Wedding Blog

Well, you have heard the story of my engagement ring, and if you thought that was the end of the ring drama, you were wrong. But this drama does not fall on me. This time it’s Mr. Cloud and his indecisiveness. We have been looking at different rings for a while now, even brought one home with us only to return it later. Our first trip to the jeweler was actually to the same place that just reset my engagement ring—Adolf Jewelers a local place here in Richmond. As I said before, they came highly recommended from a lot of friends, but I think we just got a salesman who was having an off day. Mr. Cloud had no clue what he was looking for; he just knew he didn’t want yellow gold, and no stones. So, we ended up looking at a little bit of everything.

We looked at a tungsten ring like this one, but he wasn’t crazy about it.

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Then we moved on to titanium. Mr. C thought this felt fake.

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Then, plain white gold (which I preferred).

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And, finally it was the palladium ring that he was the most fond of.

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We walked away with no ring, mostly because I think we were overwhelmed and didn’t want to jump into anything. Also, we visited on a Sunday, and for whatever reason the salesman didn’t have exact pricing for a few of the styles. We had to wait a few days until he could get back to us. When the email came in from him, everything was wrong. Sizing and styles were incorrect, and the prices were nowhere near what we had previously discussed. So, our search continued.

Our next stop was to a national chain, Helzberg Diamonds. Helzberg has a lifetime warranty on all of their jewelry. This means, as time goes on and Mr. C starts to beat his ring up, we can go into any location to have it buffed, polished, or repaired. We are also planning on moving to the Boston area not long after the wedding to be closer to my family (that’s another whole story, of course), so the nationwide thing was also a plus. I honestly don’t think we had any better idea of what we were looking for this time either. But this time our salesman was very nice and was “guiding” our process, rather than just throwing out information. In the end, we walked out with this guy:

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A very plain 14 karat white gold, 8mm, comfort fit ring (this picture is actually a 6mm, as I couldn’t find the 8mm on the site). It was very nice, and the price was right what we wanted to spend. But yet again, Mr. Cloud started to change his mind.

Rewinding a bit to the beginning of our relationship, I gave Mr. C a Claddagh ring my parents brought back from Ireland. Every man in my family wears a Claddagh—some alone as a wedding ring, some with a band. My brother and cousins who are not yet married wear them on their right hand facing inwards or outwards, depending on their dating status. The guys aren’t the only ones; I have had multiple jewelry items with the symbol, including a ring that I rarely take off. So have the other ladies in my family. When I gave the ring to the Mr. for his birthday, we already knew that at some point he too would officially be part of my family and even though he isn’t Irish himself, he’s embraced my heritage and this family tradition. Unfortunately, he was playing with it a few months ago and left it on a picnic table at a public park. I was sad that he lost it (but was still impressed that the boy who loses everything hung onto it for almost four years!), but he was down right devastated. Even now he brings up that his finger still feels naked.

[Personal Image by our photographer Dolphin Dance Photography]

If you look closely you can see that both of our Claddaghs made it into one of our favorite engagement pictures!

So now he is thinking of following the tradition of my family and incorporating the Claddagh into his ring. Problem is, the Irish aren’t as loud and proud here in Richmond. It’s not like in Boston, where every local jewelry store carries multiple styles and options. So with nothing to compare or try on with the band, we returned the Helzberg ring. It was wide, and if he wants to wear a Claddagh on top, we are afraid it would be too much. Or, maybe he would just go with the Claddagh alone, or something with the symbol etched into the band. I think it will again come down to looking at and trying things on. Since that can’t happen here, our hunt will now continue in Boston next month. We are going up for my second shower mid month, so it makes sense to get it then and work with a store that will end up being local after our move. Fingers crossed!

What style did your guy end up choosing?