Boulder
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- May 5, 2003
- Messages
- 173
I'm now officially engaged!!!
I'd like to thank Jonathan, Christen, Diana and Marie over at Good Old Gold, Chris Di Camillo at AGA and everyone on the Pricescope forum!
Here is the diamond and setting information:
The stone is a 0.936 F SI1 H&A (See http://www.goodoldgold.com/0_936ct_f_si1_h&a.htm)
The setting is an all-platinum Stuller Solstice:
SH160 Bombe Shank for a 6 prong setting
20605 6 prong round setting medium height
Now here's the story...
In March or April my girlfriend announced to me that one of her cousins in Nicaragua had gotten engaged. Since I had been friends with the cousin in college we thought that it would be an excellent reason to go to Nicaragua and enjoy a weeklong vacation. During the course of the conversation she mentioned that her cousin had always dreamed of being proposed to on the beach. In her case it didn't happen for various reasons, but it got me thinking what a great idea that was and decided that I was going to do that.
I decided to propose to my girlfriend on a beach in Huehuete on the Pacific Ocean that she used to go to while growing up in Nicaragua. I didn't want to do the proposal before her cousin's wedding, but wanted to do it as soon afterwards as I could. Months before the trip I began to drop some hints about how we should definitely go to the beach a few times while we were down in Nicaragua. I gave various reasons as to why I thought Huehuete would be best choice the day after the wedding (it's a very low-key, relaxing beach so perfect after some late-night partying). Around that time one of her aunts was in town and my girlfriend mentioned to her the possibility of going to Huehuete while we were in Nicaragua. This aunt has a small beach house in Huehuete. Fortuitously the Sunday that I was planning on propsing was her aunt's birthday! Before I knew it, it was decided that we would definitely be going there on the Sunday after the wedding. Things were falling into place perfectly...
Cargo pants and shorts came in very helpful throughout the trip transporting the ring out of the U.S., to Nicaragua and finally to the beach. I highly recommend them! That morning I put the ring box in my cargo shorts along with my wallet and a Clif Bar. The latter was camoflage in case the bulge in my side pocket raised any suspicion. Along the way to the beach, her sister was hungry and suprise, surprise I just happened to have a Clif Bar... I gingerly removed the bar from my pocket doing my best to cover up the ring box (I think that she thought that was a bit strange, but it was quickly forgotten).
Once we got to the beach my goal was to pull her dad away and ask him for a blessing to marry his daughter. I don't like the idea of asking a father for permission since it's very much the woman's decision. However, when my girlfriend's older sister had gotten married her dad was a bit sad that he wasn't asked about the proposal in advance. Asking for a blessing seemed to be the best of both worlds--I was comfortable with it and it involved her dad.
My girlfriend wanted to change into her swimsuit immediately and was surprised that I didn't want to do the same. Typically, I'm ready to jump in the water immediately. Shortly after we had unloaded the car her dad had to move the car since another relative needed room to park. My girlfriend's mom asked if I could help out her dad. I, of course, jumped at the chance! In retrospect, my girlfriend was surprised at how quickly I disappeared. After he moved the vehicle I told him that I loved his daughter and would like to have his blessing in marrying her. He nodded in approval and became a bit more emotional than I had expected. After an embrace I realized that I had to pull my girlfriend away soon or otherwise she might begin to wonder why her dad was acting a bit differently.
I asked her to go for a walk--she in her swimsuit and me in cargo shorts and a button shirt. She was still confused why I hadn't bothered to change, but I insisted that we go for a short walk before lunch and that I'd still have plenty of time to change later. We walked along the beach holding hands and at one point she remarked that my hands were very cold (side note: the weather was in the mid 90's with high humidity at that point). I explained that I had been holding a beer. Down the beach there are several huge rocks that jut out of the beach that she used to climb with her cousins and older sister. We strolled over to them and came to a spot between a few of the really large ones.
