Ring Ching Ching

It took me entirely too long to come up with a title for this post that I hadn't already used. My creativity is slightly lacking lately! If you've been following my blog for some time now, you've seen several pictures of my ring and you saw a photoshopped version of what we intended for my ring to look like with my wedding bands. If you haven't, here's a refresher:

Well, long story short, it didn't end up that way. We purchased two matching bands and basically wanted them cut and souldered to the sides of my setting. The custom jeweler that we were working with made it sound like that would be no big deal, but I guess it ended up not being possible because the bands were thicker than the band on my engagement ring. He was going to have to set the wedding bands up a little higher, so he needed to space them further apart so it wouldn't be as noticeable. Basically, this is what we ended up with:

I wasn't able to go with David to pick it up, so when he sent me pictures from his phone of it I was a bit disappointed. It wasn't what I'd envisioned. I'd really wanted all of the bands to sit flush with each other.

But then I got home and tried it on. And all of my worries were gone.

I love how it looks on my finger! And more importantly, it will still mean I'm married to my best friend, whether there's space between the bands or not. I can't wait to wear it! But until June 12th, I'll be wearing this 'pretty' (that sometimes turns my finger a bit green):

Don't let the picture fool you, it's fake (like $12 fake) but it works to keep my finger from feeling naked and it will be nice to have on our honeymoon if we decide to go into Cancun to do any shopping or eating. I'm definitely looking forward to having my real ring back, though!

If you had your wedding bands custom made did they end up looking like what you'd imagined? If not, did it turn out better or worse than you expected?

PS - This weeked is a crazy one, last night I had my niece/goddaughter's kindergarten graduation

Here she is saying her name, her favorite Bible story (when Jesus was born), her favorite thing about kindergarten (reading books), and what she wants to do when she grows up ("buy things!" HA! My kind of girl!). She's getting so big!

and tomorrow and Sunday are my new niece and nephew's baptisms! 

On top of all that, David's bachelor party is this weekend. I'm hoping to get a lot done today before all of that starts so I have some projects to share with you next week, but we'll see if I get the posts written and scheduled! I can't believe how close we're getting - My best friend and MOH gets in town on Wednesday and will be here until the day after the wedding! I'm getting soo excited! Thanks for sticking with me through the lack of posting - You guys are the best! :)

Ring-a-ling

No, I'm not talking about my ring again. When David originally started thinking about wedding bands, he thought he linked tungsten. It's strong, durable, and reasonably priced (which is nice, since I'm more than a little worried that he'll lose it). We both liked the look of tungsten too:

source

source

But when we went to discuss the issues with my wedding bands with our jeweler, David saw the new Cobalt rings they have. They're similar to tungsten, but they look more like white gold:

source

He ended up finding one he really likes, so I might just end up buying that one even though it's quite a bit more expensive than the bands we looked at online. When he was thinking about tungsten I really wanted to find one on etsy, but it looks like the seller I was going to use no longer has tungsten bands. I do like the titanium bands they have, though:

source

 

source

David said he would be worried about not being able to try on the band and see it in person, though. I should probably be buying it within the next couple months, so we'll have to decide whether we should go with the more expensive cobalt band he liked at our jeweler (and just take the risk of him losing it), or go with one of the less expensive ones online that has a good return policy for if it doesn't fit or he doesn't like it.

Did you find your fiance/husband's wedding band online? If so, who did you use? And how did it work out for you?

A Beautiful Band.. Or Two!

You may remember that I have a fairly unique ring.

While I absolutely love it, it made it quite difficult to find a wedding band (or two) to go with it. I'm really anal about things being symmetrical, so I knew from the beginning that I really wanted two bands. I even told David that I'd rather have no bands than one. It would bother me every time I looked at my ring if it wasn't symmetrical! Anway, there wasn't really any way for a wedding band to sit under the setting, since it sits flush against my finger:

(I should probably clean my ring - Eek!)

Unfortunately, when David bought my ring, they talked him into buying a band set that really didn't match my engagement ring setting at all. It was one of those double bands that you put your engagement ring in the middle of and it's supposed to fit against your setting. Except with mine, it didn't. My setting covered up the majority of the diamonds on the bands, and the diamonds didn't go as far down the sides of the bands as they did on my engagement ring. Also, the wedding bands had some filigree, which really didn't match at all.

After seeing them together, David also realized they really didn't go together. We decided to go back to the jewelers he bought the rings from and see if there was something they could do about it. They're wonderful, and were more than willing to exchange the bands for something we liked better. It ends up that we're going to work with the custom jeweler they use.

We met with him last week and it went even better than I was hoping! He's going to take two bands that match the band on my engagement ring and cut them, removing a few of the diamonds, and spread them so that he can solder one end to each side of my setting:

When it's all said and done, my ring should look like this:

We were worried about it being super complicated (and thus, super expensive for his labor), but he acted like it would be no big deal. I'm SO happy that I'm getting exactly what I wanted, and we're getting a much better deal than we figured we would.

Was it difficult to find a wedding band (or two) for your engagement ring?

My Ring's Photo Shoot

Yesterday I was bored waiting for David to finish reffing (I told you he refs a lot of soccer!) so I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous sunlight and get some better shots of my ring. I tried to follow Anne Ruthmann's tutorial from Weddingbee Pro, and here's what I ended up with:

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I would've had more props (I'm actually surprised I didn't as my car is a huge mess), but I'm still pretty happy with how they came out! It's amazing how much sunlight helps in getting clear shots!

Have you done a photo shoot with your ring? Did you follow Anne's (ha, we're on a first name basis - I wish!) tips? How did they turn out?

I Feel Naked!

One day I was reading on a board on Weddingbee (surprise, surprise!) about white gold yellowing over time. So I looked at band of my ring, and noticed it was a little yellow. I took it off to look at the inside on the band, and I noticed a line through it. I looked at the outside again and found that the line went all the way around - My band basically had a tiny crack the whole way through! I texted David and he called me right away. I told him what happened and he said he really wanted to take it in before I went back to school (the next day). So we went to Powell, where we bought the ring, and showed them what happened. She said it wasn't too uncommon and that they would have it repaired and replated - so it wouldn't be yellow anymore either! Luckily, David bought the protection plan, so it didn't cost us anything. I'm sure it won't be the last time we use it! She said it would be about a week, but when we told her I would be leaving for school the next day, she said maybe they could get their repair person to get it done in a day so we can pick it up the morning I was leaving! They ended up getting it done in a day so I had it before I went back to school, but I felt so naked without it!

I just love the people there. They go out of their way to be friendly and accommodating. While one woman was looking at my ring, the other one was having me try on a 2 ct diamond just for fun! Ha! All of the women there are such sweethearts and I'd recommend them to anyone.

Have you had something similar happen? Did your finger feel naked for a few days?

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend

Everyone loves looking at diamonds, so without further adieu:

(With fresh cut peonies from my parents' front yard!)

I absolutely love that David and I picked out my ring together. He actually found the setting in a catalog they had in the store and we had it ordered it so I could try it on. I know he wanted the ring to be a surprise, but after seeing it on my finger, we both knew it was the one. It was still sort of a surprise when he proposed, because I'd never seen it with the center stone we chose set in it. I love that it's unique and exactly what I wanted! I want to take more pictures following Anne Ruthmann's tutorial - I'll be sure to post them!

Did you help pick our your ring? Or did your fiance do it all himself?