Groom's Gift/Tie: Check!

I persuaded Mr. T to let me buy him the expensive tie from Sak's (the black and white striped one above). After all, I argued, his wedding ring cost me under $50, so I'd gotten off easy (uh, my rings cost him a little bit more than that!). Once he heard my very logical argument, he agreed, on the condition that this also be his groom's gift (so he's on his own for cufflinks).

I brought the tie home on Friday. We both love it and are afraid to touch it for fear of ruining its luxury. It's sitting in a box in his armoire, all wrapped up until he's ready to wear it!

One more item off the list!

Invitations to Printer: Check! Plus, other random tasks

I'm so happy to report that we sent the invite files to the printer yesterday and dropped off the black paper this morning before work. Hooray! That is such a weight lifted. We were ecstatic after uploading the files yesterday.

Also, the printer has already sent us a PDF proof of our invite. That was fast! The owner told Mr. T that they were in a lull at the moment, so the printing might only take about 2 weeks. Hooray! That means, if we have some time to spare, that we can consider doing custom postage through Zazzle or a site like that, to coordinate with our invitations. If we use the post office's postage, we're stuck with some not-so-thrilling options, but we'll suck it up if we have to. I just wish they'd updated the Edgar Allen Poe stamps with the new rate...sigh.

This weekend we also accomplished a few other wedding tasks:

• We made our registries live on our wedsite. We haven't added flatware yet, but we can do that later.
• We tried two more rehearsal dinner options. This is turning out to be much more challenging than finding the wedding venue! To summarize, the Vietnamese place closest to our venue sucks, so we're looking at opening our search to restaurants without private rooms.
• We purchased a custom return address stamp from Etsy.
• We booked our hotel room for our wedding night, plus our photographer's hotel room for two nights.
• We ordered our cupcake stand (cardboard, to be painted and adorned by us).
• We purchased gifts for my bridesmaid and MOH as well as our officiant.
• I purchased a wedding band for Mr. T from an online jeweler...luckily we can return it to the company if he hates it.
• We purchased envelopes for our invitations, with extras for thank you notes. We also decided that lining the envelopes wasn't worth the hassle, so that's another thing off my list.
• We put some thought into our first dance and decided what we're going to do (but I'm not telling!)
• I scheduled my first dress fitting for this Friday! This is when I try on the muslin version. After that they order the fabric and get to work!
  

Phew! Only another 120 things to go!

Bling: Check!

I got my beloved e-ring back today! I forgot how sparkly it is. I really need to use the jewelry cleaner more often, apparently. I can't stop looking at it!

In other exciting news, I also picked up my wedding band!!! Hooray! The rings look awesome together, in my humble opinion. The MOH said, "You know you have to put that away until the wedding, right?"

I told her she couldn't make me. And here they are together; please excuse the crappy iPhone pic and the chipped black nailpolish!

Waiting...

I'm dying for my rings to come in!! Brilliant Earth said they would probably be in around now, but could take longer.
Dying, I tell you!

Wedding Ring: Check!

Or, at least one of our wedding rings, anyway. Mr. T and I went to Brilliant Earth so I could try on wedding rings. I picked out the one I wanted (imagine the set above with dark pink sapphires), and we placed the order!

I felt just a tiny bit duped because apparently they have the pink sapphires in stock, whereas they'd led me to believe they had to source them, and it would take months, which is why we rushed in to see the wedding rings...but whatever. It's off our list!

Unfortunately they had to take my engagement ring so they could color-match the sapphires and also so they could custom-contour the band around my e-ring. They are also re-sizing my e-ring (again!) back down because now that I've lost weight, it's a little too big (should've left it alone the first time...)! So...FPO is back on my finger, for now. I can't wait to see the finished band! It's supposed to be done by the end of the month.

