What shocks me more is this. For those of you browsing in Lynx, it says "Almost 83% of brides receive a diamond engagement ring."

Heck, I thought 100% of brides received a diamond engagement ring because they wouldn't marry him if they didn't. So, the company is telling me that I have a choice in the matter? Niiiiiice. Besides, Life Saver rings taste WAY better.

Where's that?

That I can understand, it's like the experience of a lifetime as opposed to a hunk of metal with a lump of compressed carbon on it, or maybe it's just the old romantic in me.

It is Burgh Island, an island in Devon that is actually only an island at high tide. The large white building is the 1920's hotel where we got married. Agatha Cristie wrote some of her books there and it was also used in one of the ITV Poirot dramas used it.

The inside is stunning, it was restored from a complete wreck by its previous dedicated owners.



http://maps.google.co.uk/

Wow. nice! I paid about a week's wages on Claire's engagement ring, but then took her to the same island in Greece we used to go to, but instead of our usual scabby apartment, we got one of the best suites in the poshest hotel on the island.

Again, I think a sensible split of value - a one off amazing experience, but also a nice ring - not too ostentatious but she likes it.

(Spent a bit more on the eternity ring after we had Hamish though..... eeeek)

I spent more than two months pre-tax salary on my wife's ring, and I've never regretted it. I had the setting custom cast and got a near perfect stone which shines beautifully. The wedding band mates to the engagement ring. I know the ring is absolutely unique and my wife loves it. I did not have the ring (or any ring for that matter) when I asked her to marry me. I got it afterwards and we both had a great time working with the jewler designing the ring and picking the stone. Money is only money.

-Zeke

Here's the post about the yellow diamond bought by trs24. It was by Gemesis and cost $4,500. A mined equivalent would have cost $15-20k.

Gareth

Huge congratulations to you. I just proposed to my "one-and-only" in May. I also told her the date I wanted to get married within 20 minutes of the proposal. That date happens to be September 26th, the anniversery of our falling in love. I'm getting married this coming Monday!!

Anyway, The proposal came off quite wonderfully. We were vacationing in South Beach, Miami and I planned to get her to the beach around midnight - but I couldn't make it obvious. So I waited for her to think of it - which took until about 11:30 PM. So I got the ring from it's secret hiding place (my electric razor case), we took a walk on the secluded beach and just as she was ready to go home, I slipped the ring on her finger and proposed.

It came as a total surprise to her and she cried. I designed the ring and put an engraving on the inside. Obviously, she said "Yes".

The funny thing, is that after that, I was so tired that we went home and I just went to sleep while she stayed up for the next 5 hours ogling the ring. For me, the first climactic moment has just finished, but for her, it had just begun.

Quote:
I had the setting custom cast...

We went this route, too. We used the stone from her grandmother's engagement ring; she thought it was a wonderful way to honor her grandmother. All the rest was a custom setting, paired with a custom wedding band. She doesn't wear much jewelry (makes gift giving that much tougher ), and had never regularly worn a ring before.

Of course, I didn't have the ring when I proposed - on a beach, on July 5 a few years ago. Watching everyone's extra fireworks go off. Just as it started pouring. We stood in the rain for about 10 minutes, then dashed back to the house.

-jk

Thank you guys for all of your comments and support! I greatly appreciate it. I will definitely give an update after it happens.

I do have one more question/concern. I do travel frequently so I know the procedures in the airport, but what if the bag I have the ring in gets searched? I'm going to have it in my digital camera bag in a custom made box. I just have this huge fear that this bag will be subject to "random" search that day.

Any ideas on how to get around this? Placing it in the checked luggage is out of the question.

Congratulations!

I'd say put it in something you really don't think the'll search. A jacket that you take off and put though the machine on it's own is very unlikely to look suspicious. Digital camera bags, on the other hand are far more likely to get searched.

Mattthew

The other option is if you can arrange to be separated (even if only by a few minutes) before going through the security scan. This way, if you are searched, you can explain freely without her finding out.

Quote:
I've been told that the metal detectors won't pick up the platinum. Any truth to that?

Well, none of my gold or platinum jewelry has beeped on the way through them. I can't remember if silver did or not. I'd carry it on my person personally, I don't trust any of my jewelry worth more than $20 in baggage, or anythng of sentimental value either.

It shouldn't, but it depends on how sensitive they have it set. The metal detector works by a change in magnetic permeability on the inside of it (the part you walk through). The detector is (usually) a big coil that you step through.

Platinum is about 13x more magnetic than aluminum, for instance, but only about 3% as magnetic as iron oxide. These detectors are really designed to detect steel.

I have a platinum bracelet, that probably has more platinum than your fiancee's ring (because of its size) and it has never set off a detector -- and I fly a LOT.

Good luck!

