The Ring - April 2003

This newsletter is dedicated to the

Engagement Ring

At the start of April Michael and I decided to have a look around at engagement rings. This happened after Michael asked me if I was the kind of girl who'd like the ring all picked out by him or if I'd like to help choose it. I liked the idea of a surprise, but I had quite a particular style of ring in mind. So, I said I'd point some nice ones out.

We went out shopping. First stop was Walker and Hall in Tawa, on our way out to Porirua. They had a ring that was really beautiful. It was in 18ct gold and had a small centre diamond in a claw setting. It had shoulders that curved around and in the crook of each shoulder was 4 tiny diamonds. It was pretty and dainty and suited my fingers well.

It was a bit scary asking if I could try it on. I'm normally very shy in jewellery shops. Anyway, it fit perfectly (a size "n") and the diamonds really sparkled and had movement. We asked for more information and we were shown the rings valuation documents. It looked pretty good and it was good value.

Anyway, we decided to carry on with our search and see what other beautiful rings were out there. We went to Porirua and spent time in Michael Hill (nothing quite right, but one that was reasonably close except for the ugly star shaped claws), Pascoes (nothing at all). We tried Christies, as they have a beautiful ring on their web site, but alas, they had only watches and dress jewellery at their Porirua shop.

We went and had a look in town. Kevin Francescon at Michael Hills on Lambton Quay was very helpful although they didn't have quite what I liked, but they did spend a lot of time trying to narrow down what I liked:

Raised diamond, not a rub-over style
extra diamonds, on the shoulder
gold (Michaels choice, but a well-suited one)
sweep-around style

We tried Stewart Dawson and they had a couple of rings that were okay. By that stage we called it a day and went home.

The following week we tried the shops out at Lower Hutt. There was quite a nice one in the Pascoes there. My favourites were now the Walker and Hall one and secondly, the one at Pascoes.

Strangely, that first ring had set a real precedent, a precedent that the other rings I'd tried on hadn't quite met. We talked more about it and we became more and more certain that the Walker and Hall ring was the right one for us.

Then a mini drama unfolded - you can read about it here: NZ Wedding Planner forum .

So Michael pretended that the ring had been sold but secretly bought it. YAY!!!! He told me that he actually took the train out to Tawa one lunch time when I was on an all-day course. hehehe. Pretty sneaky.

I'll post a piccy of the ring some time AFTER he proposes. He is such a romantic man so I'm sure I'll have a wonderful storey all about it to share.

In the mean time, here is a photo of the ring at Christies which is pretty and gives you an idea of what we were looking for in the jewellers shops.

Love,

Chaucey


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