Anniversary Present?

[Lilac]

So DH has been asking me what I want for our one year anniversary in February. I keep telling him I don't want anything - just cards. We always exchange really long, wonderful handwritten cards for every holiday, birthday, and anniversary and it really is perfect and enough for me. But I think he's starting to get upset about the idea of not getting me anything at all because he *really* wants to give me a gift for our first anniversary. So this morning I agreed to tell him what I want, but he needs to keep it to a few hundred dollars (so nothing with too many diamonds). Most of the things on my "wish list" for jewelry would cost $1000+ and I absolutely do NOT want us spending that much money right now, so I'm trying to figure out something that I want within just a few hundred dollars.

So here's the dilemma: I have a necklace I wore to our wedding that my mom gave to me - it includes the diamond from her original engagement ring that my father gave her (they divorced when I was very young). She knew how special that diamond would be to me, so she saved it and had it set with a delicate halo around it and on a necklace. The necklace needed to be very short to go along with my wedding gown, so we made it very short with the intention that one day I would re-set it into another, longer chain (and slightly different setting). I was thinking about it this morning, and I realized that maybe I could use this as part of my anniversary present.

My husband could take the diamond and halo part of the necklace and re-set it on another chain, possibly in a setting like this one (which I love) - Link (ETA: I know the price on that page is extremely expensive, but since I have the diamond and halo already, I would just be adding a chain with a few small bezeled diamonds - so it would be much less).

If he re-set the diamond with halo onto a chain like that with two or three small bezeled diamonds along the chain, it could be a wonderful anniversary present, but also hopefully wouldn't cost too much. Do you think it would be too blingy to wear as an everyday necklace? Half the time I get REALLY excited about this idea, and the other half of the time I feel like I'm not sure about it. So I guess I'm wondering what other peoples' opinions are - would you reset this diamond into another setting you loved, or would you just get a totally brand new, separate anniversary present (even if it would be smaller or plainer)?

I'm torn between thinking it's a really special and sentimental idea to use my parents' diamond along with a new setting from my husband for our first anniversary, and thinking I shouldn't mix those two things.

 

[Circe]

Hm ... I really like this idea, on both the visual and the symbolic levels. But I also see where the hesitation comes in. Any chance the bail on your pendant is big enough that he could get you a DBTY chain that you could then *wear* the pendant on, or not, as you saw fit? Or, if your pendant is currently attached to the chain ... perhaps he could *either* add the bail or get you the chain now, with the other part to come as the gift for your next big gift-giving occasion?

 

[Lilac]

Date: 12/1/2009 4:33:10 PM
Author: Circe
Hm ... I really like this idea, on both the visual and the symbolic levels. But I also see where the hesitation comes in. Any chance the bail on your pendant is big enough that he could get you a DBTY chain that you could then *wear* the pendant on, or not, as you saw fit? Or, if your pendant is currently attached to the chain ... perhaps he could *either* add the bail or get you the chain now, with the other part to come as the gift for your next big gift-giving occasion?

Thanks so much for the suggestion, Circe! There''s no bail right now on the pendant because it was part of a necklace (so it wasn''t actually hanging from a chain - I would have to put a bail on it now). I actually thought about a plain DBTY necklace but every time I try one on the small diamonds flip around (I think it would bother me if they kept doing that). With a heavier pendant on the bottom it would hopefully mostly stay put and not flip so much, so I don''t really want to do this unless I decide to go "all out" and get the whole necklace made with the pendant on the bottom. I do love the suggestion of a separate DBTY chain with the option of wearing the pendant, I just think I wouldn''t really end up wearing just the chain by itself.

My other option was a DBTY bracelet, but it would probably be more expensive than the necklace (because I would only get two or three small bezeled diamonds in the necklace, but I would want 6-8 bezeled diamonds on the bracelet like the one on Whiteflash''s website).

 

[that_someone_special]

Ok before even reading past the first paragraph I was like, "DBTY!!"

Do it

You know you want to

 

[Circe]

Date: 12/1/2009 5:25:01 PM
Author: Lilac

Date: 12/1/2009 4:33:10 PM

Author: Circe

Hm ... I really like this idea, on both the visual and the symbolic levels. But I also see where the hesitation comes in. Any chance the bail on your pendant is big enough that he could get you a DBTY chain that you could then *wear* the pendant on, or not, as you saw fit? Or, if your pendant is currently attached to the chain ... perhaps he could *either* add the bail or get you the chain now, with the other part to come as the gift for your next big gift-giving occasion?

