Family is the Best!
I have been married for 2 1/2 years now and my in-laws are the best ever! I have never had any problems with getting along with my mother-in-law and my father-in-law is the sweetest, biggest hearted person ever. So naturally when my father-in-law told us (my husband, my brother-in-law, and me) that he had found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with we were all thrilled for him! Even better, he wanted me to design the rings for their engagement and wedding!
His future wife started by telling him that she didn’t want him to spend a lot of money and being with him was treat enough for her so whatever ring he got her was fine since she didn’t wear many rings anyways and she didn’t really care. It didn’t take very long to figure out that it wasn’t that she didn’t care, it was that she didn’t know anything about jewelry and no one had ever taken the time to sit with her and find out what she actually prefers out of all the options available. She had been in jewelry store before but was always so overwhelmed by the sparkle that she felt blinded and didn’t look any further.
I decided it was time to educate both her and my father-in-law a little about jewelry so they could see that what you see in every mall jewelry store isn’t all of what is available. So I took them to one of those dreaded stores where they have everything and if you don’t know what you want you are in trouble. The difference was that I was there to lead them through it and take notes as we went.
I took her directly to the solitaire case so she could see the different diamond cuts as well as different sizes. She didn’t like a lot of sparkle and seemed to be attracted to rectangles so we looked at Emerald Cut stones for her. I had her put a 1/2 carat, then a 3/4 carat, and finally a 1.0 carat emerald cut solitaire on her hand. We then found out that she didn’t want anything smaller than a 1.0 carat stone! So much for not caring! I also showed her ascher (or asscher) cut stones as well since they are a step cut but with a few more facets than an emerald. She didn’t like the aschers because they were square and she really wanted a rectangular stone.
Now that we had a stone shape and size, we could talk about her mounting. She thought she didn’t want any side stones because, again, she didn’t like the sparkle of the brilliant cut stones and for the most part, that is what was in any 3 stone rings we saw–so we looked at solitaire mountings. She looked at thin bands and wide bands and decided that she preferred a wider band on her solitaire because her hands are a little larger.
Now that we had done some research and found out what she liked, I could start designing! She also knew she wanted a wave design in the side of her engagement ring because it is the tatoo that my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband all have and is kind of their family logo. Because she wanted the design on the side, I knew I the band had to be thick enough to accommodate the design without being so thick that it would make the ring too heavy to wear. After a few minor changes this is the design we settled on!
We also had to find a diamond for her to fit her design. One of my vendors happened to have a 1.0 carat emerald cut stone and he sent it to me for her to look at. The corners of the stone were cut a little heavier than most emerald cut diamonds which might be considered a flaw, but it brought the faceting into the center of the stone more and gave it a little added shine! It was perfect. A truly unique, special stone for a special lady.
I added a 2mm plain band that fit right next to the engagement ring for her wedding band, and voila!
I had both rings cast in platinum for her because she has a nickel allergy and should therefore not wear white gold and because she is sensitive already, I wasn’t positive she wouldn’t also have a reaction to palladium.
The rings turned out fantastic! I hope she loves the finished product as much as she loves my father-in-law!
Post a Comment