Last year I decided to pop the question to my other half (go feminism). I had no qualms about proposing to a man and to be honest it was a really empowering thing to do! When it came to the engagement rings I knew I wanted something really unique and definitely non diamond focused.
The more I researched stones and ring styles the more I realised this non diamond engagement ring thing was actually a huge trend amongst other millennials!
Going back to the 1980s there’s been a trend for engagement rings to cost two months salary thanks to DeBeers, a popular diamond company. Not surprisingly with high living costs these days and young people working flat out to get onto the property ladder, people don’t have the money for expensive flash diamond rings.
Finding the Right Style
I’ve always loved gem meanings, something i’ve gotten more into as my pagan journey has continued. I knew I wanted my ring to have a sapphire focus since I love the meaning of sapphires and the colour. Blue sapphires symbolise good fortune, wisdom & virtue plus have also indicated holiness in the past. Specifically with engagement rings, they also mean faithfulness. I also wanted to incorporate my love of elves and lord of the rings into the rings somehow so was looking at lots of leaf style rings and celtic-esque bands.
I went through a whole host of high street type rings from; hsamuel, ernestjones, amazon, warrenjames, goldsmith but couldn’t find anything that felt like ‘me’. Plus the men engagement rings were all the same boring plain band with one small diamond. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of designing my own rings. Luckily I happened to know a very talented jeweler…
Designing the Rings- Custom work from Saol Jewellery
Gem Fay of Saol Jewellery was incredible at taking my terrible doodle and ideas and turning them into the beautiful rings below.
Gem incorporated my desires for white gold, sapphire gem and accompanying diamonds and did a beautiful job of adding in the elven twists and leaves too! When I first saw the renders I was so so excited, it was amazing to see something i’d vaguely doodled turned into a professional render.
I love how the two rings compliment each other without being too matchy-matchy. I knew my partner would enjoy a ‘bit of bling’ but wouldn’t want it to be too bulky or impractical. The final results were perfect and i’m happy to say got me a yes when I proposed 😉 I’m so grateful for the job Saol Jewellery did and how they helped my engagement be extra special.
You can check out Saol Jewellery’s work and contact them at http://saoljewellery.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/saoljewellery/
Have you ever designed your own rings? I’d love to see!
Laters,
Ruthy xo
Yep i designed my engagement ring, I had the stone, a coober pedy opal my mum had in a pendant and id wanted to use that in a piece of jewellery for so long , it seemed a perfect choice. I designed mine around a spiral galaxy and had a great studio here in S Wales make it for me in white gold.
Oooh that sounds beautiful! I love the idea of re-using stones, I definitely want to do that in future.