Committed: The Ties that Bond
with Angella Dykstra
I'm a mom of three, a professional accountant, and an amateur photographer and writer. I am not a marriage expert. But my husband and I take "Til death do us part" seriously, and here I'll be sharing how we keep our marriage strong while we both do that insane work-life juggle.
Check out my Work It, Mom! profile and my blog, Dutch Blitz.
|
I remember being a single lass and occasionally hearing stories from women I knew who had gone with their partner to pick out their engagement and wedding rings. THE HORROR.
But then I met Matthew and while I knew that I wanted a solitaire, do you have any idea how many different settings there are? Thousands, I’m sure, but all I know is that we went together to look and it took two full days of browsing until I found the one I knew was meant to be mine.
Some diamonds had visible flaws, some were clusters (Last I checked, sales lady, solitaire means ONE diamond) and some settings just didn’t look right on my finger.
So, yeah. I picked out my ring. I did not, however, know when and where the proposal would occur and my (now) husband hit that ball right out of the park. Per usual.
How about it ladies (and gents) - was it a team effort to pick out the ring, or did the suitor venture out on his own and find the perfect ring?
Subscribe to blog via RSS
My husband (and most admittedly, me too) got really lucky to have my grandmother’s antique diamond ring readily available for our engagement. It’s beautiful and I couldn’t have picked something out of a display case that suited me more perfectly than what I proudly wear on my finger!
Stephanie Parnell | December 14th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Yup. I picked out my own but that wasn’t the intention. I was having a bad day so the dear boyfriend took me to the mall, where we happened to end up in the jewelery store. I saw a beautiful ring which was out of our price range by quite a bit but I tried it on anyways and I was in love. It was perfect for me but not what I thought I wanted. I told him I wanted the three stone, (anything but a solitare) princess cut ring. I tried to talk the boy out of purchasing this new ring as it was a stretch financially for us, but no other ring seemed to compare. He didn’t tell me when he had the ring and proposed on the August long weekend 2 years ago. I still get compliments on my ring and can’t imagine anything else on my finger!
Crystal | December 14th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I didn’t pick mine. Rob chose it, and it is PERFECT for me! I fell in love with it instantly and 12 years later, I still love it entirely. He even “borrowed” another ring that I used to wear on my ring finger of my right hand to make sure the engagement ring was the exact right size (it had to be made a lot smaller as my fingers are tiny).
Hannah | December 14th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Like another commenter, I had a family heirloom wedding ring. It had been my grandmothers, then my brothers when she died, and my parents had it after his death. It’s an honor to wear it. My wedding band we found together at a vintage jewelry store. It matches perfectly as if they had always gone together.
Tia | December 14th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
i picked mine out! And like you had no idea when the proposal would happen
My husband is wonderful and knows i am pretty picky about jewelry, he still wont buy me anything without my ‘approval’ first (we have been married almost 10 years)! He just wants me to be happy and doesn’t want to deal with exchanges 
it works for us!
kate | December 14th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Yes, I picked out my engagement ring…5 years after the wedding. There are so many wonderful things about getting married that I wanted to spread out the joy (and the cost!) of a diamond ring, so I kidded my husband that I’d like to get one for our 5th anniversary. That way, I’d really have “earned” it and I’d have something to look forward to, long after we’d shaken the rice out of our hair. I am really thrifty, so we set a budget and I bought it from an online retailer (Blue Nile). In consulation with my husband, I picked out each of the three stones — to represent my husband, me and my stepdaughter forming a family. I looked forward to it for all five years, and have loved it for the five I’ve now been wearing it.
Jeannie | December 14th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I put my request in for something unique, preferably something handcrafted and he ran with it from there. Its the most unique engagement ring I have ever seen. It also is my wedding ring now, because we decided to get married simply and frugally so we agreed to get the wedding ring later, (like in 5 years) so I’ve still got a year or two to wait
Jade | December 14th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
This is very stressful for me! I mean, stressful as good things go. We went shopping two months ago! Still, no proposal. I know people will think “Chicky, he’s just not that into you” and I assure you, not the case.
Anyway, I have been told that I will be getting a solitaire because he is “not paying for a supporting cast”. He has chosed the quality and the colour and the size (it’s sweet!) So, we went to look at settings and colour. White gold seems to be the in thing, and it seems to be what my sweetie would like me to have. I would like a setting that allows the diamond to shine but does not have a lot of crevices, as I don’t want to spend my future scraping baby puke outta my ring.
Now before you think that the boy has too many opinions, he used to work in jewelry and I just think everything is pretty. I’m cool with it.
Now, I was waiting patiently for quite a while, but I am READY! Anyday now honey, anyday.
Heather | December 14th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
All I ever said was that I preferred white gold over yellow. I ended up with a solitaire on a yellow gold band. It’s small and simple and perfect for me. I never really cared that it was yellow gold, and now I’m glad it is - so many other people have white gold, it looks good with my skin, and it just seems so solid and traditional.
So I didn’t pick out my ring, but the one he picked is absolutely perfect after all.
Teri | December 14th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
My engagement ring and wedding ring is made from the diamonds from my mother’s first wedding set (they got divorced, she had it re-set and gifted it to me when I turned 16) and from the diamonds of my husband’s former engagement (she returned the ring to him when they broke up). When we started talking marriage, we took our two rings to an artisan jewellery designer and with him, I designed my “new” engagement ring and wedding band. Some might think it’s bad luck to have the stones from two failed relationships in my ring, but I don’t care - we were on a budget and ended up paying 5% of the appraised value of the rings….so it was worth it!
The only thing I insisted on was a new wedding band for our 10th anniversary - the stones for the original wedding band were so tiny, they could not be set in my original design the way I really wanted them, so I was “upgraded” at 10 years. Occassionally, I wear my “old” wedding band on my right hand.
As for when he popped the question, I left that up to him. I knew the engagement ring would be ready “sometime at the end of the month” so I just waited. It only took a couple of weeks.
It worked for us!
Angela | December 16th, 2010 at 3:21 pm