Lestat
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2009
- Messages
- 260
Hello everyone!
So the moment I was waiting for had finally arrived! After 6 months of preparation and planning, I had the ring in hand and a special series of surprises for my future fiance
Here''s my story (I''m very long winded and I obsess over small details, so you''ve been warned!) starting with....
Finding a Diamond and Engagement Ring Setting:
I finally made step one and began to look for ring designs. Over some time, I had spoken casually with my partner on a few occasions about what kind of setting styles she might like, and I took her to a few jewellery shops to get an idea of what was out there. She is very sweet and modest and she loved the same styles I loved, so she was happy to trust me and let me surprise her
In the town I''m living in, engagement rings in B&M stores typically consist of round or princess diamonds under half a carat usually in yellow gold. I wanted something different, and I love the classy, modern look of white metals, so I started to research metal options online and look for a diamond cut that would suit her hand shape, and we both loved emerald cut diamonds. I had never considered buying a diamond online, I thought I was reasonably well educated from my visits to B&M stores over the years, I was familiar with color, carat, and clarity and I basically thought that all diamonds were probably machine cut with equal precision so as long as the other 3 C''s were good, that would be an "ideal" diamond (feel free to laugh at me for a while here).
I am a big computer geek, so I also started looking for styles online. My partner is Japanese, so I thought the logical step would be to search for modern Japanese engagement rings. This train of thought eventually led me to Mokume Gane, which I had never seen before. I found a lot of useful info on the Krikawa website regarding metals, and I found one of their settings that I thought would be the perfect. I wanted platinum, but their prices were quite high, so I was thinking of maybe palladium or white gold, although I was not looking forward to re-plating for the rest of our lives. I was also a bit worried about silver in their rings as my partner tarnishes silver quite quickly. I sent them an e-mail for a quote, and I started to look around for the center diamond (thinking that I''d like to choose the diamond myself rather than have Krikawa choose it for me) and for more knowledge about diamonds.
In my search for diamonds and knowledge, I hit the jackpot, Pricescope! This forum is incredible! I soaked up as much as I could before starting to search for the perfect diamond. I actually started to feel more comfortable about buying a diamond online with all of the wealth of information and pictures available with vendors like Whiteflash, and less comfortable about buying a diamond with a B&M store which in my area tend to have stones loosely graded by themselves and basically are asking you to trust their judgement. After seeing a few overpriced terribly included badly cut diamonds, I decided to start searching online.
I soon found out that I could get a much larger, better cut diamond for the same budget as an overpriced local stone. I read many posts and they helped me considerably shrink the massive virtual list down to a few choice stones. I checked out all of the Pricescope vendors and some others, but in the end I registered on the Whiteflash website so I could use their wishlist function to store diamonds I was interested in, and I sent an e-mail to Whiteflash and GOG as well to see if they could help me in my search. Whiteflash consultant Chris Gonzales replied straight away and was happy to help as long as I agreed to pay return shipping on any decent virtual stones they shipped in that I rejected. They also found a couple stones that were just outside my search parameters and sent me some pictures. GOG took a couple days to get back to me, and in their e-mail, they stated that I would have to pay a deposit to have them search for stones for me, and that I would have to commit to using them as my sole vendor. Fair enough, but this rubbed me the wrong way and I was already working with Whiteflash, so I decided to stick with them. After reading more on this forum, I know that both are awesome vendors and either would be great choices. After I had a few stones I made my first post here!
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/opinions-on-this-emerald-cut-photos.126086/
Both Lorelei and Karl chimed in to save me from my own stupidity, and gave me some very helpful advice. I took their information and worked with my Whiteflash consultant to try and get a top 3 list of stones to have brought in.
In the meantime I made my second post asking for opinions on my setting choice:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/1ct-emerald-cut-solitaire-ering-setting-ideas.126259/
Krikawa still hadn''t replied to my initial quote request, and after looking around a bit, I was starting to doubt my choice, especially when I saw the lower prices from other companies. Lorelei was on the ball as always and jumped in with her opinion which helped give me the motivation to look around. The thread kind of got stuck on bezels after that, but it was enough to get me to start looking elsewhere, especially since Krikawa still hadn''t replied after about a week and a half, even after some follow up e-mails, and that was worrying to me.
I started to research metals much more and found out that there was actually many different alloys that are used in ring making, and some of the pros and cons for each of the alloys. In the end, I decided to try for Platinum/Ruthenium. Although it is harder to work with, it makes for a durable ring. This eventually led me to the Tiffany website for a browse, where I found a setting style both my partner and I liked!
But first... I had the shortlisted 3 diamonds arrive at Whiteflash and I posted all of the details and pictures here in this thread:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/paging-strmrdr-and-any-other-emerald-cut-experts-help-with-3-stones-please-pics-aset-ideals.126547/
I knew Karl was the resident step cut expert so I asked for his help specifically in the title of the thread, and he was the first to reply! His answer didn''t originally match with my Whiteflash rep, but after I got a picture of all 3 diamonds together side by side, my Whiteflash rep changed his opinion and it matched all the others
I trusted everyone here and all of the opinions in the thread were lining up, so I had my diamond finally!!
Back to the setting, I had found a beautiful Tiffany setting for our diamond:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-finding-reasonable-price-tiffany-replica-setting.126677/
My partner isn''t a brand girl, so I didn''t want to spend money on the brand name when I could spend it on quality instead, so I started to look at the various replicas available and similar custom designs. I checked out all the vendors and designers I could find, and in the end I sent e-mails out for quotes on a custom design to Leon Mege (Demelza''s beautiful ring). When the e-mails came back, Whiteflash was the cheapest, Maytal came in second, and Leon was the most expensive. After drooling over all the fabulous Leon rings here, I was willing to pay a bit extra for Leon''s work, and as his quote was not too far off the others, I decided to go with him. I had read all of the threads about him, and I was prepared to word my e-mails very carefully and try not to cause or take any offense in exchange for him producing the perfect ring. Somewhere in the middle of all this, Krikawa finally replied to my quote request, but it was just too little, too late. For their price on a palladium setting, I could get a platinum Leon setting, so for me there was no contest.
I was concerned about the ring sizing buying overseas, and there are no Tiffany stores near home to get sized (Leon''s recommendation), so I did my research here at Pricescope and the best advice came from Deelight, which was to buy a simple silver ring and wear it for a few days to check the size, then post it over to Leon. This was great advice, the ring didn''t cost much and postage was almost nothing, and finger size really does change during the day, so it was great to be able to try it out first.
I also enquired regarding wedding bands, but that will be another thread in the near future
Leon sent me some pictures of his chosen side stones for the ring, and I posted them here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/are-these-good-side-stones.127732/
I was a bit worried that one stone looked different in the picture to the other, so I sent an e-mail with a few questions back to Leon. Instead of answering the questions, he actually found another set of stones and sent me more pics, which I posted here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/are-these-good-tapered-baguette-side-stones-they-all-look-the-same-to-me.127973/
The second picture looked much better but I was concerned that all the details of the stones seemed the same. I thought maybe he''d just taken the same stones in better lighting. In the end, following the advice of more intelligent people on Pricescope, I decided to let Leon use his experience to choose the stones, and he went with the newer set.
The only real design issue remaining was the prongs. The design on Leon''s website was double prongs, and his work order to me specified single prongs. I asked him what he thought and instead of answering, he changed the work order over to double prongs. I was confused and I didn''t know which would work best with my diamond, so I posted here again:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/leons-single-or-double-claw-prongs-with-1ct-emerald-cut.129222/
After much advice again, and me privately photoshopping single and double prongs on my stone until I was going mad, it was decided in the thread to let Leon choose. By this stage, I had started to form the opinion that e-mail conversations were not really his strongest point (sometimes he would confuse e-mails or pictures sent on different days, etc), so I decided to call him instead. I was worried about this step as I wasn''t really sure what to expect, and I thought maybe he would take offense at my questioning his work order, but I was very surprised at his phone manner. He was great on the phone, very easy to talk with and very happy to explain everything. In one quick phone call I accomplished more than in masses of e-mailing back and forth. I was much more comfortable and happy about choosing Leon after this point. It was decided that he would choose single or double prongs as the ring was manufactured based on his opinion of what would look best with the stone.
From this point on, I was satisfied with the work orders, so I signed them off and paid my deposit, and the rest was in Leon''s hands. I was worried about not being able to see the progress of the ring as Leon does not provide drawings or CAD, but I had faith in his skill and judgement, so I tried to be patient and gave him the opportunity to do what he does best. I also decided that if I needed to ask a detailed question, I would call instead of e-mail, and that worked out much better.
As a few of you might know, I am a dual citizen of Canada and Australia, currently living in Australia, but I am planning to return to Canada soon, so I was thinking to have the ring sent to my family there because of NAFTA, so I would get the ring duty free, and only have to pay the 5% GST. I thought sending it here to Australia would cost me too much in taxes and just blow my budget, so I was a bit disappointed at the thought of proposing without a ring. While waiting for Leon to make the ring, I started to research free trade agreements, and found out that Australia has a free trade agreement with the USA! I posted my findings here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/custom-ring-ausfta.130164/
And with the great help of Arjunajane, we figured out that it would be possible to have the ring sent to Australia duty free! I told Leon to change my shipping address and gave him detailed instructions on how to send it, and that I''d like it here before my proposal date if at all possible. Leon worked very hard to get my ring ready in time, especially since it was just before Christmas and his busiest time. My ring is by no means a large project for him (not that he ever mentioned that), so I felt very lucky that he was considering me equal to all of his other customers and doing his best to make things happen for me. In the end, he finished the ring just in time, and it was shipped to me and made it to my address with no duty! The only thing remaining was.....
