Ridding the Lump
September 6th, 2008 @ 2:44 pm by Mrs. Green Tea
I don’t know if anyone else shares this sentiment, but one of the things I really looked forward to about being married was being able to pack that engagement ring away!
I have never been big on wearing jewelry, and had never dreamed about wedding rings of any kind. It was very weird to carry something so valuable on me all the time, and at the beginning it was honestly quite uncomfortable to have a thing sticking out at that odd (to me) spot on the finger! Mr. Green Tea offered that wearing it was not a requirement, but after leaving it at home for a couple weeks, I realized that it made him quite happy to see the ring worn. So I wore it most of the time, and got mostly used to it. 22 months later though, whenever the sticky-outty part hits or snags anything, it still freaks me out a little.
It’s On!
September 5th, 2008 @ 11:57 am by Miss Sundae
With mere weeks to go, I can’t tell you how many times the phrase “It’s On!” runs through my head in a day. Every time a project is completed, we mail off a final payment, we track down one of the non-responders, and get a little closer to a finalized guest list, I think… it’s ON!
A part of me feels like we’ve spent the past year planning for this mythical event, something happening so far in the future, that it seemed like it would never get here. One recent event really made things seem like reality, though. We picked up our rings!
With What Ring? Part II
September 4th, 2008 @ 5:45 pm by Miss Pomegranate
I was so inspired by the choices I had compiled in my last post on wedding bands, I decided to look into getting one of them made to see if it was within our budget. The ring I was interested in was almost perfect - but it was cast in sterling silver and a smidge too wide for my finger. Basically, I wanted a narrower, smoother, more clean-cut version of the below:
Double Band Empty Spaces Ring
$220 @ Sundance Catalog
I loved that the two sides didn’t quite meet in the middle - but that if you took the long route along the path of the band, it was still met back at the beginning. To me, this symbolizes that while a circle is still a great symbol for marriage, it is still hard work. It’s a great reminder to keep on my path of solid marriage when things get tough - and to not take the easy route out.
Read more…
Ice, Ice, Baby
August 30th, 2008 @ 1:02 pm by Miss Hot Cocoa
Mr. Hot Cocoa and I have very different aesthetics. He’s traditional and classic; if he were a store he’d be Brooks Brothers or Falconable. If I could be a store, I’d be Anthropologie — fun and girly, with a splash of vintage. So when it came to picking out an engagement ring, Mr. HC said he would pick out the stone, but felt very strongly that I should pick out the setting. Initially, I was a little bummed about this — I had a whole fantasy of him surprising me with the perfect ring that he’d designed. But I got over it when I realized that this meant I got to do more shopping. Schweet!
Cue the bling photos.
At first, I zoned in on an emerald cut stone on a simple pave band. I really like the emerald cut. It’s understated, refined, and modern — the Natalie Portman of cuts.
[Image source.]
The Wedding Bands: A First Look
August 29th, 2008 @ 2:11 pm by Miss Avocado
Continuing with the wedding band creation process by bddesigns, today I’d like to show you the process of hammering and engraving.
Engraving. My handwriting is so terrible with a pen, I can’t imagine using a hammer.
The Wedding Bands: Forming and Soldering
August 28th, 2008 @ 2:45 pm by Miss Avocado
I love my e-ring. I love it so much I don’t want it to have to share my left ring finger with anything else. I wanted a wedding band, especially due to the existence of our ring ceremony, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to wear it. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that in Eastern Europe, wedding bands are worn on the right hand and not the left. Perfect! I would keep my e-ring on my left for America, and wear something on my right for Poland. My two homes.
Then I opened the wedding budget, and things were not looking good for me. Enter Alchemy, the portal for custom item requests on Etsy. I created a request detailing I was looking for, and the price I was hoping for. I received 5 or 6 replies, and was immediately drawn to the work of bddesigns. I love the look of hammered jewelery, and I thought that a set of her inscribed stacking rings would complement my e-ring nicely.
Cleaning the Engagement Ring
August 25th, 2008 @ 8:27 am by Miss Martini
When I first got engaged, I didn’t know anything about owning a ring or how to take care of one. I never wear any jewelry at all, so wearing a ring all the time took a little getting used to. This might sound a little dumb, but I didn’t even know if I was supposed to take off my ring before I go to bed or before I take a shower. I was just that clueless and I was terrified of losing it (if you know me, you know how clumsy I am and how often I tend to lose/break things).
About 2 weeks into our engagement, I went on a business trip to Washington, DC. I never took my ring off at all because I wanted to avoid having to tell Mr. Martini that I lost my ring and risk being told not to come back to NJ (kidding… he would never say that… or would he…). By the time I got back, I started to notice that my ring wasn’t as bling bling as it was when I first got it. I was all set to buy a jewelry cleaning machine and started asking around for suggestions on different types of cleaners. I found that I generally got the same advice from most of my newlywed friends - a jewelry cleaner is a huge waste of money. So if it’s a waste of money, how do I clean my ring?
Read more…
The Story of My Ring.
August 22nd, 2008 @ 9:26 am by Miss Martini
I know every bride always says that they love their ring, but…. I really love my ring! Mr. Martini searched high and low for months in order to find the perfect stone and setting – and the entire time I had NO clue he was even looking! He was lucky enough to have found the setting pretty early with a jeweler that he really liked, but the stone itself was another issue.
To be honest I still have no idea about any of that cut and clarity stuff. Because of his search he became pretty knowledgeable in diamond lingo and once tried to explain all that he learned to me, but he lost me within a couple of minutes (damn my ADD). All I know is that it is a cushion cut stone with a platinum band that was hand made to fit around the smaller diamonds. The band is super thin and delicate, which was really the only thing I was hoping for because my hands are pretty small and I didn’t want anything too elaborate. I wanted something simple, yet pretty… so this ring really is the perfect ring for me!
Read more…
(M)engagement Rings?
August 16th, 2008 @ 6:04 pm by Miss Hot Cocoa
Some of you might have noticed while reading the Hot Cocoa engagement story post that there are two rings in this photo: an engagement ring on my finger (yes, that Oompa Loompa set of appendages does belong to me, not a four-year-old gnome child) and a band on Mr. Hot Cocoa’s finger. Do not adjust your browsers. That shiny washer on Mr. HC’s digit is, indeed, an engagement ring. From me. To him.
When we started talking about getting engaged and going through the process of selecting a pretty bauble for my finger, I started feeling somewhat sad for Mr. HC that he wouldn’t get some shiny thing of his own. Why shouldn’t he have a token of my commitment and love too? And truthfully, Little Miss Snarky (my bad, bad alter ego) also thought that it seemed unfair that I should have to be “marked” as off-the-market, while Mr. HC gets to sally forth unchanged.
Freda Payne, You Can Keep Your Band of Gold!
August 15th, 2008 @ 5:45 pm by Miss Shortcake
We’re a couple of simple tastes, really. We grow our own vegetables, bake our own bread. We recycle like it’s a mandate, and I DIY like it’s going out of style. 
When it came to rings, we were pretty sure that we wanted plain, traditional gold bands. The symbolism would be heavy, and our wallets wouldn’t become as light. Easy peasy.
Witness Mr. Shortcake’s 6mm yellow gold “comfort fit” band:
