Progress, finally!

[blacksand]

Well, ladies, we are finally getting somewhere! I had hoped to be engaged at Christmastime, thought for sure I'd be engaged for my birthday (this past Saturday), but life had just gotten in the way time and time again, and we hadn't even managed to get my grandmother's ring appraised, much less order a new setting. So, obviously I didn't get engaged in time for the big 30th birthday. But things are finally starting to come together for us, and today, we finally got the ring appraised! Woohoo! We already got it insured and will be putting in an order tomorrow for a Van Craeynest dream reset! Finally, things are happening! I can't wait to place the order and get the process started. I can't believe we'll be engaged soon!

 

[maebelle]

Yay! I've been waiting for news of your reset, your grandmother's stone is just gorgeous. What setting are you thinking about exactly?

 

[mary poppins]

Very exciting! That's great progress. Glad to hear things are falling in place for you. Van Craeynest has some beautiful, ornate settings. Do you have a particular setting in mind?

 

[blacksand]

This one. It's a little different, but I love it. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I've never seen it with a stone larger than .7 carats, and mine is a little over the carat. Sara at Van Craeynest assures me this is not a problem, and I've tried to Photoshop it to figure out what it will look like. I just don't want the stone to cover up the pretty flowers! But oh well, they'll be visible from most angles no matter what, and once I have the matching wedding band, it'll be flowers everywhere.

 

[slg47]

This one. It's a little different, but I love it. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I've never seen it with a stone larger than .7 carats, and mine is a little over the carat. Sara at Van Craeynest assures me this is not a problem, and I've tried to Photoshop it to figure out what it will look like. I just don't want the stone to cover up the pretty flowers! But oh well, they'll be visible from most angles no matter what, and once I have the matching wedding band, it'll be flowers everywhere.

that's going to be gorgeous

 

[Grlsbestfrnd]

Oh I love it! Congrats on your progress, I can't wait to see it!

 

[BabyJRu1202]

Ohh my is that beautiful.. Congrats!

 

[16ocean]

The ring you chose set with your grandmother's stone will be lovely!

 

[blacksand]

We have officially placed an order for the ring. To be perfectly honest, it was a bit of an ordeal, rather than the exciting achievement I had hoped for. Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever made a big purchase like this through the mail. Essentially, we have to place a lot of trust in the vendor, since they now have our deposit and will soon have our diamond, too. This is uncomfortable for both of us. BUT goodness gracious do they make pretty rings. So we had a lengthy discussion where he brought up his concerns about the order, and I tried to convince him it was perfectly safe, even though I'm quite nervous about it myself! And I was annoyed at him for bringing up these concerns NOW when we've been talking about this for months and he'd been on board all along, and in fact, he had been the one to say, yesterday morning, that he wanted to get the order in. And I told him I was annoyed. And he sighed loudly like an aggravated teenager and moped around for a bit. Fun times at our place last night. In any case, the end result was that we placed the order, and we ended the night snuggled in bed together, with him saying "we're going to make this happen." So I can't complain too much!

I will now proceed to be incredibly nervous for however many weeks it takes until my ring is complete and in hand. Please bear with me through this nerve-wracking waiting period!

 

[Anonymous]

Happy Dance Emote!!!! Seriously we need one! Congrats and can't wait to see it!

 

[blacksand]

Well, the diamond is on its way to San Francisco. We sent it out via registered mail yesterday. The postmaster assured us it was the safest way to go, we smothered it in so much brown paper tape that the guy at the counter laughed at us, and they stamped it all over and sent it off! Now I shall proceed to obsessively hit "refresh" on the USPS tracking site until it arrives safely at its destination. It's exciting, but terrifying! I cannot wait until the ring is in the works, but it makes me so nervous to be completely at the mercy of the postal service and then the jeweler. They have my payment and will soon have my diamond, and all I can do is wait and wait!

I am really excited, though, that this is finally coming together. Even the boyfriend is getting on board. Up until now, he has said that he doesn't care much for the setting I chose (but wanted me to have what I wanted). Yesterday, though, I had a minor freakout and wondered if I should have chosen a different setting instead. I showed my boyfriend a picture of the other setting. He asked to see the one we ordered again. "No," he said, "you chose the right one.... Actually, you know what? I really like this. It's going to look great." It was reassuring to hear, and I'm glad he can appreciate the ring. I really wanted him to like it, and it was bothering me a bit that he didn't. Anyway, life is good, the ring is in the works, and I'm actually going to be engaged soon. Finally!

