C’mon, you saw that post title coming a mile away, didn’t you?
When P proposed to me, he gave me this ring:
My ring in a grosgrain ribbon flower I made.
We’d never talked about rings at all – he picked it himself, and I love it! He had lots of good thoughts about it, which just shows how well he knows me, and how much thought he put into this. He wanted something low-profile, so I could wear it to work and not worry about it poking things or getting bashed around. This also means it won’t get caught on my knitting. 
I like that I don’t have to take it off at night for fear of scratching either of us. He knows that I don’t own any yellow-gold jewelery, which is very observant of him. He apparently got opinions on photos of a couple rings from one of my friends, and I think his mum as well. He also asked my friend’s ring size, and took my grad ring from my jewelery box to check the size! He got it right (amazingly, my grad ring is too tight!) and the ring fits like a glove. Or a ring.
Still life with yarn! (Black Trillium Sock Yarn, for the knitters out there)
He also had another surprise for me – when his mum found out he was planning to propose, she gave him one of his granny’s rings. It was a ring with a large red stone (I don’t know if it is ruby or garnet, to be honest) with two smaller diamonds on either side. One diamond has been removed, and resides in his step-dad’s wedding ring. The remaining diamond and red stone are for me!
Cinnamon Buns' granny's ring
When he proposed, he said we could return the ring if I didn’t like it, we could get it remade with granny’s stone put it, we could start from scratch, we could do anything. Now let me just say, the e-ring was not what I’d ever imagined (although I have never really daydreamed about jewelry, because I don’t wear it) but NO. WAY. was anyone going to take it away from me. I think it is perfect, all the more perfect because of how much thought P put into it, and because he chose it on his own, just thinking of me and what I like. I think that makes it pretty damn special.
Of course, I now have a diamond to work into my wedding ring, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to work. If there was no diamond, I would probably go with this one, from Tiffany (picture from Tiffany too):
It is rose and white gold, and is the single thing that sparked my interest in having a wedding ring in two colours. I briefly thought about getting two thin rose-gold bands to go on either side of the e-ring, but thought 3 rings might be greedy. I couldn’t picture in my mind what a ring with two golds and a diamond would look like. For a while I thought we would have to remake the engagement ring, and that made me sad. Then I stumbled upon Christian Bauer. Rings with multiple golds and diamonds just seem to be what he does! These were a few of my favourites (all photos from Christian Bauer’s website):
The last one is my favourite, although I would not have the brushed finish. I think it would show scratches more than a shiny one – just think about brushed stainless steel fridges! Also, I think CB uses platinum – I will be going for the much-less-spendy white gold.
We haven’t made the appointment yet, but we know which jeweler we will go to when we want to start the ring-making process. We’re thinking of getting it done in the next month – we are all about getting stuff done early. I’m hoping that the wedding ring will be thin enough for me to wear stacked with the engagement ring. For some reason, I’m attached to the idea of wearing them both on the same finger.
Coming up with a design for a custom ring out of nothing was so hard it stressed me a little, and then I put off thinking about it for a while. It was then that those inspiration pictures found me, and boy did they help. I think it helps everybody involved (you, fiance, vendors) if you can have concrete pictures instead of just hand waving. I think even pics of what you don’t want are just as helpful!
Mr Cinnamon Buns and his mum wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t have the stone made into a wedding ring, but I think it is such a great link to his family history that I can’t say no, even though that Tiffany ring still calls to me sometimes. I’m hoping that having my ring custom-made will give me the best of both worlds (history, and the mixed-metal look I love).
Are you designing your ring(s)? How do you feel about mixed-metal jewelery?
. More than once. And I enjoyed it.
