love stories
THE RING SELECTION PROCESS
This was simple . Lauren told me exactly what she wanted , down to the finest detail . I think since this is on every girl ’ s mind , she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted . A thin gold band , oval diamond , four prongs , and diamond slightly raised . If I messed this one up , I knew I was in big trouble . Knowing that I couldn ’ t mess this up , especially after she told me exactly what she wanted , I asked her for pictures . At this point , I had no excuses , so I ended up calling a close family friend that has been in the business for years . I ’ ve known Doug Green at Perrywinkle ’ s Fine Jewelry since I was a kid growing up in Carthage / Deferiet , New York . He is one of my younger brother ’ s best friends . He was the guy that was tasked with making sure I didn ’ t get in trouble starting Day 1 .
Doug Green was amazing during this process . I relayed the information to Doug , and he instantly got to work . He explained every detail of the ring , from clarity and color to shape and sizing . I knew I was in good hands with Doug . He started to work on the ring right away and would stay in constant communication with me since I live in Baltimore , Maryland and he is in Upstate New York . Doug sent me pictures and videos of the diamonds coming into his store , examples of other rings , and even drew me pictures . Back home , Doug was never known for his art skills , but he took the time to draw pictures at scale and make me feel at ease .
We finalized the ring , and when it came into the shop , he sent it to me overnight . The ring came in and it looked incredible . On the day I proposed , Lauren was ecstatic about the ring . She looks at it every day and told me , “ I was nervous because if I hated it , I would have had to pretend to like it , but I really love it so much .” All her friends have complimented me on how good of a job I did .
THE PROPOSAL
Lauren and I had a trip planned to Charleston , South Carolina , over Memorial Day weekend . Since the ring came in before the trip , I knew I was going to propose then . One of the things we wanted to do there was a horse-drawn carriage ride . Lauren found out you could book the ride as a public tour or private , but the private tour was on the pricey side . She wanted the ride to be between just us . Since I knew I was going to propose , I wanted the moment to be special , so I booked the private tour so we could have our moment .
I called the company and told them that I wanted to propose after the ride in a romantic spot . They were wonderful , and we worked together to end the ride at the Waterfront Park by the Pineapple Water Fountain , a popular spot in Charleston where Lauren told me she wanted to snap a few pictures . I contacted
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