Ring Shopping, or the abuse of my left ring finger
When Mr.D and I first started talking about marriage, weddings and rings we went shopping together to see what was out there. I’d try on a few rings here or there, trying to figure out what we both liked best. I’m not much for surprises and he wanted to be sure we both loved the ring because we’ll both have to look at it for a long time. 
One day we had decided to go on a mammoth ring shopping excursion. We had ordered a few rings in from Tiffany’s in the sizes and designs we liked but hadn’t heard a call from them yet. So we went to Mayors, and a few other places in Coral Gables trying on rings as we went. Mayors was having an event with multiple settings and multiple loose diamonds..but none of the Asscher cuts my heart had been set on. Mr.D and I were both having a difficult time imagining the settings with a mystery stone. Plus at the time, overweight and in the heat of Miami; my fingers were big. So shoving size 6 rings on and off my finger (for literally hours) was much less fun than I anticipated.
Plus, there is just something about jewelry store that makes me break out into a sweat. I have no clue why, but I just feel under so much pressure! I was sweaty, hungry and in pain when we decided to take a break and grab lunch. Because if there is one important fact to know about me it’s this – don’t let my blood sugar drop. At least if you want to stay friends with me, otherwise you might disown my and my low blood sugar snappy comments.
Feeling refreshed we grabbed ice cream and sat on a bench, a bench that happened to be in front of Tiffany & Co. We thought, maybe we’ll just pop in and see if they’re there…The rings were in! Success! The experience in the store with the store manager was completely unlike the previous service we had experienced. they were very laid back and let us take our time and think about which design and ring we wanted. Then the manager suggested we take a look at it over by the window in natural light. As it lit up and blew our minds, Mr.D just looked at me and said “that’s the one, it has to be”.
The manager brought us champagne and we purchased the ring that day. Our experience was so fantastic I even wrote Tiffany & Co. about how wonderful and different from our other experiences it was (no sweats! well, I didn’t tell them that…). Sadly, when trying to size my finger we estimated incorrectly. My finger was SO swollen that we still ended up guessing the size too large, which is how my ring ended up with a pair of balls.
Did you and your SO pick out your ring together or was it a surprise?
August 14th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Ahahaha, reading your story brings back vivid memories of my own experience. The hubby and I picked out the preliminaries of mine together and then he ran with the whole design process after that. We went to a few places and were very uninpressed with the service (which actually included Tiffany’s up in Boston). We were recommended to this family run business and we decided to pop in there one day. The service was incredible! So we picked out the diamond and started working out the design of my ring with them (mine was custom made). This was at the end of a long, hot day and I was starving-low blood sugar. We finally left with most of the details finalized (we thought) and were 15 minutes down the road, when we realized that we had only talked about measurements and never actually sized my hand. Sooooo….we turned around and go back to size my hand, my hand is swollen from trying all these rings and they end up getting the sizer stuck on my hand! The man is tugging and twisting to get it off and after 10-15 minutes I started getting tunnel vision and seeing stars…I end up asking for a drink of water, whirling around and collapsing on the ground in an attempt to get my head between my knees before I pass out-the sizer meanwhile is STILL on my hand. Hahahaha, eventually they were able to get it off, but my finger was bruised for several days after that. The hubby and I tease each other to this day about how he was the one that was supposed to pass out (due to the cost) and how I’d heard it was a “starry moment” but had no idea that that was what people meant!