The Rings: Mine

So as you know, I've been a pretty bad blogger lately, as far as consistency goes.  But I've also been holding out on you guys.  So for the rest of the week, I'll be getting you all caught up to date on what's been going on with our wedding.

And today we'll start with the rings.  I've actually had my wedding band for a couple months now.  We bought it before Christmas, and be we, I mean Mr. T put money in my bank account and I went and picked it up.  I just love the size of my fingers, because I've always been able to walk into a store and walk out with the ring on my finger without having to have it resized or ordered.

You might have seen my engagement ring already, if you've been following along for awhile.  It has a wedding band soldered onto it already because it was Mr. T's great grandma's ring.  So I knew I needed to find a band that wasn't too big, and had a top that went straight across.  And since the diamond in the engagement ring is on the smaller side, I also knew I wanted something a little sparkly.
Here's what I came up with.

I got it from J B Robinson where Mr. T has bought me jewelry from before.  The cost of the ring including tax and all insurance was $266.48 on sale.
Here are a few more pictures to feast your eyes on.

 

You can see how well the bands line up together.

 

I took this picture last weekend at my parents house; their Christmas stuff is still out.

The only thing I don't like about my band, is that it has no surface area on the inside for engraving because of the way the diamonds are set.  But we'll put something on Mr. T's ring and that will be just fine.

Mr. T's Wedding Band

.....or what has the potential to be, anyways.
Mr. T and I haven't picked out our wedding bands yet.  And to be quite honest, we're really not in any rush to.  I mean, I'd love to go buy my pretty, sparkly ring, cause what girl couldn't use more diamonds??!  But I know that when we get them home they'll sit around our house tempting us to try them on early.  Mr. T, maybe not so much, but I know I definitely won't be able to keep my finger away from it until the wedding.  And that's just a little too much temptation for me! We have done some light browsing to get an idea of what will look good with my ring, but haven't really put any effort into what Mr. T might like.

Last night I was inspired by a post from Miss Apple Cider (or Mr. AC really) on Weddingbee who bought her hubby-to-be's wedding band from an artist on Etsy.  For those of you not familiar with Etsy, it is "your place to buy & sell all things handmade" (<-- pulled that right from the website!)  It is quite fantastic, and I highly recommend you check it out.  You can find anything there, and if it's not there, you can request that someone make it for you.
But anyways, here is the ring that Mr. AC got.

Walk With Me by artist: artisanlook

Gorgeous, right?!

Well don't think I didn't rush right over there to see what other magnificent creations I could find.  And here are a few I came up with, and then e-mailed to Mr. T.

Love Story by artist: artisanlook

Hawaii Titanium Ring by artist: Hawaiititanium

Hammered Titanium Ring by artist: Hawaiititanium

Titanium Ring by artist: titaniumknights

Titanium with Sterling Silver Inlay by artist: titaniumknights

The best part about all of this, is that a lot of rings I was seeing were down as low as $45 for a titanium ring.  I'm not going to surprise Mr. T with his ring or anything like that because, let's face it, he has to wear it for the rest of his life =] and I wouldn't want him to hate, or only kind of like it.  I want him to love it so much he never wants to take it off.  So I'm just simply sharing ideas with him, and eventually he'll find the ring he loves.  I hope!

What ring is your hubby wearing or going to wear?

Our Engagement

The Date

4/4/2009

How He Popped The Question
We had been talking about the future and our plans for awhile leading up to this. We both figured that we would know when it was right, even if it was all happening pretty quickly. For the month leading up to this we had been talking about getting engaged and when we would like to get married, and we both knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. We even went as far as looking at rings one time in the mall. But we both decided he should use his Great-Grandma's 80+ year old ring his Grandma had given him. He was going to be in MN for a week figuring out housing and I was flying up to meet him for the weekend and then driving home with him. I hinted that it would be the perfect time to pop the question =] (it didn't take much convincing on my part to get him to agree) I even knew the day that he took my dad to lunch to ask his permission. So I knew, or hoped anyways, that it would be happening, I just didn't know how or exactly when.

I got into Minnesota on a Thursday night and we spent the weekend looking at places to live and figuring out work situations. It wasn't until we were driving home Saturday afternoon that it happened. He pulled off the highway and I figured he was going to a gas station or stopping for food. Then he proceeded to keep driving and nearly get us lost while looking for a little side road he had been to before. He finally found the road that led down to the St. Croix River beach.

He told me this river was significant because it is the borderline between WI (where I spent a lot of time growing up) and MN (where he spent many vacations). By this point I had a pretty good idea of what was happening. So we got out of the truck on a cold windy day and we walked down onto the beach. We were standing in the sand staring out at the water wishing it was warmer out =] Then he got down on one knee and proceeded to tell me many things, most of which I don't remember because I was so excited =] He finished with how much he loved me and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, and then asked me to marry him. It only took me about a half a second to say yes!

The ring in this picture belonged to Mr. T's Great-Grandma. His grandma found it on her mother's nursing home floor after her fingers got too small and it fell off. She gave it to Mr. T. because he is the oldest grandson. It's over 80 years old! I think it is absolutely gorgeous, and it is even more special to me because it was passed down to him. It has the wedding band welded to it now.