Wedding Ring Redux

I got the nicest email from Brilliant Earth three days after they'd crushed my hopes for a pink sapphire wedding band to match my engagement ring:

Hi,
I just spoke with my production team and they informed me that we would be able to find pink sapphires in that size, given enough time. Was there a specific time line you had in mind for when the ring would be completed? I hope you found this information helpful and will look forward to your response!

I was super excited and emailed back right away asking if October was a long enough time frame...and it is!! So tomorrow morning Mr. T and I are going to look at wedding bands to make sure the one I think I want is really THE ONE.

Look at that, we're even ahead of schedule on that one. Take that, Knot checklist!

145 Days to Go and OMG, We Have So Much To Do

I finally joined The Knot because they had some articles on Halloween weddings I wanted to read. The articles weren't really worth it, it turns out.

I had to put in our wedding date as part of my registration and I got an automatically generated checklist. These are the things we haven't done, and many of them are overdue according to The Knot:

• Make sure to insure your engagement ring. [We do need to do this. We also need renter's insurance. Sigh.]
• Decide on and meet with your officiant to discuss ceremony structure. [We've emailed some stuff, but no real discussions yet.]
• Brides: Start shopping for bridesmaid dresses. [Actually, the MOH and I are going to visit the other bridesmaid in LA this weekend for girl fun and dress shopping! I can't wait, it's going to be such a fun little trip.]
• Register for your wedding gifts, and don't forget to include some choices appropriate for your upcoming bridal shower as well. [GAH. No progress. We decided to register at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but aside from agreeing that we need new knives, we don't know what to register for.]
• Brides: Decide on the bridesmaid dresses. [See above...maybe we'll get that done this weekend, or maybe the girls will just be left to their own devices. My only stipulation is that the dresses be black, and not too short!]
• Book a baker [done], choose your wedding [cup]cake[s] design[s] [to be done], and send a deposit [done].
• Start planning the rehearsal dinner. [No luck on this front. I've researched a few places, but we've only tried one, with disappointing results. We need to get back on this. I would love a more informal dinner, like Mexican food with margaritas, but there's not much near our wedding venue/hotel. Sigh.]
• Start working on your invitation wording and design. [I am happy to report we started doing this last weekend, even though Mr. T had a cold. That's info for a separate post, though.]
• Finalize your invitation wording. [TBD]
• Finalize menu and service details with caterer. [We still need to pick a vegetarian main dish and a passed appetizer. We're not doing that until October, though, so The Knot will need to scream at us until then.]
• Order your invitations and announcements (don't forget plenty of extra envelopes). [Again, TBD. Invites will take 2-4 weeks to print after a proof is approved, so we're thinking we'll send them to the printer mid-July or so. I'm torn on the envelopes...it's tempting to just have the printer do the return addresses for us, but another part of me would love to do either black envelopes with orange lining or vice-versa. And that means ordering envelopes and doing custom liners. Hm.]
• Start thinking about flower arrangement styles you like, and figure out what flowers will be in season on your wedding day. [Well, I guess I have thought about it. But I'm not entirely sure about the seasonal thing.]
• Decide on a floral scheme, choose flowers. [Not really done. Except I'd like Fall colors, and primarily reds, burgundies, and a bit of orange.]
• Reserve tables, chairs, and/or other rental equipment you'll need (unless caterer or site is taking care of it). [Mostly this is done, but we have some stereo equipment stuff to sort out.]
• Grooms: Start looking to buy or rent tux, suit, or other formal attire. [We did start...we just didn't see much! And other plans have prevented us from going shopping again. Can you hear me hyperventilating yet? This list is a mile long!]
• Book rehearsal-dinner site. [Um, no. See above.]
• Book hotel room for your wedding night. [We haven't done this yet. I think Mr. T would like us to stay at a high-end hotel near our wedding venue, whereas I would just like it to be easy, so I want us to stay at the venue (although The Claremont is sounding mighty tempting). So we're still discussing.]
• Compile packages for out-of-town guests with hotel reservation (done) and city information, and mail them out. [Our "wedsite" gives hotel info, but no city info. I'm undecided about mailing out packets, but I suppose I could put something together...in all my free time.]
• Grooms: Decide on your groomsmen's attire. [I doubt if Mr. T has put much thought into this. He only has one groomsman, so it's a little easier. I think he'd like his brother to wear a suit, but who knows what color suit, or what color shirt, or tie!]
• Book your honeymoon flights (if not using frequent flyer miles) and make all your other travel reservations. [I'm putting this one in Mr. T's lap...the mini-moon, that is. When we take a real honeymoon trip I'll be recovered enough to help plan it. For the mini-moon I'd like relaxation, good food, and a massage or two. And some nice scenery.]
• Brides: Choose your bridesmaids' accessories (shoes, gloves, etc.) and either purchase or pass along purchasing information. [Well, my girls can pick their own shoes, and they don't need gloves!]
• Grooms: Give all of the groomsmen the information they need to buy and/or reserve their attire. [Nothing done here; see above.]
• Pick out or design a ketubah or other marriage contract required by your religion. [We don't have to worry about this one. Check!]

