was, for the most part empty. It was quiet and romantic. We stood there for a little bit. He hugged me from behind. After a bit he pulled away and then he told me to turn around.

Mr. JeffM was down on one knee with this...

He asked me to marry him.

I couldn't help but cry. I'm a big weepy sap.

Now, I know there are cries from the audience...

"Miss JeffMemorial, I thought you were already engaged!"

You would be right, but Mr. JeffM was never happy with how our engagement went down. He always felt like he did me a disservice, because it was something completely unplanned, he didn't have a ring, etc. (For me, he could have proposed with a tumbleweed, and I wouldn't have even cared.) We did end up getting me a ring, but he never felt it suited me. It's a guilt that had been eating at him for quite some time.

Oddly enough, I always kind of knew he was never terribly happy with how things worked out when he proposed back in April. I could sense that it never sat quite right with him. He's a traditional guy, and I knew he had wanted it to be planned and special. I didn't know he was going to do something like this, though. It didn't feel less special because he had already asked. Not at all. So we cried. We kissed. We hugged. It was so picture perfect.

And the ring? Holy moly, it's wonderful. I know, not traditional, but I just adore it. It's me. It's completely me. Anyone who has seen it, that's been their reaction, and they're right. And I've always loved rubies. It's just wonderful. Here's another shot of it. It's unique. It's perfect. It's me.

What makes it even sweeter is that I had mentioned off handedly months and months ago about how I always thought the Old Town Waterfront at night was a pretty proposal spot, and that I need to find someone to recommend it to. It wasn't a hint. We were already engaged, and I, in no way, resented him or our proposal. It just slipped out!

Oh, and when he went to go to "Game Stop" earlier that day to go check out "video games"? He was picking up the ring from the jeweler, as it had been resized and was ready for pick up.

Sneaky!

It was an amazing day with an even more stunningly surprising ending. I feel so lucky and blessed.

After all the kisses and hugging, we went to the Fish Market (our wedding and reception venue) for a celebratory drink and then headed home.

We're now just a bit over nine months from the wedding! Time to get in gear.

Although now I'm interested to see if the wedding bands I was originally looking at will even work with that ring!