I held her and simply said, "I love you. Will you marry me?" Not seeing a ring, she immediately said, "Of course!" since we had talked about marriage for a while now. I then fumbled around my cargo short pockets for the ring box. As I pulled it out, she said, "For real?!?!" She followed that with a "Yes!" and I placed the ring on her finger. After spending some time sitting on one of the rocks talking and enjoying the moment we returned to tell the rest of her family...
Probably some of the best feedback I got regarding the proposal was from one of her cousins. She said that the proposal was so perfect since this beach held such special significance to my girlfriend. Of course, I knew how special the beach was to her, but it was nice to hear that.
We had the rest of the week in Nicaragua to spend visiting various parts of the country and spending time with her family. Now, we're back in the states planning the wedding (already!). The date that we've chosen is more than a year away, but reception places are filling up already! Crazy!
One side note is that now my girlfriend is a bit concerned about how well I can keep secrets...
Months ago I had told her that I would propose to her by Thanksgiving (I referred to it as the pre-Thanksgiving event), which I later bumped up to Halloween a few weeks ago. She knew that we wanted to get engaged before the end of the year (preferably in the Fall), but I did my best to make her think that it was going to be a bit later than it actually was. I took her to various diamond stores pretending as if I was trying to find a stone and a setting for her (while I was secretly talking with Jonathan at GOG). She knew that I had been doing a lot of research on the web, but I tried to lead her to believe that I wasn't as far along as I truly was. Primarily my reasons for visiting all of the stores was that I really wanted to get multiple ring measurements to make sure that I was ordering the right ring size. Also, I wanted to feel her out in regards to what kind of setting she'd prefer. We both had early on decided that we liked the solitaire look and in particular, the classic Tiffany setting . I also dropped some suggestions about continuing to visit the stores again after the trip to Nicaragua. Actually, the last trip to a nearby jewelry store was almost purely for cover... It was pretty fun (to be honest) dropping all of those false suggestions and it worked out perfectly as she was surprised!
Even though I've posted pictures of the ring before, I like them so much that you're going to have to see them again!
Oh, and most importantly she loves it!!!
So, that's my story. Thanks again, everyone!!
I'd like to thank Jonathan, Christen, Diana and Marie over at Good Old Gold, Chris Di Camillo at AGA and everyone on the Pricescope forum!
Here is the diamond and setting information:
The stone is a 0.936 F SI1 H&A (See http://www.goodoldgold.com/0_936ct_f_si1_h&a.htm)
The setting is an all-platinum Stuller Solstice:
SH160 Bombe Shank for a 6 prong setting
20605 6 prong round setting medium height
Now here's the story...
In March or April my girlfriend announced to me that one of her cousins in Nicaragua had gotten engaged. Since I had been friends with the cousin in college we thought that it would be an excellent reason to go to Nicaragua and enjoy a weeklong vacation. During the course of the conversation she mentioned that her cousin had always dreamed of being proposed to on the beach. In her case it didn't happen for various reasons, but it got me thinking what a great idea that was and decided that I was going to do that.
I decided to propose to my girlfriend on a beach in Huehuete on the Pacific Ocean that she used to go to while growing up in Nicaragua. I didn't want to do the proposal before her cousin's wedding, but wanted to do it as soon afterwards as I could. Months before the trip I began to drop some hints about how we should definitely go to the beach a few times while we were down in Nicaragua. I gave various reasons as to why I thought Huehuete would be best choice the day after the wedding (it's a very low-key, relaxing beach so perfect after some late-night partying). Around that time one of her aunts was in town and my girlfriend mentioned to her the possibility of going to Huehuete while we were in Nicaragua. This aunt has a small beach house in Huehuete. Fortuitously the Sunday that I was planning on propsing was her aunt's birthday! Before I knew it, it was decided that we would definitely be going there on the Sunday after the wedding. Things were falling into place perfectly...