Note that this checklist is not everything we have to do...it's just everything we should be doing during this timeframe...next month, there will be even more items looming over us! It's feeling a little insurmountable at the moment. One thing at a time, right?

Wedding Ring Dilemma

I'm on the mailing list for Brilliant Earth, the lovely company that made my engagement ring. I was pleased to note they've started offering "matched sets" online, including adjusting and contouring one of their existing wedding bands to my e-ring setting:



Cute, right? I hadn't realized it, but somewhere in the last few days I got very, very attached to this band, thinking I could just swap out the diamonds for pink sapphires. Sigh.

So I emailed BE and asked them what their stone stock was like and whether we could get a discount if we bought a wedding ring because we also bought my engagement ring there...I wouldn't be so pushy, but I noted that the price for my engagement ring setting has now gone down about $200! So I felt like it was worth asking.

That led to me being shot down on all fronts when their customer service rep told me no, there was no discount, and no, they were no longer able to source pink sapphires in that size...I had wondered why all the pink sapphire wedding bands disappeared from the site a month or two ago. How could I have known? Not only do I not like diamonds, I really think they're going to clash with my e-ring, and I'm not one of those girls who just wants to wear just a wedding band. I want to wear both! I love the idea of a wedding set.

So, I'm super bummed. This leaves me with a few choices:
1. Try on their plain bands to see if I like them with my e-ring.
2. Have them custom-design something without stones to go with my e-ring.
3. Try to find a vintage or vintage repro setting at another jeweler, either with pink sapphires or (more likely) with detailing, but no stones.
4. Have another jeweler custom-make me the exact ring I want, but with unethically-sourced stones.

Out of all of these ideas, 2 and 3 are looking the most appealing. I've found a few alternative ideas online. Here they are for your judgment:

This is from an antique jeweler in SF. I like the engraving along the sides, and I could see if they'd offer it with just pink sapphires, no diamonds, but ultimately I don't know if it will really go with my existing ring. It's also very expensive.



Another pink sapphire and diamond option. I like the milgrain detail, but other than that I think it's just okay.
Pretty engraving, but perhaps too organic for my e-ring setting?
Again, not sure if this will "go".

Also very pretty. I wish the band were curved.


This one has potential! Not sure about the flower design, though.

Again, possibly too "organic" feeling.




This one is from greenKarat, another company that uses renewed metal. This design is not quite right, but they'd also do custom work...then again, if I'm going custom, why not go to the source and get something better matched to my e-ring?




This is a pretty floral ring with lavender sapphires. This company does lovely engraving and custom work, so I could potentially get exactly what I want if I give up on renewed metals and sustainably mined gemstones. Which sounds unappealing when I put it like that.



That same company offers this ring as a men's wedding band, but they'd offer it thinner, I bet. This is pretty.


Another from that company, this time with diamonds.

This ring is from Brilliant Earth. I really like it but I don't know how it would look with my e-ring, and I think it's too wide anyway.

