I didn’t go into the ring process thinking I’d get something custom. When we started this whole thing in January, I figured that I’d pick a setting, find a pretty stone, and have a ring by mid-February.
But it turned out to be a little more complicated than that.
When I started trying on rings, I was expecting one of them to sing to me. I was picturing a movie moment, where suddenly everything is brighter and colorful, with birds chirping, and Grieg’s ‘Morning Mood’ is being played softly by a string quartet. But every ring I tried on felt boring, generic, or just downright ugly. I guess I’m picky (this is not a surprise to anyone who knows me, though…)
I knew I wanted a couple things:
- A stone with the same width as height, like round or square, as opposed to princess cut
- An aquamarine center stone
- Side-diamonds, but no halos
- Something that made it stand out as being “me”
We went to approximately six different stores, and I tried on hundreds of rings. I loved the asymmetrical ones, but was concerned that they wouldn’t lie flat against a standard wedding band. And I quickly eliminated basically all the other various styles. At the same time, I was still drawn to the asymmetric shape, and I had grown quite fond on milgrain detailing.
The salespeople did not know what to do with me. Every ring I tried on was “close, but…” And they were scrambling to find the perfect one – but it didn’t exist.
I had bits and pieces, and in my brain I had created a Franken-ring. So I just needed to find someone who could make my vision into a real piece of jewelry.
So we started the custom design process, which turned out to be filled with more uphill battles. Trying to describe in words or 2-dimensional drawings how I wanted this to look proved impossible. We went through weeks and rounds of CAD drawings. Finally, after large tweaks here, and small tweaks there, we were ready.
The last thing I saw before the proposal was a wax model. So I was still worried that they’d find a way to screw it up completely. Luckily, they did a pretty good job! Seeing the ring on my finger now, it looks right, although I didn’t expect it to be so flashy! It’s subtly blue, full of sparkle, and has unique character and detail that makes it truly mine.
Your ring is beautiful! I am planning to go the “build your own” route too because I just don’t want something that anyone can just walk into the store and buy. I want an engagement ring that embodies my uniqueness! 🙂
Thank you! It was fun, but the process took a lot longer than we expected. We went through a few rounds of CAD drawings, because they just weren’t understanding what I was describing. I’d suggest visiting plenty of jewelry stores, and finding someone you click with to work with in this process!