It''s not the whole ring, but what do you think of this to start?

[Almost There]

Well...FedEx cutoff was 6:00pm in Houston for WhiteFlash and my credit card has been charged (gulp ) so I am assuming that the ring is now on its way to its new home and I will get to see it in person tomorrow. They are so busy there because of the holidays that everything has turned into a last minute rush.

Brian was able to get me these pictures of the pave and the princesses rough set. The final stages are to get all of the stones properly set, and do the engraving and final polish.

They weren't sure if they were going to have time to get the final shots to me before tomorrow morning since they like to clean the shots up before sending them. If the final pics come in tonight or early tomorrow I'll post them then. Otherwise they may have to wait until later since I'll be busy with all the proposal prep stuff before then.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing the process with me.

 

[Mara]

Holy moly that is going to be amazing!!! Can't wait to see pictures....please don't forget us

 

[Almost There]

Don't worry Mara, as long as I can get the pics myself, I won't leave you guys hanging

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Almost There,




Catching up on this thread and can't wait to see the end result..Very Very Cool Ring so far...

 

[Kamuelamom]

I am waiting on pins and needles.....holding my breath the whole time. I cannnot wait to see the final product. Thanks for the update.

 

[Almost There]

Ok, it's 1:00am here and I just finished looking at the pictures below for the 100th time so I guess it's only fair that I post them now

The ring arrives tomorrow at 9am and instead of the pics helping me sleep better, now I'm now going to be up all night waiting for FedEx to open!

She is going to be absolutely floored. The original ring that inspired this one was over twice as much in a B & M. It was way over my budget so she has no idea that this is coming. Not to mention that the WF ring hands down blows the original one out of the water.

I don't want to sound like a commercial, but I can't thank everyone at Whiteflash enough for both keeping me relatively calm during the whole thing and for making the finished product something that I am as excited about as she will be.

If I can, I'll post tomorrow after I get the ring in person and I'll definitely follow up after the weekend with the update on the proposal.

 

[Almost There]

Here's two more that didn't make the first post...

 

[Almost There]

 

[roppongi]

HOLY SH!T....that ring is incredible! I am drooling all over myself. WF did an outstanding job on the setting and the stones.

CONGRATULATIONS...she is going to be beyond floored!

 

[Mara]

WOAH that is an amazing ring. I mean absolutely stunning!! I'm not necessarily a emerald shape type person but that Radiant and those side stones in that setting just are beautiful!!




Just out of curiousity, where did you see the original ring? Seems kind of like a Harry Winston'ish style or similar.




God that thing must just be a monster, 3c with those side stones and all that fabulous melee work...*drool* I absolutely LOVE the side view, it's so clean and sharp looking! WOW.

 

[Mexi]

I think she will faint when she sees it. That ring looks like something the movie stars wear.

 

[aljdewey]

oh.....my......GOD. Almost, you have done a superb job! That ring is traffic-stopping!




Whiteflash has outdone themselves.....again....but I wouldn't expect any less.




I'm dying to hear her reaction......don't leave us hanging too long! LOL

 

[dawei213]

Google ga ga!!

 

[Jennifer5973]

OH MY GOD. Absolutely amazing. I want one...seriously, I am looking for three stone concepts and I printed this out to give my husband....would you mind posting a ballpark figure for what you paid total through WF?

Good luck--what a ring.

 

[luvmysparklies]

Uhh, Almost....suffice it to say, you're "there"! Beeeeuuuutifull!!!!!

 

[sxn675]

That is beautiful! I can't wait to hear all about the proposal and see pictures on her hand. Congratulations!

 

[hoorray]

there's not much I can think to say but WOW! That is a beautiful ring! Now we need proposal details and pictures on her hand!

 

[jenibear]

HOLY F****ING S**T!!!!!

That is the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen!

Pictures on the hand please!

Again, HOLY F****ING S**T!!!!!

 

[mdurkin]

The traps next to that beautiful radiant stone look unbelievable! Absolutely Amazing!