Planning The Proposal:
I needed all the help I could get from Pricescope, so I was off to the Proposal section to read up
I also watched quite a few Youtube videos of different unique proposals and found bits and pieces that helped me to generate some ideas of my own.
I wanted something different, I wanted to spoil my partner as much as possible and just create the "perfect day" before proposing. My budget was a bit limited after the ring, so although I originally wanted to fly us off somewhere, I decided it would be better to go to one of the beautiful local areas here (I live in the tropics) and spend the extra money on accommodation and activities instead of airfares.
I posted my plan on Pricescope here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/hows-this-idea.131092/
This section of Pricescope doesn''t seem to get many visits, so the topic wasn''t really followed, but I still got quite helpful pieces of advice from TooPatient and Havernell regarding timing and delivery
Here''s how I arrived at this plan. I wanted a special place to stay, and thanks to the Tripadvisor website, I found a beautiful new penthouse apartment. I considered a few other nice places, but this one just seemed exactly what I was looking for. The others were nice, but usually privacy meant they were tucked in the ground level in a dark corner somewhere, or there were mixed reviews. The thought of a rooftop penthouse made the decision easy for me. I spoke to the hotel and arranged for us to be in the room with the nicest view, the one they use for their website photos. They also told me that the adjacent rooms were privately owned and currently unoccupied, so we would have complete privacy! I wanted to propose in the evening after our special day together, preferably on the rooftop, so I started to think of ways to make it happen.
I started to look for a nice dinner setting for the two of us, checking menus and reading reviews and websites, but when I told the hotel about my intentions to propose, they mentioned the local catering company could make a private dinner for just the two of us! Having access to our own private rooftop, I decided to contact them and through a series of back & forth e-mailing, we worked out a great custom menu for the proposal including all of her favorite tastes along with a special table setting.
My partner loves chocolate (one of her email addresses contains the words chocolate for breakfast...) so I started to think of ways to include chocolate in my dinner proposal. I originally was looking at dipping the ring box in chocolate and hiding it amongst other items on a dessert tray, but once I started to read about the process and thought about how difficult it would be to keep it secret, keep it from melting, how to not damage the ring box, and all the other technicalities, I had to have a change of plan. In my search for yummy chocolate ideas, I stumbled across the Chocogram website. This was perfect for me because I could have great quality custom chocolates to say exactly what I wanted (which also solved the problem of me possibly poisoning my partner with my poor chocolate attempt lol)! The other advantage was that I could have the finished product sent directly to the accommodation and they could hide it until it was needed
The daily activities were still up in the air, I was originally thinking of river snorkeling, but after a bit more research, I found out the chance of rain was pretty much 80%, so I needed a rainy day plan. The caterers could set up on our main floor balcony instead of the rooftop in case of rain, so it was just what to do during the day that was an issue. My partner is a massage therapist who doesn''t often get to have a good massage, and she had mentioned to me a few times that she would like to try a Vichy shower together, so I decided to spoil us with a signature treatment 3 hour couples massage treatment including a fully body exfoliation and clay wrap with was washed off with Vichy rain, then a full body massage and signature facial at a rainforest resort nearby. We would finish off with some time in a couples relaxation room and a nice fruit cocktail and a tropical fruit platter (small enough to leave room for dinner!). I made sure that her therapist was qualified and very experienced so she could just relax and enjoy the treatment. The spa treatment was great because I could get her out of the apartment long enough for the caterers to come in and set up, and by the time we were finished, it would be the right time to head to the dinner.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand ACTION!!
Soooooooo after having to endure the painful wait.... Every day knowing I had the ring, and that she was so beautiful and perfect that I just wanted to propose every minute... But knowing that I had a great plan if only I could hold out... I somehow managed to make it to the all important day! I planned everything to coincide with our first year Anniversary together, somehow I managed to arrange it all in time!
I had arranged some time off work and secretly booked us in for 3 nights at the penthouse. My partner was under the impression that we''d just be hanging around home relaxing for our anniversary (she probably thought, wow excitement plus, I might have to ditch this guy...) so she was shocked when I told her we should go shopping for some nice things to eat on our 3 day holiday! She kept asking where we were going, but I managed to keep the secret until we were almost there, but she had no idea where we were staying until I pulled into the parking area. She loved the apartment and we had a couple nice (albeit a bit rainy) days before the "big" day.
