Weddingbee Blog

I know I may have alluded to it before, but I realized I haven’t talked about my ring yet!

When Mr. Giraffe and I first kind of started talking about rings, what I wanted was simple; I had no interest in getting a ring. This wasn’t metaphorical at all. I want(ed) to marry him, but I just didn’t want a ring.

You see, I own no jewelry—none at all. I wear a nine-dollar watch every day, but that’s it. Jewelry freaks me out—the idea of wearing weird shiny stuff and the feeling of it against your skin? Major heebie jeebies! I have no interest in it at all, and I’ve alway been this way. I’ve never had any interest in “bling,” and I’ve actually gone out of my way to avoid it.

My mom says that after Mr. Giraffe told her he was going to propose to me, her first thought was, “Oh no, I don’t know if Miss Giraffe will wear a ring!” She didn’t say this to Mr. G, of course.

I know that plenty of girls have no-ring engagements, so what changed for me? Well, back in college, one weekend my friends H and D came to visit. This had all been planned, but what hadn’t been planned was that they had just gotten engaged, and they surprised us with the news. It was super fun. Then H took out her ring to show us. (She wasn’t wearing it because she wanted to surprise everyone.)

I’m not sure why, but after that I wanted my own ring. (I also wanted to be engaged, which kick-started a whole crazy six months of waiting, but that’s a different story.)

The only thing, though? I may have wanted a ring, but I didn’t want a traditional ring. I wanted something different. As a quirky and offbeat person, I wanted something that suited me. When Mr. G asked, I told him what I wanted: nothing big, nothing obnoxious, nothing “sticky out-y” (my exact words), and no diamonds.

Yeah, I gave him a whole lot to work with. On top of all that, I didn’t own any rings, so we had no idea what my ring size was, and all those sneaky tips for guys planning to propose (like pressing a girl’s ring into a piece of bread) to figure out her size didn’t apply to us.

He ended up with going with a 6 3/4 size ring, which fits perfectly. He picked out a blue sapphire ring—which is his birthstone, so it keeps him with me. I also told BM Marie that I “hate yellow gold” shortly before he gave me the ring. But I love my ring more than anything else! I wouldn’t make any changes; it’s perfect.

I know, less talking, more photos. Like I said, I wouldn’t want my ring any other way. Mr G. found something that fits me perfectly (literally and symbolically); he’s the best.

Anybody else with a nontraditional ring?