First Post and it's about my Engagement!

Hi Guys,

J asked me to marry him last month and I've decided to document our wedding planning adventure! We went a little backwards on getting engaged... I knew it was coming.

Should you pick your own engagement ring? A list of pros and cons convincing myself:

Pros

1. I get to choose my ring and like it too
2. I'll be involved in the whole process, from materials to diamond 
3. It will be an added experience of what me and J do together (Like an added list of new experiences) 
4. We already discussed getting married and what my answer would be. What would be the difference really of him choosing or me choosing? 
5. When he decides to ask, I can give 100% attention to what he says. My eyes will look into his eyes dreamily and not glaring into some box thinking, will it be ugly?
6. I won't be surprised about the ring but his proposal will still surprise me! 

Cons

1. Is it weird for a girl to come along to choose a ring?
2. If he chooses the ring would it mean more than me choosing it? Even if it wasn't exactly what I wanted... would the fact of him doing the research, finding out what I like and talking to jewelers mean more to me? It's not just a ring but something that represents his undying love and blah blah blah right?

Well, I went with getting my own ring haha. I mean we did. 

The Process 

The first thing we did was get an idea of what rings I liked. I already had a dream ring (a screenprint of a ring I saved years ago back when I was 17.)

See below:

We decided to head to Yorkdale Mall and try on other different styles just in case I decided that I liked them a whole lot better. We checked out Peoples, Mappin's, the Diamond Company and Michael Hill. 

Funny story -  one of the Micheal Hill sales guys tried small talking us and asked us how long we were dating and my brain decided to blurt out 4 months. J interjected with "NO! 4 YEARS! YEARS!" Shows a little bit of our relationship dynamic don't you think?

For some reason, none of the chain stores had the ring I liked and just promised that they could customize it.

I never really liked chain stores, I always felt like you weren't really buying for the quality but the store overhead, their marketing expenses, the brand name and the forever smiling sales people working on commission. Plus, I always wanted a ring that was made just for me. 

We opted to customize a ring at a local store and by that time... I changed the style a little slightly. My finger size is 4.5 and I felt like that diamonds would look a little big so I went for this style: Perfect Round 2 Tone Diamond Ring 1.5ct but I wanted all platinum!

I was really lucky that J already had a diamond - a 2.29ct family heirloom.

The first consultation, I was so excited... that I got super quiet and barely said a few words. I let J handle it and whew - we dropped off the diamond and went on our way. 

3 weeks later and we picked it up. :D

2 months later, J proposed and we lived happily ever after (well before the upcoming stress-filled wedding planning).

P.S. That white fur you see? It's actually my dog's fur.

- L