I wanted to keep things fairly low key for the first few days, so I rented all the romantic movies I could think of for us to watch while it was raining outside (I threw in a couple funny ones too, for example, I thought I was pretty clever by renting "Yes Man" where he has to say "YES" to everything, she didn''t pick up on that until after), and we went to some of the beautiful lookout spots and had some nice cafe and restaurant meals while shopping and walking around town. On the day before the proposal, she found a beautiful dress in one of the local boutique shops, it was the perfect color to match with the necklace I had given her for Christmas that she wanted to wear for our special day, and she looked absolutely wonderful in it, so I said we should buy it and she could wear it for our Anniversary dinner!
Finally the big day arrived, and after a lovely morning together (clear sky, no rain!), my next surprise for her was our 3 hour couples treatment at the spa! I told her we were going out to dinner at a ''nice restaurant'' straight after, so we should bring everything to change at the spa. She was expecting a small spa, so she had another small surprise when we pulled up at a large rainforest resort. The spa course was amazing, we were both totally relaxed by the time it was finished.
One of my worries was where to hide the ring so that I could get it easily when I wanted to propose. Anything could happen so I wanted to be a bit flexible with timing, which meant I needed the ring with me at all times so I could just pull it out when I needed to. I couldn''t keep it in my pocket because the box would be too obvious, and I didn''t want to lose the box because it was a nice presentation. I couldn''t wear a jacket because it was summer in the tropics, and it would be way too hot. I do usually carry a bag, but it would just be too awkward to try and get out, and would kill the moment. My grand idea was to slip the ring box into the top part of my sock along my leg (don''t worry, I had clean, non smelly feet lol), just above my ankle, so it wouldn''t fall out the top, and wear long loose pants so it wouldn''t show. This way, when I went down on one knee, I''d have the ring right where I wanted it. It was a good idea, but I don''t think I''d want to go hiking with it there, it was a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully I just needed to walk to my car and then to the apartment, so I wasn''t too worried, and the lack of comfort was reassuring because I knew the box was still there.
When we made it to the car, I told her that I had ''forgotten something at home'' and we needed to make a quick stop there before having dinner. It wasn''t so smooth to get her to come upstairs with me, she was happy to wait while I ran up to get whatever it was that I needed, but I ''didn''t want to leave her waiting in the car all by herself'', so I insisted that she come with me
When we made it upstairs, I let her go in first and she walked in to discover the next surprise, a chef in our kitchen! The chef introduced herself and I led her out onto the balcony to a line of rose petals leading to our special candlelit table for two decked out in purple, her favorite color! The chef prepared and served each course and drinks, she was very friendly and polite and my partner loved the food. The next big surprise was the dessert, which I had asked the chef to attempt. I had found out my partner''s favorite Japanese dessert was Ichigo Daifuku (do a search on google, beautiful pics) and done some research into how it was made and asked the chef if she would give it a try as part of the menu. She agreed, and it was one of the best moments of the evening when she brought out the special dessert and my partner was so happy and excited! She told me she hadn''t had that dessert in over two years and that it was made to perfection 
I think at this stage she thought that the evening was over, but I had a couple more surprises up my sleeve. The chef left us to enjoy our dessert together, and after enjoying the view and the time together, we went back inside. It started to rain softly outside and the moment was just right... I told her I still had some surprises left for her! I had the staff at the apartment sneak in the wooden box of special chocolates while we were out, and I brought it out and handed it to my partner. She sat down to open it and find out what was inside, and as she was, I started to tell her how perfect she makes every day of my life, how amazing she is, and how much I want to spend every day with her for the rest of my life. As she opened the box and started to read, I got down on my knee and asked her if she would marry me! She started to cry and she couldn''t speak, so she just nodded her head, and then she said "Be my husband!" So I guess I actually got the proposal as well and said YES to her first! Then I told her that I had just one more surprise for her, and that''s when I pulled out the ring box (she had no idea the ring was even finished) and slipped the ring on my FIANCE''s finger! It was the perfect end to a perfect day, it felt just like a movie moment and we''ll never forget it. She''s made me the happiest man on Earth and we''re looking forward to our next step, the wedding!
Thank you to everyone here on Pricescope that has helped me choose the best, most beautful ring that I could possibly get for my special girl, and for all the help making it happen! Thanks as well to Whiteflash, they were amazing through the whole process, incredible customer service, especially Chris who even followed up with me during the ring design process with Leon and also on the proposal! It felt just like dealing with a close friend. I sent them my Facebook photo album link and I was contacted by the CEO of Whiteflash who wrote a very sweet e-mail to my fiance and I, and we''ve been offered one of their new calendars as a small gift! Leon''s service as well cannot be faulted, he went to extra effort to get me the ring on time, and he was very patient with my long e-mails and was great to talk to throughout the design process. I''d recommend him to anyone who is willing to make a couple short phone calls to the USA (cheap from most countries, it''s worth it!) and who is willing to be patient and trust in his experience to design your perfect ring.