 

[TwinkleStar]

Congrats! I love the updates! The setting you picked is so pretty - can't wait to see it on your hand!

 

[MBKRH]

Very nice ring! I'm glad to hear things are moving along for you.

 

[Laughinggravy0]

Blacksand I can well understand why you are nervous, but nothing will go wrong, you are insured aaaall the way and their work is a delight. it is going. to. be. BRRRILLLLiant! Post pics when you can.

 

[blacksand]

Thanks! I know you're right; everything will be fine, it's just hard not to obssess. It's all very weird because I never imagined I'd be such an active part of the ring purchasing process. The original plan was "who needs a ring? Let's get engaged!" When that was vetoed, it turned into "blacksand picks a ring, boyfriend orders it and give it to her as a 'surprise.'" And then the boyfriend decided he didn't want to go through the ordering process without my input. So we decided we'd order it and then tell the jeweler to communicate only with him from that point on. But then the boyfriend decided he wanted me to see the ring when it was done and make sure everything was okay before he proposed with it. So at this point, I am involved with every step of the process, and there will be zero surprises. Oh, well! It works for us, and I'm glad our engagement is more of a mutual agreement than a big flowery surprise. Plus, I got to pick a gorgeous ring. Now I get to spend 4-6 weeks obssessing over it, and then...we'll see!

 

[confusedaisy]

Thanks! I know you're right; everything will be fine, it's just hard not to obssess. It's all very weird because I never imagined I'd be such an active part of the ring purchasing process. The original plan was "who needs a ring? Let's get engaged!" When that was vetoed, it turned into "blacksand picks a ring, boyfriend orders it and give it to her as a 'surprise.'" And then the boyfriend decided he didn't want to go through the ordering process without my input. So we decided we'd order it and then tell the jeweler to communicate only with him from that point on. But then the boyfriend decided he wanted me to see the ring when it was done and make sure everything was okay before he proposed with it. So at this point, I am involved with every step of the process, and there will be zero surprises. Oh, well! It works for us, and I'm glad our engagement is more of a mutual agreement than a big flowery surprise. Plus, I got to pick a gorgeous ring. Now I get to spend 4-6 weeks obssessing over it, and then...we'll see!

I feel your pain- but the proposal will be a surprise and that'll be all that matters once that bling is on your finger! Beautiful setting... can't wait to see it all finished.

 

[DuckLovingVegan]

I can't wait to see your ring when it's done! It's so beautiful! I hope that he proposes soon.

 

[blacksand]

The diamond arrived safely in San Francisco today! Not too bad for time, considering Monday was a holiday! Now I can breathe again!

I'm told my setting has been die struck, chased and engraved and was to be antiqued today. It will be polished next week when Larry returns to the office, then my diamond and the tiny diamonds in the flowers will be set, then it will be polished again, and then it will be ready for me. It should be done next week, "unless Murphy's Law takes effect," per Sara's last e-mail. I'm thrilled, because I expected it would take 4-6 weeks! We paid extra for overnight return shipping, so we'll receive it almost as soon as it's done. It looks like that will be much sooner than I thought! Such exciting news, especially after the week from hell I just had at work. Definitely a great way to start my weekend.

 

[blacksand]

My ring will be here on Tuesday!

 

[Ganesha]

That's so exciting! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Blackpaw]

Black Sand, so happy that you're getting your dream ring so soon! cant wait to hear about your proposal...

i was reading through this thread and thought it was funny we've had similar experiences when it actually came to the crunch and making the order. Except in my case its me who lost the plot a little! i think it was the relative size of the purchase compared to anything i would normally buy - i almost wanted to back-out of the whole thing SO was the voice of (also slightly irritated) reason!

 

[maebelle]

It's *the* tuesday and we are all waiting (im)patiently...

 

[blacksand]

Oh, believe me, I am too! It's "On Fedex vehicle for delivery" as we speak! I'm waiting!