Another from BE. It's a good width but again, not sure if it would go.


This ring is from some antique store online; it's a reproduction, and I like the slight curve. It's also very reasonably priced! I think it might work with my e-ring.


So, any thoughts?

Jaguar Ring!

How much do I love this ring?!!

Mr. T would never, ever wear this, although it is titanium, so I've been pondering how this would look with my e-ring. Sadly, I don't think they offer it with a thin enough band. Sigh. So awesome.

Second Bachelorette Party of 2009

Saturday I attended my second bachelorette party of the year! It was a little quieter than the first one, but no less fun. We went out for Mediterranean tapas and then out to a club for 80's night. The food was super yummy (I blame it for my half-pound weight gain) and I loved going dancing...I haven't been dancing for ages. It felt like coming home! We adorned the bride-to-be (Mr. T's cousin's fiancee) in a blinking tiara complete with veil, a blinking huge fake diamond ring, body crystal stickers (hers said "sexy") and a bride to be sash. We all got huge fake non-blinking rings and crystal stickers that were hearts, or said love, etc. Also, we all had 80's gloves (mesh or lace) and glow bracelets and necklaces. It was awesome! Halfway through the night the bride-to-be turned to my MOH and asked her to get this pink boa from a guy who was wearing it...and so the MOH did! She traded him for a glow necklace. We ended up trading back later, but it was funny and sweet. It was also funny that the bride-to-be knew that the MOH would be up for it. I told her that her reputation must have preceded her. Anyway, super fun. I definitely want to go out dancing for my bachelorette party.

Random Images from the Internet--dresses, decor, and a cake

It's gotten to the point that when I Google "red wedding dress," I get sent to my own blog. However, since dress shopping is at hand, I tried again last night. First I emailed David's Bridal for an appointment. That's right, David's Bridal. I'm not looking forward to it--although part of me thinks it might be hilarious, especially with the MOH in tow--but I want to try on a variety of silhouettes and DB is probably the best place for that. I also thought they might actually have samples in my size, although perhaps that's hoping for too much.

Here are some images that I liked. The first is just for fun--I don't know when she wore this, but Madonna's dress is pure craziness here:


It's so over the top, I love it! This next dress looks gorgeous on the model but I guarantee it wouldn't look as good on me. Still, I love the color, the mermaid skirt, the embroidery, the jewelry...sigh. She looks like a princess. Albeit, a princess with a headache.


I have been looking at some vintage styles as options. I love the one below but worry again that it would not look good on my figure. Still, how fun and sassy!


In comparison, the dress below looks a little bedraggled...this is not a wedding dress, just a vintage dress someone's wearing, but despite the obvious signs of wear and the weird bunching under the skirt (pull it down, girl!), there's something about it I like.


Again re: silhouettes, I love the mermaid style but am concerned about how it would look. I love that I am a curvy girl and have no issues with showing that off, but I also want the dress to be flattering. I like the back of this one (and the color!) and I wonder if this style, which doesn't seem to be full-blown mermaid, would work? I worry in particular about the upper thigh region, if you know what I mean. Plus satin shows everything. It would have to be a different fabric, for sure. That's about as much train as I would want, I think.



These styles were also called "slight mermaid". Hm....a possibility?




I kinda like the back of this one. The bustle doesn't seem too overwhelming or ridiculous. Still, would this make one's ass look big?


Moving on to my other obsession: pumpkins. Look at this awesome monogrammed and dated (in roman numerals, no less) pumpkin! I love it, although I'd need help with the roman numerals. Once I get past 29 I have issues. Although, they didn't do the whole year. Maybe there's hope for me yet.



I love this sweet photo outside with the glowing pumpkins. So spooky and darling.



Below is (kinda) our table settings: pumpkins with flowers in them, and mini-pumpkins as votives. Our flower colors would be different colors, though.


I really like these silver pumpkins. So elegant and Cinderella-like, somehow. I am definitely considering painting pumpkins.