And now the moment you''ve all been waiting for..... Pictures!!!
First, the packaging for the ring, it came in a Fedex box, which I opened to find a smaller Fedex box, which I opened to find a Fedex padded envelope...
So the moment I was waiting for had finally arrived! After 6 months of preparation and planning, I had the ring in hand and a special series of surprises for my future fiance
Here''s my story (I''m very long winded and I obsess over small details, so you''ve been warned!) starting with....
Finding a Diamond and Engagement Ring Setting:
I finally made step one and began to look for ring designs. Over some time, I had spoken casually with my partner on a few occasions about what kind of setting styles she might like, and I took her to a few jewellery shops to get an idea of what was out there. She is very sweet and modest and she loved the same styles I loved, so she was happy to trust me and let me surprise her
In the town I''m living in, engagement rings in B&M stores typically consist of round or princess diamonds under half a carat usually in yellow gold. I wanted something different, and I love the classy, modern look of white metals, so I started to research metal options online and look for a diamond cut that would suit her hand shape, and we both loved emerald cut diamonds. I had never considered buying a diamond online, I thought I was reasonably well educated from my visits to B&M stores over the years, I was familiar with color, carat, and clarity and I basically thought that all diamonds were probably machine cut with equal precision so as long as the other 3 C''s were good, that would be an "ideal" diamond (feel free to laugh at me for a while here).
I am a big computer geek, so I also started looking for styles online. My partner is Japanese, so I thought the logical step would be to search for modern Japanese engagement rings. This train of thought eventually led me to Mokume Gane, which I had never seen before. I found a lot of useful info on the Krikawa website regarding metals, and I found one of their settings that I thought would be the perfect. I wanted platinum, but their prices were quite high, so I was thinking of maybe palladium or white gold, although I was not looking forward to re-plating for the rest of our lives. I was also a bit worried about silver in their rings as my partner tarnishes silver quite quickly. I sent them an e-mail for a quote, and I started to look around for the center diamond (thinking that I''d like to choose the diamond myself rather than have Krikawa choose it for me) and for more knowledge about diamonds.
In my search for diamonds and knowledge, I hit the jackpot, Pricescope! This forum is incredible! I soaked up as much as I could before starting to search for the perfect diamond. I actually started to feel more comfortable about buying a diamond online with all of the wealth of information and pictures available with vendors like Whiteflash, and less comfortable about buying a diamond with a B&M store which in my area tend to have stones loosely graded by themselves and basically are asking you to trust their judgement. After seeing a few overpriced terribly included badly cut diamonds, I decided to start searching online.
I soon found out that I could get a much larger, better cut diamond for the same budget as an overpriced local stone. I read many posts and they helped me considerably shrink the massive virtual list down to a few choice stones. I checked out all of the Pricescope vendors and some others, but in the end I registered on the Whiteflash website so I could use their wishlist function to store diamonds I was interested in, and I sent an e-mail to Whiteflash and GOG as well to see if they could help me in my search. Whiteflash consultant Chris Gonzales replied straight away and was happy to help as long as I agreed to pay return shipping on any decent virtual stones they shipped in that I rejected. They also found a couple stones that were just outside my search parameters and sent me some pictures. GOG took a couple days to get back to me, and in their e-mail, they stated that I would have to pay a deposit to have them search for stones for me, and that I would have to commit to using them as my sole vendor. Fair enough, but this rubbed me the wrong way and I was already working with Whiteflash, so I decided to stick with them. After reading more on this forum, I know that both are awesome vendors and either would be great choices. After I had a few stones I made my first post here!
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/opinions-on-this-emerald-cut-photos.126086/
Both Lorelei and Karl chimed in to save me from my own stupidity, and gave me some very helpful advice. I took their information and worked with my Whiteflash consultant to try and get a top 3 list of stones to have brought in.
In the meantime I made my second post asking for opinions on my setting choice:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/1ct-emerald-cut-solitaire-ering-setting-ideas.126259/
Krikawa still hadn''t replied to my initial quote request, and after looking around a bit, I was starting to doubt my choice, especially when I saw the lower prices from other companies. Lorelei was on the ball as always and jumped in with her opinion which helped give me the motivation to look around. The thread kind of got stuck on bezels after that, but it was enough to get me to start looking elsewhere, especially since Krikawa still hadn''t replied after about a week and a half, even after some follow up e-mails, and that was worrying to me.
