Merry and Bright

You may recall that we recently bought our wedding rings.  Our jeweler resized them for us, and they were ready just in time for Christmas, so we Santa left them under the tree!  The pretty boxes came in a little bag, so all it needed was some ribbon and a tag.

Oh and look!  Santa made the tag out of some of our leftover Save the Dates!  What a nice touch.

We eagerly opened up the bag to find two beautiful pieces of metal that we will wear for the rest of our lives.  So, without further ado, here is some Christmasy ring porn for your viewing pleasure:

Santa also brought Lion Corgi a couple of toys, but she was far more interested in the rawhide candy cane.

{all personal photos}

Did the holiday season bring new additions to your wedding?

Some Ice for an Icy Day

My apologies for that horrible title.  I'm freeking freezing, so ice is just on my mind!

Hive, we're four months out.  After a long engagement, the big day is finally creeping up on us.  I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden it feels like we're in wedding crunch time!  As busy as I've been trying to wrap up some DIY projects (oh don't you worry, they'll be up here soon!), it still didn't feel real.  Maybe it sounds silly, but it was just hard to believe that we were really getting married, and soon.  It finally hit me the other day while looking at my little countdown to-do list on WeddingWire.  So many important items crossed off the list: the dress, the venue, the flowers, etc.  There was one item that remained unchecked...and it was a biggie!  Something very important.  Something very precious to us.

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We're four months out, which means it's time to start looking for wedding rings.  You know, those little pieces of bling that you wear for the rest of your HOLY MOLY WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!  Oh hello, epiphany.  I've heard that you like to show up around this time.

Mr. Lion and I went wedding ring shopping today...and wedding ring shopping turned into wedding ring buying!  Today was one of the coldest days Atlanta's had this season, but we knew if we didn't go right now, we probably wouldn't get around to it until waaay after the holidays.  Things get busy around this time of year.  So, we bundled up and braved the "wintry mix" of sleet and other horrible kinds of precipitation all the way out to the cheaper jewelry stores in suburban Atlanta.

We only had to go to one store.  Not only did I fall in love with the first ring I tried on, it was $200 under budget!  It may have helped that I knew exactly what I wanted.  I knew I wanted white gold with a few small diamonds.  I was also pretty sure that I wanted something contoured to fit the unique setting of my e-ring; however, I didn't want something too contoured because I wanted to be able to wear it on it's own.  Well, here it is:

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I tried on others, but I kept going back to the first ring.  It fit all of my criteria; I even liked it with and without my e-ring:

Mmm...iPhone quality with unmanicured little boy hands.  Sorry, y'all.  But you get the idea :)

Mr. Lion had a slightly more difficult decision.  He had done his research, too, and he knew that he wanted something matte with black stripes.  He was leaning towards titanium or tungsten, but our jeweler basically talked him out of it.  Apparently, you can't resize rings made from those metals because they're so tough.  It didn't seem like a really big deal to me, and maybe some of you can relate.  But for Mr. Lion, it was a dealbreaker, ladies.

 Anyone?

Once he finally decided on white gold, the rest of the decision-making process was easy.  In fact, Mr. Lion ended up choosing the first one he tried on, too!  It was matte white gold with two black stripes...exactly the look he had envisioned.  It was contemporary, but classic.  Stylish, but not too different.

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We talked about continuing to look around, but it seemed pointless.  Our minds were made up.  We loved them, and the price was right!  The moment we decided to go ahead and make the big purchase, the sleet slowed and we were greeted with a sky full of soft flurries.  New bling and the first snow of the season?  OMG it was like a movie!  I was pretty psyched to have accomplished something else on our massive to-do list.  I was even more psyched that our wedding (as well as our marriage) was finally starting to feel real.

What was your ring-shopping experience like?  Did you decide to try on a bunch or did you go with your gut?

Mr. Lion Gets Creative

When Mr. Lion and I first started talking about getting engaged, I made it known early on that there was a family stone.  You see, my mom inherited some jewelry from her grandmother, who was married to a wealthy physician in Russia.  When they immigrated to America, they maintained their social status.  Their daughter (my grandmother) ended up marrying my grandfather, who was the son of poor Jewish immigrants.  The whole thing just sounded terribly romantic to me (well, the simple version does at least).  My great-grandmother passed down pearls, costume jewelry, and one lone aquamarine screwback drop earring.

We don't know what happened to the other one, but one was all I needed!  I'm a big fan of the ocean, and I'm a March baby, so aquamarines have always been my fave.  As a little girl, I used to lay the earring across the top of my ring finger just to see how it would look as a ring.  We had no idea how many carats it was or how much it was worth.  We didn't even know how old it was (though the jeweler Mr. Lion worked with was able to estimate that it was from the 1920s, based on the design of the earring).  All I knew was that I'd had my heart set on it for ages.  I told Mama Lioness, who agreed I could have it if Sister Lioness could have the pearls some day (such a fair ruler).  So, Mr. Lion knew where to turn for the stone.  But what about the setting?

I told Mr. Lion that I wanted a tulip setting.  Tulips are my favorite flowers, so what better to complement my favorite stone?  I could have sworn that this was a real thing and that I hadn't just made it up.  I later found out that Mr. Lion pretty much designed the setting himself since the jeweler had never heard of it!  So maybe I did make it up.  Maybe this image was stuck in my subconsious from decades ago:

Source: Disney via Magical Screencaps (10 bonus points if you can name that film!)

Mr. Lion didn't know he had it in him, but he ended up designing quite the unique setting.  On the day Mr. Lion proposed, I was thrilled to see the stone I had been eyeing for so long, but I was blown away by the setting.  It's one of a kind, and the reason why it's one of a kind makes it even better!

Without further ado, RING PORN!  A la Anne Ruthmann's tutorial, recently described by Miss Elephant and Miss Hippo!

{all personal photos}

What's your favorite part of your ring?  The setting, the stone, or the story?