He's Put A Ring On It :)

On Saturday morning we rose at 5.30am, and hit the road at 6.15am (via McCafe for java) and headed to Sydney to pick up our engagement ring.

I have to admit I was feeling quite ill as we arrived, nerves, anticipation perhaps.

The staff were lovely, greeted us as we arrived knowing what we were there for, they were still polishing the ring so we had a seat for 5 mins, then they bought it out, Yowsers so sparkly!  I felt a bit nervous putting it on, but you couldn't wipe the smile off me, or Mr Mel for that matter!

They gave us a bottle of champagne, an ID card for the diamond to ensure it was ethically sourced (Canada not Africa), and valuation certificate, worth 1/2 again on top of what we paid, yay, gotta love contacts (see earlier post).

Our ring!  I forgot to wipe it when I took the pics, will do better photos soon!

I love the side view

So pretty :)

So after a few weeks shopping around, then 2 weeks waiting while it got made, we have our engagement ring.  It's quite different to most in that the band is quite thick, but we love it, and really that's all that matters!

I spent the afternoon trying to stop staring at it, while we were at a family birthday, and still getting used to people grabbing my hand to have a look at it! And yes the smile is still firmly planted on my face, Mr Mel's also even though I keep waving/wiggling/showing it to him!

The Ring - pt 2

When opportunity knocks, answer the bleeping door! 

Last Friday Mr Mel's father announced our engagement (adding that we hadn't picked a ring yet) at a group he attends, and after the announcement one of the members approached him and said "You know I'm a retired jeweller?  My son is running my shop, if Mr Mel & Mel want to come in and discuss ring options, I'll make sure they get looked after'.

Mr Mel's dad didn't mention anything until the weekend, when we said we'd been ring shopping but had been discouraged by the obviously hugely inflated prices. 

While ring shopping we had found a design we love (see earlier post), then went and had a quick chat with a manufacturing jeweller in Newcastle.  They advised the cost would be approx 3 times our budget to get the design we wanted with better quality jewels & gold, so we weren't really feeling overly confident.

Last night we drove down to Sydney, and met with Mr Mel's dad's mate, which is where my opening line comes in!  

The common saying of 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' rings so true.  We knew we wanted a better quality product, but at a better price, and our drive to Sydney certainly gave us both.

We're getting our ring made, it's the exact design as what we picked (earlier post), with 18ct white gold, instead of the 14ct of the one we saw at the 'mainstream' shop, and a D colour diamond, rather than the J of the one we saw.

The design we're getting made - yay!

So our ring will be ready in 2 weeks, we can't wait!

And another bonus, because we bought our engagement ring there, we get an automatic 20% discount on our wedding bands!  Because the engagement ring is quite blingy (well for me it is!) I'll be getting a very plain white gold band, Mr Mel's will have a bit of texture to it.

All in all, we're very happy campers, part 3 of 'The Ring' posts will have a photo of our ring on my finger in 2 weeks! Yay!!

The Ring - pt 1

I can't count how many texts, emails, FB posts, calls I've had this past since we got engaged last Monday (Valentine's Day), of 'show us the bling'.

Prior to Mr Mel proposing we had discussed engagement rings, that the 'easiest' thing to do would be for us to pick it out together.

Well last weekend we went 'bling' shopping. Holy moly, what a nightmare!  Seemingly acres of rings of all shapes, sizes, and pricetags.  'Friendly' staff trying to maneuver you into a sale. We stayed strong and resisted.

We went to a few 'mainstream' jewellers, and tried on a range of styles. I had originally been certain I wanted a 3 stone square cut ring, I tried them on and liked the, but then I tried another style on and knew straight away that was the one!

The staff member gave us a printout of the ring, so we took that with us to another couple of stores, nothing came close.

We were a bit disheartened by the prices, so went home empty handed.

Over the weekend Mr Mel's father mentioned that he has an acquaintance who is a retired jeweller, did we want him to see if he could recommend anyone, did we??????? Of course!

Turns out the retired jeweller still makes jewellery for friends, so he's offered to meet with us, source the jewels and make the setting for us for near cost price!  YAY!!!!!

So this week we're heading to Sydney to meet with Mr Mel's father's friend, and hopefully start the journey to getting our engagement ring made!

This is the one we've chosen

Engagement Ring we've fallen in love with, just not at it's current pricetag!

Altho we're definitely open to suggestions, very much looking forward to our meeting!  Shall report back post meeting.

He Proposed!! :)

I know we've done it a bit about face, but rules are made to be broken aren't they?

Last night Mr Mel proposed (yay!), while we both knew it was a given, he still managed to surprise me!

He had booked dinner at one of our favourite restaurants Sanctuary, and on the drive there he asked if I wanted to have another look at the Hall (our future venue).  I had been trying to remember the name of the caterer listed on the wall at the Hall to get a quote, so thought that's a great idea.

When we arrived there was a pilates group in the hall, so we wrote down the name of the caterer, and Mr Mel stood back and looking at the view, commented how perfect a spot it will be.  Then he gave me a Valentines Day card.

In the card he said some lovely stuff I won't list here (heehee), but ended the card with a PTO, on the back he'd written "I can't wait to have Valentines dinner tonight with my fiance', and I read it, looked at him and said no way!  He replied with 'Chickadee will you marry me'.  Of course I said yes  :)

Such a perfect spot to have done it, I'm so proud of him, for keeping it a secret and picking the spot of our future marriage to propose, makes me tear up thinking of it :)

So we headed off to Sanctuary newly engaged, and was greeted by a glass of champagne, and a delicious dinner, a night to remember forever!

So there you go, we're engaged!!  We're going ring shopping on Saturady, after the tasting at the caterers!