Weddingbee Blog

After Mr. Mary Jane and I had ogled dozens of ring photos online, we decided to go see some rings in person. For me, this outing really solidified the process. “Wow. We’re really doing this.” Because anyone can look at photos of fancy things on the internet, but going to the store was for real.

On our first trip out ring-shopping, we ran in to a couple of roadblocks. The first was entirely expected but somewhat insurmountable: we do not live in or near a heavily-populated area. Seriously. Go to the website of any dress designer, ring designer, vendor finder, or other huge nationally known organization and type in 58203. You will probably get nothing. You might luck out and find one or two results (usually in Fargo, only about 1.5 hours away), but generally the results look more like this:

We’re sorry, no results match your query.
No retailers within 250 miles of your location.
The location you entered does not exist. Please try again. (Ouch!!)

What did this mean for our ring-shopping excursion? We weren’t going to simply traipse in to a Tiffany store and ask to see their bridal collections. This lack of widely publicized options will remain a trend throughout the planning of our day. I try not to see it as an inconvenience, however. I look on the bright side and focus on our opportunity to have a unique occasion. There may not be any Men’s Warehouse or PaperSource locations nearby, but we’ll also probably save money and still look damn good doing it. And, I always have my best friend: the internet.

The other obstacle we encountered on our first ring-shopping trip was simple: it was Sunday, and most of the stores were closed. I don’t know how many areas of the country still practice any serious “blue laws“, but ours does. (You can click the link to read about the real purpose of blue laws, but it’s my personal opinion that they exist to keep people who work Monday through Friday from being allowed to have fully productive weekends.) Anyway, we knew that most of the jewelers we wanted to visit would be closed. While Mr. Mary Jane was content with trying again another day, I was determined to see something shiny on my finger, pronto. So after noon, off to the mall we went.

While I had tried to find prices for some designs online, I’ll admit that upon seeing some actual rings in person, I was in sticker shock. I had no idea they were so expensive! I really hated for Mr. Mary Jane to spend any large amount of money on me (even though technically, we budget all large purchases together, so it’s as much my money as his). I felt embarrassed and tried to look at some less expensive options. He’s a great (and perceptive) guy though, and he insisted that we look for, and eventually get, something that was truly me (and as much as I try to be thrifty, I’m a less “hamburgers”, more “caviar” kind of gal ). I felt even more fortunate to have Mr. MJ when I observed (and tried not to eavesdrop on) another couple in one of the stores. She seemed to like a certain ring, and it seemed to be out of his price range. He was making loud, humorless comments to the tune of, “You’re going to give me an effing heart attack!” When they left the store (empty-handed), she tried to grab his hand, but he shook her off and stormed away. Yikes. Aaaaanyhow…

We didn’t intend to buy my ring at a mall jewelry store. We wanted to pick out the stone separately from the setting and customize everything and anything if necessary. Still, we decided to look. We went to Riddles and Helzberg, and looked at a couple of similar “antiquey” styles like this…

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I found that I really liked the emerald cut styles, and cushion was nice too (when the setting was slightly rounded at the corners). Most princess cut settings were too square for me - though online I’d loved the look. The saleswoman also showed me a pear-cut stone in a similar setting. This was a cut I’d never considered. The pear wasn’t quite my ’thing’, but the seed of curiosity had been planted, and as soon as we got home from the store I was cuddled up to my laptop once again, Googling ring styles to my heart’s content.

If you’ve been ring shopping, did your tastes and preferences surprise you?