Bling Bling

I have had a love/hate relationship with Mr. BB's taste in jewelry. Lucky for me, I've only been the recipient of his jewelery gift-giving whims a few times.

On our first Christmas together we both went overboard spoiling each other with lavish gifts. We were still in the "get to know you" stage and we each wanted to impress the other. I spent an insane amount of money on the brand spankin' new Playstation 3 (with an extra controller and a few extra games thrown into the mix) and Mr. BB bought me a beautiful diamond necklace. He was totally WINNING after that.

Image via Union Diamond

Then, a few years later on one of our anniversary's, I was pretty obvious with my desire for an Aero Garden. Something about growing lettuce on my kitchen table seemed incredibly liberating to me. A mutual friend talked him out of purchasing it for me, saying it was too "unsexy." He opted for a beautiful Tiffany bracelet with a heart on in.

Sexy gift, huh? Image via AeroGarden

There are a few things you should know about me at this point. 1) I HATE hearts. and 2) I don't really wear any jewelery. At all. I may be the only person in the world that doesn't want Tiffany jewelery.

When Mr. BB and I began discussing marriage, we both knew it would be important to hunt for "the ring" together. We made the mistake of beginning our search at a super formal jewelery store where they took us into a back room and began pouring loose diamond stones onto a desk in front of us. Naturally, without a band to cradle the stone and put on my finger, I was unable to put the size of the diamond's into perspective and thought they all looked small. Even a 2.5 carat diamond! Mr. BB began profusely sweating and that was the end of that.

I had originally thought I would like a princess cut diamond with a diamond encrusted band, but quickly tossed that idea when half the people getting engaged at the time received the same ring. The e-ring game completely changed when a friend sent me a photo of this ring that she thought I would like:

Personal Photo

I had to have this ring. This was it. This was "the ring." I loved the cushion cut and the halo! It was dainty and feminine and so elegant looking! I quickly asked where it was from and Mr. BB and I made plans to head to the store and try it out, which we did a few weeks later. I was even more in love once the ring was on my finger, and Mr. BB was relieved when much smaller diamond sizes more than appeased my taste. I was sold and couldn't stop waving my finger in his face and asking "don't I look pretty with this ring on?!" We quickly discussed the specifics and that was that.....

....until the day he proposed and this beauty became my own:

Personal Photo

I couldn't be happier. Mr. BB made such a great jewelery decision....with a bit of help!

Did your FI pick out your engagement ring on his own or were you involved? Did you give him any ideas about what you would like your ring to look like?