Shiny Things

On Friday night after discovering that Avatar was sold out Kristian and I drove around trying to find something else to do. When we drove past the store where he bought my engagement ring I suggested maybe we stop in to start checking out wedding rings...any chance to look at sparkly things I'm gonna take!

A little background- Kristian bought the main stone of my ring through a diamond dealer but he went to Jewelry by Design where he's bought jewelry in the past to design the setting. He drew a design of the setting he wanted and they created the sparkly friend that resides on my left hand. When he designed the ring he made sure that the setting was high enough so that a wedding ring could fit snuggly against it. Here are some shots of my ring from all angles...can you tell I love my ring???

(Yeah my boy has good taste right?)

When we went into the store we quickly discovered that we would need to custom design a ring if we wanted an exact match. Ideally we want a band that has the small diamonds going halfway around the top as well as the diamonds on the side of the band per my second photo. We're having the lady price out that option as well as the option of the band with just diamonds on top. We already know that both options are going to be out of our price range but we want it for comparison puposes.

Here's the problem, when Kristian bought my engagement ring he had a different job making significantly more money so he was able to go all out on my engagement ring. Unfortunately shortly after he bought it he lost his job, was out of work for 4 months and subsequently took a new job with a substantial pay decrease. He of course had no way to forsee this happening so the option of us getting a perfectly matching mate for my e-ring is basically out the window.

To be honest I really don't mind, no one except for he and I will be able to really tell if the wedding band I have is or isn't a perfect match to the e-ring. I've looked online and found some more affordable options via other stores like Kay Jeweler's which I think could work really well. For example:

This ring cost significantly less money than what we would most likely pay for a custom matching band. We just need to go to some other stores to check these out in person. But hopefully we'll find my e-ring a pretty little friend soon.

As for Kristian's wedding band he wants to use his grandfather's wedding band, which just so happens to fit him perfectly. His grandparents were married for 50 years before his grandfather passed away so we both feel this band is not only sentimental but has some good vibes on it. If he does use it we want to see if his aunt (who is a goldsmith) can somehow add a design using some white gold to give it a two-tone look. This way it will go along with my white gold bands as well as his gold college class ring that he always wears on his right hand.

Hopefully we'll be able to settle on our rings within the next month or so because it will be a little hard to get married without them.