Otherwise engaged

Though our engagement story is kind of private (as decided with husband2Be), I will share the story of our engagement ring.

I'm not a fan of diamonds at all. Perhaps it's because I prefer colorful things or maybe it's because I have issues with how much conflict they have caused in the rest of the world. Whatever the case, we decided not to do a traditional diamond engagement ring. So began the search for what we would use instead...

We'd heard of people designing their own rings and we really liked that idea. During the time of our courting I was living in the heart of Georgetown so we took a trip to Christian Bernard Jewelers in Georgetown Park Mall. It turned out to be The Place where we got The Ring. :)

We had discussed and decided to go with an aquamarine stone (husband2Be's birthstone) in a setting of vintage styling and possibly with a filligree design. We pored through books of settings to gather ideas and couldn't find anything that worked for us. We ended up turning to Google and Ebay for ideas. After weeks and months of gathering ideas, we printed them all out and took them back to Christian Bernard. They consulted with their jeweler and a week later confirmed with us that we could have a custom made (completely UNIQUE ring even with a custom cut stone!) for under $1000!!!

I know what you're thinking. A custom made engagement ring under $1K? IMPOSSIBLE.

Well, here are a few things about what we decided to do that helped the cost:

• The kind of stone we chose was significantly less expensive NOT being a diamond. We got a one carat Aquamarine and it was even imported all the way from Thailand and it is of incredible quality. Price? $400-something.
• We used sterling silver instead of white gold or platinum because I do a lot of work with my hands and am very hard on my jewelry.

Granted, not everyone is like us and would be okay with the choices that we made but they work for us well and make the ring even more "us" the way we wanted it to be.

It took a good few months for it to be made (stone to be imported, sent away for cutting, setting to be hand cut, and then both put together) but it was finally ready Labor Day weekend of this year.

Here is a picture of it next to the ring that shall be my wedding band.

Pictures DO NOT do my engagement ring justice but it's just as well since husband2Be prefers that it not be shown too well since he wants to preserve it's unique setting and cut of the stone. The cut of the stone doesn't really have a name but a better picture of it would show it as a modified Asscher cut.

I completely love my ring and we really lucked out finding the band. It's actually a right-hand ring (that I will wear on my left hand and my engagement ring will be switched to my right hand and worn "European" style). We found my band at Helzberg Diamonds and it was on sale for only $100!

So that's the story of my rings. Hope this wasn't too long for you!