In less happy news, my boyfriend told me this morning that he wants me to see the ring, make sure it's what I wanted and it fits, but then he will take it back for a while. He still wants to ask my family for my hand (which is a little silly, since they gave us the diamond, so I'm pretty sure they approve, but sweet nonetheless). So he mentioned something about maybe pulling them aside on Easter to ask them. My face fell. I couldn't help it. I have to wait until almost May now? Well, obviously he now knows I'm not thrilled with that idea, so I think he will try to do it sooner, but who knows. Gah. I don't want to be a spoiled brat, and I know I should be happy it's coming soon. But gah. I was kind of hoping it would be more like...this weekend.

 

[slg47]

Tuesday as in...today!!! oh so exciting!

I hope you get it soon, I know you have been waiting (but secretly part of the reason I hope you get it soon is that I want to see pics of that beautiful ring!!!)

 

[Grlsbestfrnd]

I'm so excited for you! I can't wait to see it on your hand. Hopefully he won't make you wait too long. ~*~*~*DUST!*~*~*~

 

[blacksand]

IT IS HERE!

We watched the Fedex truck drive right past our house and I just about cried. But then he put his hazards on, backed up, and pulled into the driveway next door. He then proceeded to deliver a bunch of large packages to our landlord, and got back in the truck. Again, I though he was going to leave. But he emerged shortly therafter with a smaller package and walked through our yard to our front door. Whew!

I only got to spend a few minutes looking at it because a) I had to get back to work and b) my boyfriend still insists on maintaining some air of surprise around the whole thing, even though there's really no surprise at this point. I told him he could just take it and hide it as soon as it came, but he wanted me to see it, try it on, and verify it was what I wanted. Alas, this means I only snapped a fewm crappy photos with my phone before he took it away.

It is much tinier and more intricate than I had exepected! I know I took a gamble, having only seen this setting in photos, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicate it is. The details are so intricate it's unbelievable, and all hand detailed! The milgraining is so fine you can hardly see it. You can see every vein on every tiny leaf, and the wrinkles in the petals of the tiny flowers. It's gorgeous. It also fits perfectly.

[Because I am an ingrate and a jerk,] I did tease him and say "let me hold on to it a little longer; I won't get to see it again until May!" He rolled his eyes and took it back. But when I was leaving to go back to work, he kissed me goodbye and whispered "it won't be May." So I smiled, kissed him again, and started walking toward my car. At which point he called after me "maybe June! or September!" Oh, how much fun he must be having. Must be nice!







Sorry the pictures are so bad. It's the best I could do, for now!

 

[vintagelover229]

It's beautiful!!!

I'm so excited for you! Although I have to be honest...it's so much harder waiting when you've seen the ring. Mines been sitting in the same spot for over 9 months...I hope you don't have to wait to long!

I LOVE their work and your ering is so beautiful!
Did you get the matching band made with it or are you guys waiting to have it made later?

Yay!

 

[blacksand]

It's beautiful!!!

I'm so excited for you! Although I have to be honest...it's so much harder waiting when you've seen the ring. Mines been sitting in the same spot for over 9 months...I hope you don't have to wait to long!

I LOVE their work and your ering is so beautiful!
Did you get the matching band made with it or are you guys waiting to have it made later?

Yay!

Ugh. 9 months would absolutely kill me. I would die. I do NOT have that kind of patience. I know it will be hard to wait, even harder now that the pieces have fallen into place and I'm occasionally tempted to scream "propose already!" Everybody knows, there are no surprises involved, let's just be engaged now, okay? But I know he wants to do...something, so I must be patient. Ugh.

We couldn't really afford to get the wedding band made at the same time, so we'll have to wait a while for that. I'm afraid I may have to send them the e-ring so that they can match the wedding band perfectly, and I already don't want to part with it again! But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[Anonymous]

It's GORGEOUS! I had an internal "awww" at the whispering that it wouldn't be May comment. I'll be watching and waiting for your proposal thread!

 

[slg47]

It's GORGEOUS! I had an internal "awww" at the whispering that it wouldn't be May comment. I'll be watching and waiting for your proposal thread!

me too

it really is gorgeous when you get it for real, please please take lots of macro pics