This is not a real pumpkin, but interesting:


Here's another idea I've mentioned before that we might do: placecards on mini-pumpkins. Cute, huh?

And this has nothing to do with pumpkins, except for what we might put in them: I like these branchy things. Very Halloween.


Mr. T and I love candy corn, so I loved this photo. I love ring shots in general. We definitely have to have some of those (ring shots and candy corn, that is).


I found a bunch of cute Halloween wedding stamps on Zazzle, but was less enchanted when I realized I'd be paying over double the normal postage amount for them. Um, no thanks! But, these are cute.


And finally for something completely different. I am also obsessed with leopard print, although I doubt it will appear at the wedding. Look at this awesome cake!!! OMG I love it.


I also like the leopard martini glasses, featured at the same wedding. Sigh.


That's it for now! More inspiration to come.

Pink Sapphire is the new Diamond?

I was perusing the Brilliant Earth site a couple of weeks ago and noticed some new stock. You may remember that when I picked my ring out, they only had diamonds or blue sapphires shown on the site, except for one pink sapphire and diamond wedding band; it wasn't until our appointment at the showroom that I got to see the larger pink stones.

Now, they've got two new pink sapphire engagement rings listed on the site. I wonder if we had anything to do with that? Or is pink sapphire the new diamond? Here they are:



While I think they are both gorgeous, I still think mine's better. (Of course.) I got a compliment completely out of the blue the other day at Tully's (meaning, I didn't shove my ring under this person's nose on purpose, and she still noticed it!) and I felt very proud of Mr. T and I for doing such a great job at ring selecting.

I noticed that Brilliant Earth also has some new wedding bands with pink sapphires in them, too. This is great since I plan on going back for my band, and I've been at a loss for what I'd get...I thought we were going to have to do a completely custom ring. But this might work, with alterations:

Of course, I'd want the whole thing to be pink. Screw the diamonds.

I also thought this one might work:

Again, if they could do it with pink, instead of the diamonds. Those swirl patterns match the pattern on the band of my ring, so it might be a nice fit.

I love window shopping!

Congrats to another happy couple

Hey kids,
Posts might be thin between now and mid-November, but we'll see. Work has reached a fever pitch for me, but even though I have my head buried in the sand (how many cliches can I stick in this sentence?) I am really happy that October is here! I'm appreciating Halloween even more this year as I daydream about next year.

A friend of mine got engaged over the weekend in Vegas. Congrats, Monika and Carter! He presented her with a lovely 1920's antique sapphire engagement ring. I knew they would be next, and I'm so excited for them!!

Here's her lovely ring:




Beautiful, no?

Brilliant Earth Refer A Friend Discount

If anyone's in the market for some fair trade bling, let me know--looks like we could both get a discount! See below, from the BrillianT Earth newsletter:

Refer a Friend
Tell a friend about Brilliant Earth and you’ll both receive
a discount of $100 off a purchase of $1,000 or more. Please use reference code: REFBE101508.

Reunited, and...

...it feels so GREAT!

Brilliant Earth emailed me late yesterday afternoon to let me know my ring was ready, so I picked it up this morning. Hooray! It fits much better now. Snug enough that it won't fly off my hand, but not so snug that I need to lick my finger to get it off (ew).

I'm excited to show off the ring when I visit my relatives next week. I'm used to being the odd cousin from California, so I imagine there will be more of the same, but it's the Midwest so everyone's awfully polite about it.

In other news, I emailed a certain San Francisco custom corset dress maker to see how much lead time a dress would take. They said at least 6 months, although they encouraged me to come as soon as I can. So I think I'll probably make an appointment within the next couple of months. Here we go!

I miss my ring, and other musings

I mean, FPO is great, but I miss my pink sapphire loveliness. We were only together for such a short time...I hope Brilliant Earth calls me soon. I am going to Wisconsin next week for my grandmother's 90th birthday, and I'd love to take the ring with me!