I started to research metals much more and found out that there was actually many different alloys that are used in ring making, and some of the pros and cons for each of the alloys. In the end, I decided to try for Platinum/Ruthenium. Although it is harder to work with, it makes for a durable ring. This eventually led me to the Tiffany website for a browse, where I found a setting style both my partner and I liked!
But first... I had the shortlisted 3 diamonds arrive at Whiteflash and I posted all of the details and pictures here in this thread:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/paging-strmrdr-and-any-other-emerald-cut-experts-help-with-3-stones-please-pics-aset-ideals.126547/
I knew Karl was the resident step cut expert so I asked for his help specifically in the title of the thread, and he was the first to reply! His answer didn''t originally match with my Whiteflash rep, but after I got a picture of all 3 diamonds together side by side, my Whiteflash rep changed his opinion and it matched all the others
Back to the setting, I had found a beautiful Tiffany setting for our diamond:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-finding-reasonable-price-tiffany-replica-setting.126677/
My partner isn''t a brand girl, so I didn''t want to spend money on the brand name when I could spend it on quality instead, so I started to look at the various replicas available and similar custom designs. I checked out all the vendors and designers I could find, and in the end I sent e-mails out for quotes on a custom design to Leon Mege (Demelza''s beautiful ring). When the e-mails came back, Whiteflash was the cheapest, Maytal came in second, and Leon was the most expensive. After drooling over all the fabulous Leon rings here, I was willing to pay a bit extra for Leon''s work, and as his quote was not too far off the others, I decided to go with him. I had read all of the threads about him, and I was prepared to word my e-mails very carefully and try not to cause or take any offense in exchange for him producing the perfect ring. Somewhere in the middle of all this, Krikawa finally replied to my quote request, but it was just too little, too late. For their price on a palladium setting, I could get a platinum Leon setting, so for me there was no contest.
I was concerned about the ring sizing buying overseas, and there are no Tiffany stores near home to get sized (Leon''s recommendation), so I did my research here at Pricescope and the best advice came from Deelight, which was to buy a simple silver ring and wear it for a few days to check the size, then post it over to Leon. This was great advice, the ring didn''t cost much and postage was almost nothing, and finger size really does change during the day, so it was great to be able to try it out first.
I also enquired regarding wedding bands, but that will be another thread in the near future
Leon sent me some pictures of his chosen side stones for the ring, and I posted them here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/are-these-good-side-stones.127732/
I was a bit worried that one stone looked different in the picture to the other, so I sent an e-mail with a few questions back to Leon. Instead of answering the questions, he actually found another set of stones and sent me more pics, which I posted here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/are-these-good-tapered-baguette-side-stones-they-all-look-the-same-to-me.127973/
The second picture looked much better but I was concerned that all the details of the stones seemed the same. I thought maybe he''d just taken the same stones in better lighting. In the end, following the advice of more intelligent people on Pricescope, I decided to let Leon use his experience to choose the stones, and he went with the newer set.
The only real design issue remaining was the prongs. The design on Leon''s website was double prongs, and his work order to me specified single prongs. I asked him what he thought and instead of answering, he changed the work order over to double prongs. I was confused and I didn''t know which would work best with my diamond, so I posted here again:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/leons-single-or-double-claw-prongs-with-1ct-emerald-cut.129222/
After much advice again, and me privately photoshopping single and double prongs on my stone until I was going mad, it was decided in the thread to let Leon choose. By this stage, I had started to form the opinion that e-mail conversations were not really his strongest point (sometimes he would confuse e-mails or pictures sent on different days, etc), so I decided to call him instead. I was worried about this step as I wasn''t really sure what to expect, and I thought maybe he would take offense at my questioning his work order, but I was very surprised at his phone manner. He was great on the phone, very easy to talk with and very happy to explain everything. In one quick phone call I accomplished more than in masses of e-mailing back and forth. I was much more comfortable and happy about choosing Leon after this point. It was decided that he would choose single or double prongs as the ring was manufactured based on his opinion of what would look best with the stone.
From this point on, I was satisfied with the work orders, so I signed them off and paid my deposit, and the rest was in Leon''s hands. I was worried about not being able to see the progress of the ring as Leon does not provide drawings or CAD, but I had faith in his skill and judgement, so I tried to be patient and gave him the opportunity to do what he does best. I also decided that if I needed to ask a detailed question, I would call instead of e-mail, and that worked out much better.