 

[Almost There]

Wow...what a day! It's 12am here and I am just about ready to get some sleep and get ready for the big day tomorrow.



I got about five hours sleep last night and then spent 7am-9am counting down the minutes until FedEx opened. By the time I got over there it was about 9:20am. The ring was supposed to be on hold for me there any time after 9:00. I gave the clerk my name and a couple of minutes later she comes back from their hold area empty handed. All she says is that there is "nothing there for you".


After a tense few minutes and a quick call to WF, we figured out that the ring was on the truck but that the truck just hadn't gotten to that station yet. Small sigh of relief..., but still no ring.



They told me it would definitely be there by 10:30, so I came back around 10:35...Still no ring. Now my schedule for the day was getting totally shot. I was supposed to pick up the ring, go back to my house and pack and then go to the LA Flower Mart to pick up flowers for the proposal (I wanted some very specific flowers that you can't find easily at a local florist).



I decided to go about an hour round trip out of my way to the Flower Mart immediately rather than on the way to her place, and hope that FedEx would find the ring in the mean time.



Of course, 15 minutes into my drive to the Mart I get a call from FedEx and the package has arrived :

I picked out some amazing orchids (one of her favorites) at the Mart, came back, picked up the box, drove home, and proceeded to tear through WF's security measures (they actually packed the ring inside a FedEx bag, then put it inside a smaller FedEx box and put that box inside a somewhat larger FedEx shipping box. The process made it impossible for someone to just pop open the outer box and snag the ring. Pretty cool.



Inside, I actually found two boxes. One smaller and one larger. I opened the larger one first, assuming it was a loupe or polishing cloth. Instead, I found a really, really cool pair of cuff links along with a birthday card from WF. (They had my driver's license for ID on my credit card- my birthday is Saturday). That really made my day!



I then nervously opened the second box and all I could think was: Wow! The ring is beautiful in person. The detail work is top quality and it sparkles down to the last little 'cut above" round.



I don't know if it was the weeks of looking at supersized pictures but it did seem a little smaller than I thought it was going to. I'm actually relieved, because I was getting worried about her wearing something -too- outrageous and drawing unwanted attention. It's a stunner, but in the bizzare parallel universe that is Southern California it's not so much that it's over the top.



In the interest of fair disclosure, there is one thing that does bother me about the ring a bit. I had a misperception of the term "eyeclean" and didn't realize that it was applied to a stone looking top down only. If you look at the center stone from either of the shorter lengths you can see an inclusion that appears to be a small crystal floating around the middle of the stone just above the top of the crossbar. It's not huge, but it's not difficult at all to see either.



The stone was appraised by AGA and when they said it was "totally" eyeclean I took it to mean something different, so I am bit disappointed that it has an inclusion that's visible. It's not something you would see unless you specifically looked for it, and you'd never see it looking at the ring on her finger, but it's there.



WF told me immediately that they would replace the stone if she is not happy with it so I'm not too worried but it's a lesson worth passing on if you're looking at larger stones in the SI1 range. My bad for not being clearer about exactly what I was looking for. At this point I'll see what she thinks and take it from there.



To answer the questions posted above:

The ring was inspired by a JB Star design but there are a number of changes that were made (more princesses on the shank, fewer rounds on the cross bars, different detail treatments on the exterior and interior, etc...



I actually went to HW in person to look at rings for fun (it was a little odd being face to face with "Randy" from the Bachelor) and it does have a Harry Winston flair to it.



As for the price, in case either she or someone she knows ever reads this forum I'd rather not post it, but WF can quote something comparable if someone calls them.



Well, I have got to get some sleep before tomorrow. I will probably not post again until late Sunday at the earliest because the proposal is in the afternoon and then we have a pretty full schedule for the rest of the weekend.
But as as soon as I get a chance, I'll put the whole story up on the proposal forum with a link to it here.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

I'm happy everything turned out so well for you...The birthday card from Whiteflash..WOW...Good Job WhiteFlash..Let us know how the proposal goes...

WITH A RING LIKE THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO ARRANGE TO HAVE THE PARAMEDICS ON STAND-BY..

