Brilliant Earth Engagement Ring

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J and I have been talking about getting married for a while before the proposal and I had called dibs on proposal rights even before that.  Mainly because I wanted to propose and I don’t like how I cannot close my fingers together when I wear a ring.

We never actually looked at rings together, but she had a coworker who had what she wanted, which was a diamond with two sapphires.  I also knew that she wanted a conflict-free, environmentally responsible diamond.  As soon as I started my search, there was only one place that offered the ring I wanted to buy, which was Brilliant Earth.  The problem I had was that I wouldn’t be able to see the ring in person before I bought it.  I am fine buying anything else online, but buying a diamond and then having it shipped across the country made me nervous.  I tried to find a jeweler in the area who sold Canadian diamonds, but I couldn’t find one who had what I was looking for.

My second, slightly funnier problem was that I had no idea what ring size she was.  I couldn’t measure her finger because that would give it away.  I had a brilliant, sneaky idea.  I knit a lot and one day I took a little bit of yarn, pretended to propose with it, stole it back, and measured it.  This was not the smartest idea because yarn stretches.  She could have been anywhere from a 5 to a 8.  The morale of the story is to use string with no elasticity.

On New Year’s Day 2009, I bit the bullet and ordered the ring.  It arrived in the mail shortly after and was exactly like the picture on the website.  I proposed on Valentine’s Day.  We had gone up to Manhattan to see Will Ferrell’s Broadway show (he is one of J’s favorite people ever).  Before the show, we bought some cupcakes and went to central park.  As soon as we found a bench, I immediatly got one on knee and and proposed.  J said ‘Of course! What took you so long?’.

photo via me

photo via me

And this is where the story would normally end. However in May, we went to China for 3 weeks. J didn’t want to bring her ring in case it was stolen. Four days before we returned, our apartment was burgled and her ring was stolen. Lucky I had insured it. While dealing with the insurance company, all the paper work, and getting a new ring was a hassle, the Brilliant Earth sale representative I worked with was wonderful. On the phone I sound like a woman, but she never made the mistake of thinking it was my ring. The first phone conversation I had with her, she said ‘let’s get the ring back on your sweetheart’s finger as soon as possible’.  I cannot even begin to tell you how happy that made me, which is why I would recommend them to anyone. Yes, there are many other reasons, they are an ethically conscious choice, the ring comes in a sustainably harvested wood box, but the biggest reason to me is that if you are a woman buying a ring for another woman, they won’t even question it.