A Recent E-mail Exchange: Or, I’ve Become the Cliche
By Honey on Sep 14, 2009 in Marriage
So, as I’ve mentioned before (though not super recently), Jake and I set the date: May 12, 2012. We’ve already made some decisions:
- The wedding favors will be M&M’s with our initials
- Jake’s in charge of the cake
We were discussing engagement rings recently because I’d sent him an article from The Atlantic about how shady and terrible and manipulative the diamond industry is, and and we basically decided that it wasn’t an industry we wanted to support. Then we had the following e-mail exchange:
E-mail #1: I Take the Plunge
Jake,
…so after we talked about getting a CZ ring for me I decided to poke around a little. This one is .75 carats for the center stone, 1 carat total (with the baguettes). So, basically, my ideal ring (I think anywhere between .75 and 1 ct for the center stone is a good size for my finger). This one is $741 for platinum and $312 for white gold.
I think it goes well with a wedding band like this, $583.70 for platinum and $245.70 for white gold.
Most of this is the settings, as when I went to the loose stones page a 1 ct emerald cut cz was $65. I’m open to something like white gold instead of platinum but I do think that even if the stone is “fake,” the band should be “real” – for durability purposes but also because I don’t want the band to tarnish (this is the problem with silver, and the only reason I wouldn’t want that – a new silver band looks the same as white gold or platinum, but if you’re going to leave the ring on while you’re doing things like washing your hands or taking a shower, then it eventually loses its luster and turns a dark, matte gray unless you’re really, really good about getting it cleaned frequently). I don’t care for yellow gold.
For people like you with knuckles bigger than their fingers, they make hinged rings – it’s pretty neat actually. According to this website, there are three jewelers within 10 miles of us (in Scottsdale, mostly, which means they’re probably decent quality) that sell them.
Obviously this isn’t for anytime soon, but I thought that it was all good knowledge to have.
Love, Honey
E-mail #2: He Thinks It’s Cute…Awww
Hi baby,
You have good taste! I like the ones you sent over. In fact, the first looks great to me (not sure how it would fit on the other band you linked to, but then again, I’m not familiar with how these things are done). I agree that platinum or white gold are the best. Silver has its obvious drawbacks, and yellow gold reminds me of the 80′s.
The prices on these rings are amazing. It’s about 20% of what I had budgeted (take that, De Beers!). If you’re okay with a lab-grown diamond, I am all for it. They look great, and I see no reason to pay five times as much for the joy of knowing that the rock was the product of African slave labor.
What, you don’t like my squeezy-ring idea? Ha ha. I did not know they made such things, but it appears that it would work okay.
No worries, I think its cute that you’re shopping around. We have a plan – 2012 or bust!
Love you much, Jake
Note: We are also considering a gemstone called Moissanite, which is harder than CZ and has more sparkle than a diamond, though we will obviously look at some things in person before making a decision. Hooray!
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