Cargo pants and shorts came in very helpful throughout the trip transporting the ring out of the U.S., to Nicaragua and finally to the beach. I highly recommend them! That morning I put the ring box in my cargo shorts along with my wallet and a Clif Bar. The latter was camoflage in case the bulge in my side pocket raised any suspicion. Along the way to the beach, her sister was hungry and suprise, surprise I just happened to have a Clif Bar... I gingerly removed the bar from my pocket doing my best to cover up the ring box (I think that she thought that was a bit strange, but it was quickly forgotten).
Once we got to the beach my goal was to pull her dad away and ask him for a blessing to marry his daughter. I don't like the idea of asking a father for permission since it's very much the woman's decision. However, when my girlfriend's older sister had gotten married her dad was a bit sad that he wasn't asked about the proposal in advance. Asking for a blessing seemed to be the best of both worlds--I was comfortable with it and it involved her dad.
My girlfriend wanted to change into her swimsuit immediately and was surprised that I didn't want to do the same. Typically, I'm ready to jump in the water immediately. Shortly after we had unloaded the car her dad had to move the car since another relative needed room to park. My girlfriend's mom asked if I could help out her dad. I, of course, jumped at the chance! In retrospect, my girlfriend was surprised at how quickly I disappeared. After he moved the vehicle I told him that I loved his daughter and would like to have his blessing in marrying her. He nodded in approval and became a bit more emotional than I had expected. After an embrace I realized that I had to pull my girlfriend away soon or otherwise she might begin to wonder why her dad was acting a bit differently.
I asked her to go for a walk--she in her swimsuit and me in cargo shorts and a button shirt. She was still confused why I hadn't bothered to change, but I insisted that we go for a short walk before lunch and that I'd still have plenty of time to change later. We walked along the beach holding hands and at one point she remarked that my hands were very cold (side note: the weather was in the mid 90's with high humidity at that point). I explained that I had been holding a beer. Down the beach there are several huge rocks that jut out of the beach that she used to climb with her cousins and older sister. We strolled over to them and came to a spot between a few of the really large ones.
I held her and simply said, "I love you. Will you marry me?" Not seeing a ring, she immediately said, "Of course!" since we had talked about marriage for a while now. I then fumbled around my cargo short pockets for the ring box. As I pulled it out, she said, "For real?!?!" She followed that with a "Yes!" and I placed the ring on her finger. After spending some time sitting on one of the rocks talking and enjoying the moment we returned to tell the rest of her family...
Probably some of the best feedback I got regarding the proposal was from one of her cousins. She said that the proposal was so perfect since this beach held such special significance to my girlfriend. Of course, I knew how special the beach was to her, but it was nice to hear that.
We had the rest of the week in Nicaragua to spend visiting various parts of the country and spending time with her family. Now, we're back in the states planning the wedding (already!). The date that we've chosen is more than a year away, but reception places are filling up already! Crazy!
One side note is that now my girlfriend is a bit concerned about how well I can keep secrets...
Months ago I had told her that I would propose to her by Thanksgiving (I referred to it as the pre-Thanksgiving event), which I later bumped up to Halloween a few weeks ago. She knew that we wanted to get engaged before the end of the year (preferably in the Fall), but I did my best to make her think that it was going to be a bit later than it actually was. I took her to various diamond stores pretending as if I was trying to find a stone and a setting for her (while I was secretly talking with Jonathan at GOG). She knew that I had been doing a lot of research on the web, but I tried to lead her to believe that I wasn't as far along as I truly was. Primarily my reasons for visiting all of the stores was that I really wanted to get multiple ring measurements to make sure that I was ordering the right ring size. Also, I wanted to feel her out in regards to what kind of setting she'd prefer. We both had early on decided that we liked the solitaire look and in particular, the classic Tiffany setting . I also dropped some suggestions about continuing to visit the stores again after the trip to Nicaragua. Actually, the last trip to a nearby jewelry store was almost purely for cover... It was pretty fun (to be honest) dropping all of those false suggestions and it worked out perfectly as she was surprised!
Even though I've posted pictures of the ring before, I like them so much that you're going to have to see them again!
So, that's my story. Thanks again, everyone!!
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