Ok I’m finally in a better place to talk about this so let’s talk wedding rings!
James proposed to me with a lovely ring he bought of Etsy as a placeholder. He agonised over it for literal YEARS until he settled on one and had to get Tobias to order it for him so he could keep it a surprise.
He was fully intending on me just wearing it for a while until we could shop together for something nice but I fell in love with it, it was the completely perfect design for me. So rather than finding something different, I designed the wedding band around it and then had the engagement ring remade in better quality materials. Unfortunately the original seller couldn’t remake it in solid rose gold (they only did plating) so we had to find someone new.
Here’s an awkwardly angled photo of the end result:
I did a lot of research on materials and got a LOT of quotes before we settled on Emi from PopRing. She used to have an Etsy shop which is where I ordered from but has since moved to her own website.
I knew I wanted a moissanite for the main stone and I really didn’t care about the others. It ended up being cheapest to go with diamonds for everything in the crown and white sapphire for the leaves of the engagement ring.
My ring philosophy was: who cares so long as it’s pretty. I’m not a purist, I only cared that it was durable, pretty and not so expensive that I’ll feel guilty if I eventually lose it or damage it.
The quotes I got from a variety of online and offline sellers varied wildly from $500-$10,000+. I chose Emi because she was quick to reply to my emails, offered helpful suggestions and the price was great.
This was my original first sketch:
This was what that that evolved into:
This was the first sketch that Emi sent back:
And after refining it more this is what we settled on:
Here’s a photo from the first cast we did. I wasn’t 100% happy with it because I thought it looked like it would be way too tall for my finger.
So we went back and forth with crappy photoshopping to decide on a more delicate design.
The second casting was perfect and a few days later it arrived at my door.
I am really not good at jewellery photos but it looks a million times better in person!
I’m glad I went with moissanite because it sparkles like a rainbow unicorn from outer space.
Here is a comparison to the original engagement ring (new bottom, old top).
The only difference is that the newer one is shorter so it fits with the crown well.
The crown fits on top perfectly:
We designed the crown part so that (assuming I don’t lose it first!) many years from now, if I want something more subtle I can remove the top curls and have them turned into scallops.
Of course, I’m not exactly interested in subtle right now.
The great irony is that after looking forward to wearing it for months, I broke my finger a week after the wedding while we were on honeymoon and my fingers were so swollen that I couldn’t wear it on the correct hand for about 3 months!
And I’ve been wearing it for a year now and it still looks brand new!
While the process of getting it made and researching and buying something so expensive (the most expensive part of the wedding!) was quite stressful, now I’m able to look at it and be happy that I got exactly the perfect ring for me.
