Since my last post, life, the coaster we know with its undulating highs and lows has had my head spinning. It all started during a dinner conversation back in mid 2017. Nadia, my girlfriend, and I had met up for dinner with some of Nadia's friend. The conversation quickly turned to the future and questions about when, if ever, would we get married. Our current relationship status has been "happily living in sin" for the past 3 years, so I found myself shying away from the whole formal wedding discussion. You can imaging my surprise when Nadia responded to the dinner table something along the lines that she, at this point would be satisfied with a ring and a trip to city hall. Thinking back, this may have very well been a Machiavellian honey vs vinegar scenario, which I may have completely fallen for.
Soon after our dinner party I began the process of sourcing an engagement ring, which proved slightly more difficult than expected. While I knew exactly what Nadia wanted in an engagement ring (we've been together for almost a decade now), I also wanted it to reflect my personality as well. While I found many styles online, that appealed to me, I wasn't comfortable with the whole online engagement ring purchase scenario. Many jewelry retailers were limited to showcasing their in house designs, and few if any could accommodate a custom made design.
I enlisted the aid of Daniela, Nadia's sister, who, as luck would have it, had recently made a connection to a jewelry broker, that specialized in custom design pieces. This jewelry broker was a "by appointment and by referral only" type establishment, which made setting up an appointment difficult, as Daniela lives on Vancouver Island.
Eventually, an appointment was established, and the brokers in house artist was able to extract the engagement/wedding ring/band idea, that had been floating around in my head. From the artists rendering, a intricate wax casting was created. A mold was made from the wax casting and finally, after a few months, the ring(s) were ready!
Now came preparations for the proposal...
Soon after our dinner party I began the process of sourcing an engagement ring, which proved slightly more difficult than expected. While I knew exactly what Nadia wanted in an engagement ring (we've been together for almost a decade now), I also wanted it to reflect my personality as well. While I found many styles online, that appealed to me, I wasn't comfortable with the whole online engagement ring purchase scenario. Many jewelry retailers were limited to showcasing their in house designs, and few if any could accommodate a custom made design.
I enlisted the aid of Daniela, Nadia's sister, who, as luck would have it, had recently made a connection to a jewelry broker, that specialized in custom design pieces. This jewelry broker was a "by appointment and by referral only" type establishment, which made setting up an appointment difficult, as Daniela lives on Vancouver Island.
Eventually, an appointment was established, and the brokers in house artist was able to extract the engagement/wedding ring/band idea, that had been floating around in my head. From the artists rendering, a intricate wax casting was created. A mold was made from the wax casting and finally, after a few months, the ring(s) were ready!