This weekend 7 of the library books I'd requested came in at once. Whoops! Time to get reading! I'm almost finished with Sarah Vowell's Take the Cannoli, but that's a very short one. I suppose all the books will be useful for my trip...lots of time spent in airports.

It's almost October! I'm excited to see all of the Halloween decorations popping up in stores. It's hard to restrain myself from buying them. On November 1, I plan on going crazy at the sales!

I'm also thinking about scheduling a tasting at our hoped-for venue...sometime next month. It's hard to believe that things will really be ramping up soon.

It's also the beginning of football season. Aside from potentially preventing us from booking our venue, football is Mr. T's other love. Our friend was talking to Mr. T about football, and he said, "It's so weird that you like football so much. I guess I'm too metrosexual to like it." Mr. T replied, "I'm machosexual." Then he came home and proudly related the story to me. I think he's hoping it will catch on as a term. Machosexual: A man who likes personal grooming, clothing, and shoes, but still enjoys macho things like football. Then he asked me, "Are you going to blog about this?" I said, "Probably."

Sigh

I have to take the ring in tomorrow morning to get it re-sized. It's just a little too snug. I don't think rings are typically supposed to leave welts on your fingers!
Sigh. So sad.

Crappy iPhone Preview Photos of My New Ring!!

Ahem, please ignore the chipped nail polish.

I love my ring!!! I am worried, however, that we sized it too small after all. It was hard to get on, and it's leaving a mark on my finger, not that I plan on taking it off, nope, finger could turn blue and I'd deal with it. What a bummer. I think we'll have to re-size it so it's a quarter-size larger.

On the other hand, there's no way it's coming off accidentally (like that Olympic beach volleyball player, thank goodness she found it later). So that's a plus.

These pics are crappy but give you some idea of the deep pink color and the sparkle. It's SO sparkley. I was mesmerized as I walked to work. Good thing I didn't walk into the street at the wrong time and get hit by a car. That would've been anticlimactic, to say the least.

Better pics to come!!

The most awesome email ever

This lovely message hit my inbox yesterday:

I just wanted to let you know that your order is ready. The ring is beautiful! Please let me know when you would like to stop in to pick it up. Our hours are Monday through Friday from 9 am to 6 pm.

Woo-hoo! That was fast--we ordered it on 8/2 and we got the email on 8/11. We're going tomorrow morning to pick up my ring. I'll try to take a decent photo and post it this week.

So exciting!

Got ring?

Or rather, the title of this post should be GOT RING!, because yes, my friends, we were successful in our quest for the one ring to rule them all...or at least, the one ring to rock my left hand.

We went to Brilliant Earth in downtown SF on Saturday morning. We were undercaffeinated but very excited. Mr. T cautioned me against getting my hopes up too high (probably a holdover from when we tried to get iPhones a couple of weeks ago and couldn't, and Mr. T was crushed. We've since gotten the phones, but that's another story...) Anyway, I had done my homework and looked at all their sapphire rings, and I decided that even if I didn't like any of them in person, we'd place a custom order, so I printed out a bunch of inspiration pix too.

Brilliant Earth is an awesome company that uses only ethically mined gems and metals, and they don't overcharge for their products. They also donate 5% of their profits to African communities. Sales associate Beth Leinonen met us at the door and escorted us to the elevator. The building is a fun old SF building that's tall and narrow, and when the elevator's doors opened and we stepped out into the hall, I noticed that all the doors had frosted glass windows with stenciled-on business names...it felt like we were going to visit a private detective in a Chandler novel. Beth laughed when we brought up the noir feel and mentioned she wanted to get a ceiling fan for their office so that you could see it circling through the frosted glass.

We walked into the BE office--small and simple, containing a table, three chairs, and a bunch of rings set up underneath a high-tech lamp. The display rings were mostly diamonds, although a couple did have sapphires set in them. We sat down and I started trying things on like crazy. To review, here were the rings I was considering:




This was the "Heirloom Sapphire Ring". I liked this on my hand okay, but it was priced a little higher than our budget. Mr. T wouldn't have split hairs over a few hundred dollars, but I didn't love it enough to want to go over budget, and there were a ton of gorgeous rings in our price range.

