Weddingbee Blog

The best part of our engagement - it was totally unexpected. Yet I still needed to pick out my ring. Huh? Okay, let me explain. After a year of long-distance, Mr. Coconut was doing a visiting semester at my school. The greatest thing about this was matching spring breaks! The year before, our spring breaks were a week apart, so we drove to see each other but the other had to attend class all week. Yes, it was terrible. You can imagine how geeked we were to finally take a true vacation together! Neither of us had been on a cruise, so we thought it would be fun.

Our first port was Costa Maya, Mexico. Unfortunately, being poor students we couldn’t partake in any of the excursions so we were stuck at this outdoor mall for the entire time. For kicks, we stopped into a jewelry store. I suppose this is where I should explain Mr. Coconut’s obsession with deals and debt-free living. Mr. Coconut hates having a monthly payment on anything (he bought his 1992 Honda Civic on Ebay for $2000). He also loves a good bargain and will try to negotiate everything (he would negotiate at Target if he could). How about Miss Coconut? Oh heck no. I can’t negotiate for squat, I’ll pay exactly what’s on the price tag. I’m also not as obsessed with being debt-free as Mr. Coconut, which definitely requires some compromise!

So, back to the story. We walk in and in no way are we even serious about being there. We’re thinking to ourselves, we’re in Mexico, let’s see if we can get a deal! And that’s when it happened. I saw my ring and looked at Mr. Coconut and said, “When the time comes, this is it, this is the one!” After realizing that diamonds are expensive in Mexico too, we walked over to the restaurant for some chips & salsa. I was enjoying my food and a pina colada, when Mr. Coconut excused himself. About forty minutes later he returned with a cigar and a gift. No, it wasn’t the ring, it was a dress. One of those asymmetrical crochet dresses that are sold in tourist areas. It was hideous. I loved him for trying, but my goodness. (*Yes, I still have the dress.)

I never really thought about the ring again. I mean come on. We had only been dating a little over a year and it just wasn’t a hot topic yet. Of course I wanted to marry him, but a girl doesn’t initiate that kind of chit chat, no way jose.

Anyway, fast forward to the last night of the cruise. We were on our way to dinner and I was upset with him because he started smoking again (at least that was his excuse for disappearing before dinner). After dinner, the hostess approached him and said he had an international call, which sort of freaked me out because I thought something happened to our parents. But when he returned, he had a whole slew of people with him. I tried to prepare myself for it, but it was impossible. I didn’t even say yes until afterwards!

(I call this the “hand over face” look. I did it the whole time!)

(He had the chef make my favorite - carrot cake!!!!)

Later that night I asked him whether he had planned to propose on our trip, and he said he’d already made the decision to propose, but the opportunity hadn’t presented itself until that day I picked the ring. 

Okay, you want to see the bling, right? It’s an emerald cut diamond made by Christopher Designs. The diamond is actually quite dainty (which I adore), but the setting really makes the ring. I luuuuuuuv it.