Years ago my mom inherited my great-grandmother's antique silver ring and she started wearing that as her wedding ring instead of her original one. When I was about to be engaged, she offered to let me use her ring that she wasn't wearing. As a poor, clueless couple we were thrilled to accept a free super nice ring and not have to pay for or pick out a new ring, and conveniently my dad also had a family ring from his grandfather that he wasn't using that he offered to Austin. We were happy with our rings but said that maybe for our 10th anniversary, we would get new rings that were actually picked out by us.
Years went by (almost 10!) and we still thought it would be fun to pick out new rings, but I was feeling very indecisive and had no idea what I would even choose for myself. Plus, I had the unfortunate problem of not being able to take my ring off! Then, in December, I was playing on the mattress with the kids and I felt a snag and noticed right away that one of the sapphires in my ring had come out! Luckily I found it immediately, but I felt very disgruntled. An empty prong wouldn't do! I felt sad looking at my ring that had been on my finger since 2011 and knowing it was time to take it off, but there was nothing else for it so I steeled myself and went to the mall to get it sawn off.
The pictures don't show it very well, but the spot where the sapphire should be looked so hollow and decroded. The sapphire that fell out is on my hand in that first picture. It is a really dark sapphire, almost black if you aren't looking at it with the light.
Look at my ringless hands! So weird! I kept trying to fiddle with the nonexistent rings. (I also had them cut off my Mongolian CTR ring since I figured I was already there...why not?) I haven't taken off my rings since after Natalie was born, 8 years ago! My fingers grew and never felt squeezed by my rings, but clearly they were pretty snug!
Once the rings were off, I felt actually pretty excited about getting a new ring. Part of me felt like it was impractical to get a new ring when my old one was just fine, but once the sapphire came out it was like I had permission to just let it go and pick my new one. Buuuut I didn't know what I wanted in a ring!
I took myself out to dinner and looked at the brochure for new ring settings but wasn't sure I really liked any of them. I wanted to use the big center diamond from my/my mom's original ring because it's a really beautiful diamond but also because it's a family heirloom from 1912! Technically it's an antique because it's a "European cut" diamond, which they don't do anymore. So I knew I wanted to reset that diamond, but wasn't sure what to do about the sapphires or the 7 smaller diamonds from the wedding band.
I looked online quite a bit but couldn't get a real feel for anything from just pictures, so when I was in Utah I went to a jewelry shop with my mom to look at some actual options. I wanted something dainty and not too fancy or flashy. Just really pretty and simple, but I didn't have a definite picture in my mind. I saw two rings that immediately stuck out, and they were very similar: thin rose gold band with a center circular diamond and very small diamond details on either side. There was a jewelry shop in Provo that our friends highly recommended so I wanted to go look there too before I decided on anything. Makall came with me since I went while we were in Lindon, and after explaining what I thought I was looking for the jeweler showed me a couple options but they were too ornate or bulky. We went to the next case and he pulled out another few rings which were nice, but still not "the one." Then I saw it: a simple, thin rose gold band with just a center set diamond. As simple as it gets but so beautiful and very me! I put it on my finger (it was a size 4!! who has fingers that small?!) and told him it was absolutely the right ring for me and when could I have it?
Here's the original showcase ring with a few sample bands. I went back and forth on adding a band and decided that I could always add one later if I wanted, but for now I just loved the simplicity and elegance of the single ring. I traded in the gold from my rings and the sapphires, used the center diamond in the new ring, and kept the 7 smaller diamonds in case I wanted to use them later. The jeweler (Dan at The Jeweler's Bench) was so helpful and awesome, and even rushed to resize and reset the ring for me THAT VERY DAY! It was even New Year's Eve, but he knew that I was from out of town and the ring was simple enough that he thought he could get everything done quickly enough. Afton and I went to pick it up while everyone else was at Chinese, and I was just absolutely tickled to have my very own special Jessie wedding ring!! Austin was heavily leaning towards rose gold, so I love that he had a say in what the ring eventually looked like, and I love how simple and shiny and happy it is.
A few weeks later I still stop and stare at it. It is so at home on my finger and I am just thrilled with it. Happy early anniversary to us! (Austin will get his new ring soon....stay tuned!)
I think it's very cool of my mom to have given me her ring in the first place, but especially that she said explicitly "this is now YOUR ring and you can do whatever you want with it, as long as we keep the original diamond in the family." Thanks, mom!
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