Thanks so much for the suggestion, Circe! There''s no bail right now on the pendant because it was part of a necklace (so it wasn''t actually hanging from a chain - I would have to put a bail on it now). I actually thought about a plain DBTY necklace but every time I try one on the small diamonds flip around (I think it would bother me if they kept doing that). With a heavier pendant on the bottom it would hopefully mostly stay put and not flip so much, so I don''t really want to do this unless I decide to go ''all out'' and get the whole necklace made with the pendant on the bottom. I do love the suggestion of a separate DBTY chain with the option of wearing the pendant, I just think I wouldn''t really end up wearing just the chain by itself.


My other option was a DBTY bracelet, but it would probably be more expensive than the necklace (because I would only get two or three small bezeled diamonds in the necklace, but I would want 6-8 bezeled diamonds on the bracelet like the one on Whiteflash''s website).

Aaaaaaaaah, okay! I see your point. I have to say, I think the stones would flip around a bit even on a chain that was attached directly to a pendant. But if you were to have the bezels made double-sided, it wouldn''t be a problem ... and that would work well with two "stations," making for 4 diamonds total, and hopefully coming in at your price-point!

 

[Lilac]

Date: 12/1/2009 6:01:17 PM
Author: Circe

Date: 12/1/2009 5:25:01 PM

Author: Lilac

Date: 12/1/2009 4:33:10 PM

Author: Circe

Aaaaaaaaah, okay! I see your point. I have to say, I think the stones would flip around a bit even on a chain that was attached directly to a pendant. But if you were to have the bezels made double-sided, it wouldn''t be a problem ... and that would work well with two ''stations,'' making for 4 diamonds total, and hopefully coming in at your price-point!

You can make the bezels double-sided on a DBTY chain? So the top of the diamond is on both sides (so there would be two diamonds per bezel, but it would look like the top of one on each side of the bezel?) I had no idea that was even an option! In that case, your suggestion would be perfect for what I want (assuming it fits the price) and I could have a plain DBTY chain or I could wear it with my diamond halo pendant.

So is it really possible to do that?

 

[winternight]

I love the necklace in the link you posted and I think you coud get alot of use from it. Especially if you wear more simple clothing.

 

[SparklyOEC]

I love the necklace in the link. As long as you''re comfortable with it, I think you could definitely wear it on a daily basis.

 

[Circe]

Date: 12/1/2009 6:43:09 PM
Author: Lilac

Date: 12/1/2009 6:01:17 PM

Author: Circe

Date: 12/1/2009 5:25:01 PM


Author: Lilac

Date: 12/1/2009 4:33:10 PM


Author: Circe


Aaaaaaaaah, okay! I see your point. I have to say, I think the stones would flip around a bit even on a chain that was attached directly to a pendant. But if you were to have the bezels made double-sided, it wouldn''t be a problem ... and that would work well with two ''stations,'' making for 4 diamonds total, and hopefully coming in at your price-point!

You can make the bezels double-sided on a DBTY chain? So the top of the diamond is on both sides (so there would be two diamonds per bezel, but it would look like the top of one on each side of the bezel?) I had no idea that was even an option! In that case, your suggestion would be perfect for what I want (assuming it fits the price) and I could have a plain DBTY chain or I could wear it with my diamond halo pendant.


So is it really possible to do that?

Yep, totally possible! Your jeweler will need to be careful in choosing the stone size and finishing the setting (you want it to be proportional, or it can look like a little tube), but I think it''s much better than fussing with flipping stones. Yay, glad I could help!

 

[Indylady]

I really like the idea of your pendant Lilac, and the Tiffany pendant you linked to is just gorgeous. How about sending a message to Sally from Heart of Water Jewels for a quote? She does fairly affordable custom work, and instead of sending the pendant out to Sally (I was too chicken to send my gems to her even though no one else has had a problem) you could have your local jeweler attach the pendant.

About flipping- how about buying a cheap DTBY style necklace with CZ''s and putting a pendant on it to see how it looks? Try it on for a couple days and see if you really enjoy it?

About combining DH and your parents into one jewelery piece- How about talking to your mom to see what she thinks? I think I''m getting the same feeling you are: half that its a great idea, and half that its not. Its a little bit of a tongue twister if someone asks you who the pendant is from, and just..confusing. I know that''s not important, but I think I would keep this for a later anniversary and ask for a present just from Hubby this year. The 1st anniversary is traditionally a paper; why not ask for a scrapbook of your first year, and maybe a small jewelery present? Try checking out the colored stones board; there are a lot of very reasonably priced options available, maybe a sapphire or a ruby?