Exciting Update!

[jenmarie]

We went ring shopping yesterday! We had gone at the beginning of December, but this was way more in depth and more serious.

I should preface this by saying that my BF had not been very keen on shopping with me because he''s of the old-fashioned "I want to to it on my own" type. For some reason, he agreed to go again, this time with more of a plan. We talked about it beforehand so we would know what questions we wanted to ask, and the info we wanted. While the trip was itself a bust, it had a great outcome. The whole basis of the trip was so he could see/price diamonds in the specs we want and look at and price settings. It was a bust in the sense that we were only shown a few diamonds, none near the size we want, and the girl who helped us told us that the setting I had in mind wouldn''t really work (I''m not sure she was entirely sure she knew what she was talking about, since I have seen similar settings in real life and here on PS).

The upside of everything is that he told me he feels so much better about looking for rings now! I was kind of against looking for my own ring, as I felt it was less romantic, but I think I''ve figured out that I''m really nit-picky with details. I asked him how he felt about me being involved with the process and picking things out, and he said he''d actually prefer it after he realized that there are so many details to consider. He actually sounds really excited about it, so yay!

 

[Jessie702]

YAY AND CONGRATS...that is Exciting

 

[Luckyeshe]

That''s sooo exciting!!!! That''s awesome!!!!

 

[MonkeyPants]

aww he sounds so sweet! very exciting indeed!

 

[4ever]

Great news! I''m glad he''s come round to letting you help with choosing a ring, most guys don''t realise how many desisions there are to make and how many options are out there untill they start looking.

 

[AustenNut]

That''s fabulous! Originally I didn''t think I''d be too involved with the picking out of my ering, but since I''m rather picky too (who me?

) I pretty much picked out the whole thing. Just out of curiosity, what store(s) did you visit?

 

[rierie26]

Woohoo! That''s exciting!

 

[jenmarie]

Thanks everyone!

So far, we''ve only been to Brown''s Jewelers in Morgan City, but we''re going to sit down with this guy from Beje Wholesale Diamonds in Metairie Saturday, and since we''ll be in town, I think we''re going to go to Aucoin Hart too. Have you heard of Beje? I searched PS and only came up with one post--from someone who had a setting custom made by them, and they seemed really satisfied.

I don''t know if you looked at any solitaire settings at Aucoin Hart, but if so, is there a lot to look at? Brown''s is the only place we''ve REALLY looked, and as far as a simple solitaire goes, they only had one style to physically show me. I love the Tiffany style (thanks PS), but I''ve never seen any in person! I hope we can walk away from one of these places and feel like we''ve made some progress.

 

[AustenNut]

Hey Jenmarie,

I wasn''t looking at solitaires (in terms of just metal with no diamonds anywhere on the mounting) so I can''t really comment about Aucoin Hart''s selection compared to anywhere else. I went to A TON of jewelers in the area when I was browsing, trying to see which places worked best for me. Aucoin Hart was tops for me for several reasons, but key among them was their expertise with colored gems. I also liked their settings best.

If you''re in Metairie you may want to swing by Lakeside Mall where two of the local jewelers also have locations, Adler''s and Lee Michaels. That way you can sort of do two for the price of one. Or if you want to head to the Quarter both of those stores have their other locations on Canal St. Adler''s is a bit more old-school, very traditional and old New Orleans-y. Their Lakeside location has better customer service and a better vibe than their Canal Street one though. I didn''t visit the Lee Michaels in the mall but their Canal Street location had good service too.

Since you''re doing diamonds you may also want to check out Ramsey''s on Veterans. All they do is diamonds and they were all about the cut, cut, cut so they agree with the PS kool-aid and would probably have a good selection.

But let us know how your visit goes and I''d love a review of Beje as it''s one of the stores I didn''t visit (or know about). Have fun this weekend!

 

[Laila619]

Very exciting news indeed!

 

[jenmarie]

OMG we loved Aucoin Hart! I think when the time comes, that is where we''ll purchase! While the buy at Beje could give us a pretty good deal, we just felt better at AH. We were really impressed at how nice our SA was, and she was extremely helpful. He walked out saying she made him want to buy something today!

We only went to those two places today because we both felt like we can''t do any better than Aucoin Hart. I think we''re going to get the wedding band when we purchase the engagement ring, and that results in a little bit of a discount, so we felt pretty good about that, too. Today was a very productive day!

 

[AustenNut]

Wow, I''m so glad your visit at Aucoin Hart went so well, JenMarie! The people there have always been really nice and obviously we liked it well enough that we got my ring there. Any particular styles pop out at you?

 

[jenmarie]

Same old stuff, haha. I had tried on an engagement band with diamonds in it before, and while I can appreciate its beauty, it''s not "me." I tried on a diamond engagement band again with a 2 carat

center stone. It was gorgeous! But I want to do my wedding band sort of the opposite of the engagement band. So if I went with diamond engagement, I''d go with just a plain wedding band, and my BF doesn''t like that. We both feel like a plain solitaire suits me best. It''s cute how excited he gets about the diamond eternity wedding bands, though. I think I''m a little greedy, though, because I really want a plain 2mm wedding band too, haha. I feel like it looks so married, if that makes sense. I noticed on their website that they do hand engraving, and I''m hoping they do it on bands that thin. The other jeweler we asked didn''t do it under 3mm, I think. I guess that''s reasonable, though. I never knew how tiny 2mm was until I tried on a plain wb Saturday!

It''ll probably be a little while longer for me all the same. I want to be out of braces before we get engaged, so that''s hopefully not too far away. I''m so close to the finish line...I''m hoping for awesome news when I go back on the 18th. As much as I''m hoping to be done by April, I may not be "free" until May or later. I shouldn''t complain, though. I was originally told it''d be 18 months, and it''ll be a year tomorrow.

We''re going to Bridal Event 2010 at the NOMA tomorrow night, too. I''m subscribed to New Orleans Weddings Magazine online, and they sent me an email saying if you left a message on their facebook saying you''d be there, you''d get one complimentary ticket, so we each did. It''s fun because he''s as excited about everything as I am, haha. I''m hoping it won''t be too weird since we''re not officially engaged or anything yet!

Sorry for the novel, haha!

 

[AustenNut]

Hope you enjoy NOMA tomorrow night! I didn''t realize they were doing anything. I went to my first bridal show on Sunday (at the Westin) and it was rather overwhelming. I was one of the few brides whose wedding was in 2010 as most were for sometime in 2011 or even 2012. It was interesting to see, and it helped my mom and grandmother see what WIC is like now as they haven''t done anything with weddings for decades. Hope the two of you have fun, and congrats on scoring free tickets!

 

[kberrie22]

Yay! How exciting! That''s pretty funny we seem so similar! I also went ring shopping (for the first time) in December and just a few days ago we went again totally unplanned! It was really fun to go and afterwards he was even searching a bit online too! Seems a bit more serious to me compared to the first time So yay for both of us!! My guy is also pretty traditional, I talked to my mom on the phone after going to let her know we went (and how exciting that was for me) and when my SO found out he was a bit cranky about it cause he said he would talk to both my parents before anything was purchased, kinda weird to me, but whatevah! As long as things continue to move forward that is all that matters! My trip as it sounds like yours was too was a bit of a bust, I found a three-stone that I liked but it was over $6,000 and that was in 18k white gold, for that much I would prob want platinum! Anyways, I hope you both continue to search and eventually find the perfect ring, yay for moving forward!