Jim

Don't they ask you to empty your pockets before walking through the detector?
The ring by itself would be inconspicuous, but in a box it might draw attention.
I'd put it in the jacket pocket and distract your betrothed if the scan screen is visible to the passengers.
Good luck-

Note that most airports make you send your jacket and sometimes your shoes through the conveyor belt anyway. If you want it on your person, pants pocket is the best option. Although the jacket through the conveyor screening is probably a better option. I've never had a jacket searched.

Put it next to a piece of paper with foil letters that read "SECRET ENGAGEMENT RING: DON'T SEARCH"?

Congrats on getting married! I hope you find a way to get the ring through the airport. If it gets discovered, you might have a very memorable engagement:

You: Hey, please don't seach that. (whisper) it's a secret engagement ring for my girlfriend.
Security: (looks suspicious) what? I need to see that sir.
You: Come on, it's not like it's a bomb.
Security: Bomb? Did you say bomb? All right, you're coming with me.
You: (later, in the security holding room). Ummm, hon. I'm sorry about this. Will you marry me? Hon? Babe? Why are you looking at me like that?

I've asked my wife about getting a manufactured diamond recently, and she says she would be cool with it. I think, though, for her engagement ring it wouldn't have flown, as much as she'd like to believe it now. Sometimes the heart is more forceful than the mind, and engagments are definitely heart things.

At any rate, I was very aware of the two month rule. My wife, however, was also aware of the fact that if we did that we'd have to wait a couple of years to get married, and she was more worried about getting married than trying to live up to De Beers marketing strategy. Although, I was in college at the time, and truly two month's salary didn't mean that much. But we'd have had to have waited until after I graduated, and at that point then my salary would have been much more. She wasn't willing to wait that long, so she "settled" for less than that.

So what I did was take the diamond from my mother's ring (she and my dad had already gotten divorced) and re-set that. I then went ahead and got the wedding band and presented her with them both when I asked (though I only let her have the engagement ring). The whole deal cost me less tham $200. Of course, I only got away with it because I was a college kid, but she loves her ring and wears it proudly.

Great story, Jeff. I didn't get away quite so cheap! Of course I'm not in college, either.

Thanks to all of those with ideas and support. Only 2 days left until the big day. I'll update here later that night or the next day.

Thanks guys!

Well, here's the update. You have to read this....

Our flight left RDU (Raleigh) at 6:30 AM EST headed to Houston with a scheduled arrival time of 8:30 AM CST. Our connecting flight to Portland is scheduled for departure at 9:10 AM CST with an arrival time in Portland at 11:30 AM PST. The plane lands on time and here's where the day begins to get long...

We are sitting in row 22 on a 737, 3 or 4 rows behind the wing. About 6 rows up is an older gentlemen, probably mid-late 60's, who was given assistance boarding the plane. There was an announcement made saying "anyone requiring assistance please remain seated until all other passengers have exited the aircraft". This man immediately stands up after this announcement and begins to exit the plane. He takes about 4 or 5 steps and collapses to the floor. Next thing I know there's 9 or 10 emergency crew members at the front of the plane giving this guy CPR, IV's, and everything else they can do. It was obvious to the rest of us on the plane he had just had a heart attatck. In the meantime, everyone (including Stefanie and I) on the plane behind him had to wait on the paramedics to do their job. They worked on him for 45 minutes to an hour. It didn't look good. They finally decided to remove him from the plane. At this point, he had been laying in the floor for over an hour and no signs of life. We have already missed our connecting flight.

We were told to go to the customer service center to have our flight rescheduled. The flight attendants gave every indication that this man had just passed away by the expressions on their face. It was a very sad time. We later found out this was the case. He had a massive heart attack and to compound things, he was on his honeymoon!

We rebooked but didn't have a direct flight to Portland. We were to leave at 12:05 PM CST to fly to Seattle and arrive at 2:40 PM PST and then catch a 4:00 PM flight down to Portland with an arrival of 4:50 PM. This is 5 1/2 hours later than originally planned and a 3 1/2 hour drive over to the Heceta Head Lighthouse is now out of the question.

After 16 hours of traveling (we left for the airport at 4:00 AM EST) I decided to head down the Historic Columbia River Highway, which was proposal plan B. I came up with plan B on the flight to Seattle, by the way.

So I take her to Multnomah Falls with every intention of hiking to the top of the falls and proposing there. It's already past sunset when we get there and the hike up the mountain was over a mile. Neither of us was dressed for the hike.

We decided to hike part of the trail up to have some different views of the falls for pictures. Finally, after coming back down and standing on the overlook from the lodge below, I asked her.

She did say yes and it was very romantic but completely unexpected. A wonderful ending to an unexpected day.

How's that for a story?

I'm sorry for being so long-winded but I had to get that out. What a day it was!

Wow.

Congratulations, by the way! I wish you two a wonderful life together!

That's one heck of a story, though...

Heh... I had a feeling something would go awry. What a crazy way to begin the trip. It's hard to be upset about it when a man has just died in front of you I'd imagine. Ugh. Glad you came up with plan B, and congrats!