Wedding Blog

Getting engaged without a ring was a good option for us.

First, I’m a pretty particular person and I can’t hide my disappointment if a gift doesn’t live up to the image I have in my head (this has led to many hurt feelings on Christmas morning. Sorry, Mom! I love you even though I return all of your gifts every year!).

Second, Mr. Bunny didn’t feel confident enough to pick out a ring on his own. He wanted me to have something I loved.

He did warn me not to expect anything lavish. We’re reporters for tiny local newspapers and can barely afford to pay our bills, so I certainly wasn’t expecting a large rock.

In addition, he’d just had to pay for his surgery — and shortly before that, his truck had been in a 4-car pile up caused by an uninsured driver, so he’d had to foot the bill for the truck’s frame repair, too.

Our family is good friends with the e-ring salesman, John, at the local Diamond Cellar, so I’d always imagined that I’d buy my ring from him. I just hoped that I would be able to convince Mr. Bunny to shop at DC.

The strange thing is that one of the other girls in the 4-car pile up happened to be John’s daughter! She and Mr. Bunny met on the side of the road while they were waiting for the police to show up. Mr. Bunny didn’t realize I knew her until he mentioned that she knew a friend of his — who, coincidentally, is the Diamond Cellar’s diamond buyer. Needless to say that it wasn’t too hard to talk Mr. Bunny into the idea that a visit to John was in order.

Initially, I was torn between a round cut and a princess cut diamond.

I sort of liked both of them, but wasn’t sold on either. On our second visit, we asked John to show us examples of some of the more unusual cuts — an emerald cut, and a cushion cut. Mr. Bunny and I agreed that the cushion was both of our favorite of all the diamonds we’d looked at so far.

I did try on some settings and explained to Mr. Bunny that I felt that any more than one diamond on either side of the center stone was just too much bling for me. From that point on, he was on his own for the ring purchase.

I just waited and waited and waited while he saved up. He wasn’t secretive about it. He told me every time he made a payment.

The week he finally had the cash to pay off the ring, I was away in Indiana for a graduation. I got a text message the night before I came home asking if I’d like to go out to dinner to celebrate some made up event. Neither of us remembers why, because we both knew what we were really going to be celebrating: RING DAY!

I met up with Mr. Bunny at the local comic shop, but he insisted on going home to shower and change before we left. Um, honey? If I hadn’t already known what was going on, this would have been a dead giveaway.

We meandered through the local outdoor mall toward the restaurant, admiring the sparkling lights strung outside every store for the approaching holiday.

Stopping in front of the giant Christmas tree, I think I said something like, “It’s so pretty!”

Mr. Bunny grinned deviously, and whispered, “Psst! I’ve got something for you,” and pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket.

After he slipped the ring on my finger, we shared a delectable dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. But we were both so excited and happy that we couldn’t eat a single bite of our cheesecake!

We took photos several weeks later when I dragged Mr. Bunny back to Easton so we could document the scene of our “ring-gagement” before the tree was taken down.

My neighbor Jeff happened to show up right as we snapped the first photo and offered to take some shots for us. Thanks, Jeff!

I finally remembered to make Mr. Bunny get down on one knee — the only time he did, even though he’d already “proposed” twice.

Mr. Bunny’s sister commented on how big a deal it was that he actually got down on one knee at all, considering their family history of bad knees.

I couldn’t help remembering some of Anne Ruthmann’s tips as I balanced the ring on the giant ornaments.

I know I look disturbed in the above photo. It’s just the look I wear when I concentrate. My family and friends call it my “thinking face”. Blah. I have a feeling this is going to show up in WAY too many of our wedding photos.

A perfect kiss will redeem this mess…

That’s wuv, twue wuv, my friends.

Being engaged felt so much more real after I got my ring. I think it’s why I procrastinated so much on all the wedding planning.

Did you get your ring after you got engaged? How’d he give it to you?