Ring Things, Bling Bling Bling!

It's time I share our ring story! As I've previously mentioned, I am an admitted planner. So when we had first talked about seriously getting engaged I knew that I had to be a part of picking out a ring I was going to wear FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. It's kind of a big deal! Unlike some brides, I don't think I could ever "upgrade" my ring; it just loses the meaning, memory and beauty behind it. So for a while I had searched online to find rings I liked. My top favorite brand ended up being Natalie K because of the bling factor. Often I saw diamond rings on other girls where they just had a plain band and one stone yet it still costed them thousands. To me, those kind of rings don't look like thousands. Sure, when you just get engaged, carat size and cuts are somewhat interesting (never really to me) but ultimately I cared more about having a ring that looked like a million bucks even if it wasn't.

Tom picked out a promise ring for me for my 21st birthday that I absolutely adore. It's perfect and he couldn't have done a better job - little bling diamonds forming a heart on a twisted band...it's just gorgeous! So it took a long time but I finally convinced him that we should go at least look at rings together to get some idea of what would look good on my petite hands. My ring size is a 5 so we needed to figure out what stones and how many would actually look good without separating my fingers too much. However, no stores in Wisconsin carry Natalie K so we drove down to Illinois on a weekend.

When we arrived at a jewelry store and looked at Natalie K. I was, of course, in love! The rings just had so many little diamond accents that made them sparkle. Exactly what I wanted, or was it? We couldn't find anything that fit my finger or was exactly what I wanted... I soon fell in love with the pave' style band. "Pave’ (pronounced Pa Vay) comes from 'pavement' as in cobble stones laid down close together. Clusters of tiny diamonds can create great accents at very reasonable prices because very small diamonds are not expensive." (source)

Somehow that day we ended up getting talked into designing a ring. We discussed and decided that we wanted three circular stones in a pave setting, and I wanted some sort of a halo around one or all of the diamonds. I often was told to walk away for a bit so the jeweler could discuss with Tom the actual details of the ring. So he actually pretty much designed it himself once he got a feel for what I was looking for.

Heres how it ended up looking:

Side view. Since Tom knows hearts are my favorite shape, he got hearts on both sides under the middle stone.

Regular view. A beautiful center stone with a halo around it and two smaller stones on the side. Talk about bling! You can also see the pavet band.

Don't worry, I know it's not all about me! ;) We also picked out a Tungsten band for him that day and got a guaranteed sales price for it which we just haven't bought yet. You'll have to wait on pictures for that one as well as when we get a custom band for my ring.

*All personal photos. Do not steal!