As a few of you might know, I am a dual citizen of Canada and Australia, currently living in Australia, but I am planning to return to Canada soon, so I was thinking to have the ring sent to my family there because of NAFTA, so I would get the ring duty free, and only have to pay the 5% GST. I thought sending it here to Australia would cost me too much in taxes and just blow my budget, so I was a bit disappointed at the thought of proposing without a ring. While waiting for Leon to make the ring, I started to research free trade agreements, and found out that Australia has a free trade agreement with the USA! I posted my findings here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/custom-ring-ausfta.130164/
And with the great help of Arjunajane, we figured out that it would be possible to have the ring sent to Australia duty free! I told Leon to change my shipping address and gave him detailed instructions on how to send it, and that I''d like it here before my proposal date if at all possible. Leon worked very hard to get my ring ready in time, especially since it was just before Christmas and his busiest time. My ring is by no means a large project for him (not that he ever mentioned that), so I felt very lucky that he was considering me equal to all of his other customers and doing his best to make things happen for me. In the end, he finished the ring just in time, and it was shipped to me and made it to my address with no duty! The only thing remaining was.....
Planning The Proposal:
I needed all the help I could get from Pricescope, so I was off to the Proposal section to read up
I wanted something different, I wanted to spoil my partner as much as possible and just create the "perfect day" before proposing. My budget was a bit limited after the ring, so although I originally wanted to fly us off somewhere, I decided it would be better to go to one of the beautiful local areas here (I live in the tropics) and spend the extra money on accommodation and activities instead of airfares.
I posted my plan on Pricescope here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/hows-this-idea.131092/
This section of Pricescope doesn''t seem to get many visits, so the topic wasn''t really followed, but I still got quite helpful pieces of advice from TooPatient and Havernell regarding timing and delivery
Here''s how I arrived at this plan. I wanted a special place to stay, and thanks to the Tripadvisor website, I found a beautiful new penthouse apartment. I considered a few other nice places, but this one just seemed exactly what I was looking for. The others were nice, but usually privacy meant they were tucked in the ground level in a dark corner somewhere, or there were mixed reviews. The thought of a rooftop penthouse made the decision easy for me. I spoke to the hotel and arranged for us to be in the room with the nicest view, the one they use for their website photos. They also told me that the adjacent rooms were privately owned and currently unoccupied, so we would have complete privacy! I wanted to propose in the evening after our special day together, preferably on the rooftop, so I started to think of ways to make it happen.
I started to look for a nice dinner setting for the two of us, checking menus and reading reviews and websites, but when I told the hotel about my intentions to propose, they mentioned the local catering company could make a private dinner for just the two of us! Having access to our own private rooftop, I decided to contact them and through a series of back & forth e-mailing, we worked out a great custom menu for the proposal including all of her favorite tastes along with a special table setting.
My partner loves chocolate (one of her email addresses contains the words chocolate for breakfast...) so I started to think of ways to include chocolate in my dinner proposal. I originally was looking at dipping the ring box in chocolate and hiding it amongst other items on a dessert tray, but once I started to read about the process and thought about how difficult it would be to keep it secret, keep it from melting, how to not damage the ring box, and all the other technicalities, I had to have a change of plan. In my search for yummy chocolate ideas, I stumbled across the Chocogram website. This was perfect for me because I could have great quality custom chocolates to say exactly what I wanted (which also solved the problem of me possibly poisoning my partner with my poor chocolate attempt lol)! The other advantage was that I could have the finished product sent directly to the accommodation and they could hide it until it was needed
The daily activities were still up in the air, I was originally thinking of river snorkeling, but after a bit more research, I found out the chance of rain was pretty much 80%, so I needed a rainy day plan. The caterers could set up on our main floor balcony instead of the rooftop in case of rain, so it was just what to do during the day that was an issue. My partner is a massage therapist who doesn''t often get to have a good massage, and she had mentioned to me a few times that she would like to try a Vichy shower together, so I decided to spoil us with a signature treatment 3 hour couples massage treatment including a fully body exfoliation and clay wrap with was washed off with Vichy rain, then a full body massage and signature facial at a rainforest resort nearby. We would finish off with some time in a couples relaxation room and a nice fruit cocktail and a tropical fruit platter (small enough to leave room for dinner!). I made sure that her therapist was qualified and very experienced so she could just relax and enjoy the treatment. The spa treatment was great because I could get her out of the apartment long enough for the caterers to come in and set up, and by the time we were finished, it would be the right time to head to the dinner.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand ACTION!!
Soooooooo after having to endure the painful wait.... Every day knowing I had the ring, and that she was so beautiful and perfect that I just wanted to propose every minute... But knowing that I had a great plan if only I could hold out... I somehow managed to make it to the all important day! I planned everything to coincide with our first year Anniversary together, somehow I managed to arrange it all in time!