On to ring choice #2:


The Delicate Antique Scroll ring. This was actually both Mr. T's and my favorite ring when we looked online. However, when I got it on my hand, it was not quite right...I don't know if it was that the band was too narrow or that the lovely details were lost unless you were close to the ring...but it just wasn't the one. I tried it on with wedding bands to see if the "too narrow" problem would go away, and it was better, but I was still unsure.

Ring #3:


I really liked the Art Deco Filigree ring on my hand. The band was wider, the stone was not too "sticky uppy" as I told Mr. T, and the side was lovely...in fact, when I had it on my hand and turned it to view the side of the band, Mr. T and I simultaneously said, "That's very Lord of the Rings!" which made me laugh. The thing was, I really didn't like the diamonds. I thought I would be okay with diamond side stones, but once I saw them I just didn't like them at all. Actually, the ring I tried on had a diamond center stone, too, and it was just bizarre to have a diamond ring on my hand. It looked wrong.

I tried on a few others that I hadn't picked out previously, as well:

The Halo style was pretty, but didn't feel like me. Ditto for the next one:

The Pave Split Shank ring was pretty on my hand, but stuck up too far, and felt very traditional, especially with all those diamonds on the band.

The design of the Flower Bud ring was really sweet:


I loved the carved band, and the sweet "hidden" pink sapphire was fun. However, it stuck up too far on my hand and I just knew it would get caught on everything.

At some point I asked about swapping in pink sapphires, which you know I've been thinking about for awhile, and Beth brought out a tray of lovely hot pink sapphires, which she said had just come in--they'd been waiting months for them (so it was meant to be!!). I was super nervous to be handed a tray of gems. I'm not always the most graceful girl--what if I knocked the side of the tray and it went flying? We'd be on our hands and knees picking sapphires out of the carpet for hours! I noticed that Mr. T stayed well away from the tray, with hands in his lap. I guess we were both nervous! I picked out my favorite and held it up to the rings. Then I asked about smaller colored sapphires for side stones. I looked at the pink center stone with blue, green, and pink sapphire side stones, and eventually chose four darker pink stones that were close to the color of the center stone. Mr. T said, "Wait, did we just choose a band?" and I realized, that yes, indeed we had. Without further ado, I present my ring:


This is actually a Photoshop mock-up that Mr. T did. The real pink sapphires are a bit darker and richer--they were so gorgeous in person, I fell in love right away. Even Mr. T, who was doubtful on the pink sapphire thing, took one look at them and said, "Oh, that makes sense."

We found out a couple of interesting things: first, the sapphires are found in nature in many colors. I thought they started blue and were heat-treated to change the color, but it turns out they're found in all colors, and the heat treatment is just to remove a milky film on the surface of the stone...some stones don't need the heat treatment because they're near a thermal vent (I was torn about one super sparkley lavender sapphire that hadn't needed the heat treatment for that reason...it was lovely. But pink had to win, let's face it). Beth also said that the "heat treatment" just meant that the stones were thrown in a coffee can and heated over a fire for 15 minutes.

Second, I found out that my ring size is 6, which is smaller than I thought! My knuckles are bigger, so I thought my band size was bigger, but once she got the professional metal sizer out, I was indeed a size 6. Mr. T also got his finger sized and I think he was either 8.5 or 8.75. It was a warm day, and since Mr. T wants a titanium ring, which can't be re-sized, Beth suggested we take his ring measurement a few more times in different weather to be sure. Mr. T also found a ring he liked, but he doesn't really want white gold or platinum, so we're going to look for a similar style in titanium.

My ring should be ready in about 2 weeks, just in time for the engagement party, providing all goes well. I'm super excited to pick it up!!!! Hooray!