 

[diamond dazed]

Holy......cow....that's INCREDIBLE!

I've never, ever, ever, EVER seen anything so gorgeous. It's breath taking.

note to self: thou shalt not covet.... thou shalt not covet.... thou shalt not covet.....

Congratulations!

Kris

 

[Jennifer5973]

Thanks for your reply. This ring is just exquisite. I am saving this picture as my quest for the 3 stone continues...It is just magnificent.

And It sounds like whiteflash did a superb job on all fronts. definitely someone to look into when I am ready to take the plunge.

Thnaks again for sharing all the details and the pictures, and congrats!!!!!!

 

[Lanee]

Okay, I passed out and just came to. The ring is unbelievable. You have to tell us every detail of her reaction. Congrats and you surely don't need luck with this baby!

 

[AllThatSparkles]

HOLY SH*T!!! J-LO's got some serious competition with that rock

 

[aneelcon]

lovely ring! more pics! Absolutely lovely!

 

[Giangi]

It's truly amazing! A work of art! She's gonna faint when she sees it!

 

[DancinGirl]

Absolutely STUNNING ring!!!

Verrryyyy nice....gorgeous....superb.... WAY TO GO!

Congrats on finding such a great ring, and finding the great lady it will be going to!

All the best!

 

[Almost There]

Well... It has been quite a busy past few days... When I last left off I had gotten the ring and was preparing for the proposal. Here's how it went:



Several weeks ago I enlisted the help of her cousin, who called her and asked if she wanted to meet for drinks at one of her favorite places in the world, the Montage hotel, in Laguna Beach, CA (www.montageresort.com). We were supposed to meet on Friday afternoon before sunset in a room her cousin's friends had for the weekend, watch the sunset from the room, and then go to the bar for drinks. Of course the cousin and friends wouldn't actually be there...that was just the subterfuge to get her there


I had told her I was staying in another, much less nice, hotel for the weekend (we live about 50 miles from each other and she is staying at her parents for a few weeks) and that I had a conference call that might last the better part of the day. She had taken the day off from work, so she went off shopping, to the gym, etc... while I snuck down to the Montage to set up the room.


I arrived at around 12pm and three hours, a dozen orchids, about 100 candles and 1 Pachabel CD later the room was ready to go. There were candles everywhere...from the bathroom- floating in the sinks and tub- to the nightstands- to the table outside on the balcony. The concierge promised to light the candles in about an hour and chill the wine and champagne I had ready.


I arranged to go to the concierge desk when we arrived back at the hotel together, ask where the room was, and have the concierge pretend to show us the way to the room- all just in time for the sunset. Well, at least that was the plan...



It turned out that she was running about 30 minutes late. So by the time I was driving to pick her up at what should have been 4pm it was looking more like we were not going to leave until 4:30pm. Since it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there that meant we'd miss the sunset.


The funny thing was that she was a little upset that she could tell I was upset that she was running late. (Her car was being serviced and took longer than it should have)....Of course I couldn't tell her the real reason it seemed I was upset

 

[Almost There]

Continued:

She rushed to get ready in record time (after a phone call from her cousin prompting her to hurry so she wouldn't miss the amazing sunset) and we got to the hotel just around sunset. I started to walk towards the concierge as planned but there were two different people at the desk. She asked where the room was, and one of them just said, "over there and down to the right". She said thanks and started racing away. I caught up and started to think fast...I told her I wanted to make a restaurant reservation for later and started walking back to the concierge desk. She tells me to just make it from the friend's room because we were going to miss the sunset. The problem was that without the concierge walking us over, I had no way to get in the room without her being suspicious.


Fortunately when we walked back to the desk one of the other people there caught onto what I was saying and got the original concierge I'd set things up with out of the back. She walked us down to the room, knocked on the door, and then with an Oscar worthy performance when no one answered, told us that they'd told her to let us in if they weren't there because they were walking around the property.


It was so smooth that I almost believed it myself. We walked in the room and the concierge slipped away. It was dim and just lit with the glow of candles.