I want to become a society lady Rockin' a new rock?!

Good morning dear readers!

I hope your weekend was lovely–regardless of whether you spent the last 48 hours on the couch (which is what I did–attempting to rid myself of an idling cold) or spent it running tither and fro accomplishing errands and making social calls. I curled up with a box of tissues, the remote control and a laptop (technology overload anyone?) and somehow found myself trolling the web for pictures of engagement rings. It’s the sort of thing us single gals do–important research, you know, just in case a certain fellow might be in need of our opinion at one point or another.

But this got me thinking about the whole process of picking out engagement rings, so I thought I’d bring my question to you readers.

I’d love to know, from your experience, if/how you dropped hints for your guy? Did you actually go shopping and try rings on? Are/were pictures enough for you? There’s something to be said for looking at a ring in person. It seems to me that jewelry advertisers always show ginormous 20 carat rings in their ads, which makes it seem like that size is normal. But in person, diamonds appear much larger and more sparkly than you might imagine. It’s also surprising to see how rings look different on your hand and from different angles. I love the idea of trying things on to get a better idea. (But of course that loses the surprise factor…)

I’m also wondering, for those of you who are pretty design savvy and let’s face it, picky (put my name at the top of that list), were you afraid to let your guy take over the reigns and pick out the ring–especially if your guy isn’t the most attention-to-detail kind of fellow? Were you afraid that you wouldn’t like the ring? Are there any of you that hated the ring and were brave enough to tell your guy and switch it out?

While you think up your answers for me, I thought I’d share a few finds from my weekend of digging. Above are gemstones, which I really love. The first and fourth are designs by Cathy Waterman, who is the most prolific jewelry designer I’ve ever seen…you MUST check out her work! I also love the “estate” jewelry below by Richters. As you can tell, I’m a sucker for micro pave halo settings. Sparkly!

Of course, to make matters worse, I stumbled across the blog Ring Envy. Despite too many horrible closeup images of bad manicures, I couldn’t rip my eyes away. Many of the posts include engagement stories, which, for whatever reason, always get me teary. So if you are in the research phase, it’s a must visit.

So I’m dying to know…how’d the engagement ring selection process go for you??? If you’ve got your ring, is it your dream ring? What is it like? And if you aren’t engaged yet, what’s your plan? And what rocks are you currently loving? Does Kate Middleton’s ring give you more desire to ask for a gem? Or do you still crave diamonds?

And, pray tell, I’ve got to know: should I request a shopping sesh when the time comes, or leave it up to googling the perfect images to give to my guy?

There’s a lot to think about…so I’ll be taking notes. Let me know what you think!

***UPDATE: While on the “hunt for diamonds” I met (by way of the internet) Ira Weissman who is the author of the blog, The Diamond Pro. I learned SO much from reading his site and particular love, that if you are still searching for the perfect stone, Ira will assist you in the hunt and give you his pro feedback. This is a super rad resource I just HAD to share!

(First and last images via Martha Stewart Weddings)