I had arranged some time off work and secretly booked us in for 3 nights at the penthouse. My partner was under the impression that we''d just be hanging around home relaxing for our anniversary (she probably thought, wow excitement plus, I might have to ditch this guy...) so she was shocked when I told her we should go shopping for some nice things to eat on our 3 day holiday! She kept asking where we were going, but I managed to keep the secret until we were almost there, but she had no idea where we were staying until I pulled into the parking area. She loved the apartment and we had a couple nice (albeit a bit rainy) days before the "big" day.
I wanted to keep things fairly low key for the first few days, so I rented all the romantic movies I could think of for us to watch while it was raining outside (I threw in a couple funny ones too, for example, I thought I was pretty clever by renting "Yes Man" where he has to say "YES" to everything, she didn''t pick up on that until after), and we went to some of the beautiful lookout spots and had some nice cafe and restaurant meals while shopping and walking around town. On the day before the proposal, she found a beautiful dress in one of the local boutique shops, it was the perfect color to match with the necklace I had given her for Christmas that she wanted to wear for our special day, and she looked absolutely wonderful in it, so I said we should buy it and she could wear it for our Anniversary dinner!
Finally the big day arrived, and after a lovely morning together (clear sky, no rain!), my next surprise for her was our 3 hour couples treatment at the spa! I told her we were going out to dinner at a ''nice restaurant'' straight after, so we should bring everything to change at the spa. She was expecting a small spa, so she had another small surprise when we pulled up at a large rainforest resort. The spa course was amazing, we were both totally relaxed by the time it was finished.
One of my worries was where to hide the ring so that I could get it easily when I wanted to propose. Anything could happen so I wanted to be a bit flexible with timing, which meant I needed the ring with me at all times so I could just pull it out when I needed to. I couldn''t keep it in my pocket because the box would be too obvious, and I didn''t want to lose the box because it was a nice presentation. I couldn''t wear a jacket because it was summer in the tropics, and it would be way too hot. I do usually carry a bag, but it would just be too awkward to try and get out, and would kill the moment. My grand idea was to slip the ring box into the top part of my sock along my leg (don''t worry, I had clean, non smelly feet lol), just above my ankle, so it wouldn''t fall out the top, and wear long loose pants so it wouldn''t show. This way, when I went down on one knee, I''d have the ring right where I wanted it. It was a good idea, but I don''t think I''d want to go hiking with it there, it was a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully I just needed to walk to my car and then to the apartment, so I wasn''t too worried, and the lack of comfort was reassuring because I knew the box was still there.
When we made it to the car, I told her that I had ''forgotten something at home'' and we needed to make a quick stop there before having dinner. It wasn''t so smooth to get her to come upstairs with me, she was happy to wait while I ran up to get whatever it was that I needed, but I ''didn''t want to leave her waiting in the car all by herself'', so I insisted that she come with me
I think at this stage she thought that the evening was over, but I had a couple more surprises up my sleeve. The chef left us to enjoy our dessert together, and after enjoying the view and the time together, we went back inside. It started to rain softly outside and the moment was just right... I told her I still had some surprises left for her! I had the staff at the apartment sneak in the wooden box of special chocolates while we were out, and I brought it out and handed it to my partner. She sat down to open it and find out what was inside, and as she was, I started to tell her how perfect she makes every day of my life, how amazing she is, and how much I want to spend every day with her for the rest of my life. As she opened the box and started to read, I got down on my knee and asked her if she would marry me! She started to cry and she couldn''t speak, so she just nodded her head, and then she said "Be my husband!" So I guess I actually got the proposal as well and said YES to her first! Then I told her that I had just one more surprise for her, and that''s when I pulled out the ring box (she had no idea the ring was even finished) and slipped the ring on my FIANCE''s finger! It was the perfect end to a perfect day, it felt just like a movie moment and we''ll never forget it. She''s made me the happiest man on Earth and we''re looking forward to our next step, the wedding!
Thank you to everyone here on Pricescope that has helped me choose the best, most beautful ring that I could possibly get for my special girl, and for all the help making it happen! Thanks as well to Whiteflash, they were amazing through the whole process, incredible customer service, especially Chris who even followed up with me during the ring design process with Leon and also on the proposal! It felt just like dealing with a close friend. I sent them my Facebook photo album link and I was contacted by the CEO of Whiteflash who wrote a very sweet e-mail to my fiance and I, and we''ve been offered one of their new calendars as a small gift! Leon''s service as well cannot be faulted, he went to extra effort to get me the ring on time, and he was very patient with my long e-mails and was great to talk to throughout the design process. I''d recommend him to anyone who is willing to make a couple short phone calls to the USA (cheap from most countries, it''s worth it!) and who is willing to be patient and trust in his experience to design your perfect ring.
And now the moment you''ve all been waiting for..... Pictures!!!
First, the packaging for the ring, it came in a Fedex box, which I opened to find a smaller Fedex box, which I opened to find a Fedex padded envelope...
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