A Traditonal Bride with an Untraditional Ring

I know I may have alluded to it before, but I realized I hadn't talked about my ring yet!

When Mr. Giraffe and I first kind of started talking about rings, what I wanted was simple: I had no interest in getting a ring. This wasn't metaphorical at all, I want(ed) to marry him, but I just didn't want a ring.

You see, I own no jewelry, none at all. I wear a $9 watch every day, but that's it. Jewelry freaks me out, the idea of wearing weird shiney stuff and the feeling of it against your skin? Major heebie jeebies! I have no interest at all, and I've alway been this way. I've never had any interest in 'bling' and I've actually gone out of my way to avoid it.

My mom says that after Mr. Giraffe told her he was going to propose to me, her first thought was, "Oh no, I don't know if Miss Giraffe will wear a ring!" She didn't say this to Mr. G, of course.

I know that plenty of girls have no-ring engagements, so what changed for me? Well, back in college, one weekend my friends H and D came to visit. This had all been planned, but what hadn't been planned was that they had just got engaged and they surprised us with the news. It was super fun and then H took out her ring to show us (she wasn't wearing it because she wanted to surprise everyone).

I'm not sure why, but after that I wanted my own ring. (I also wanted to be engaged which kick started a whole crazy 6 months of waiting but that's a different story).

The only thing though? I may have wanted a ring, but I didn't want a traditional ring. I wanted something different. As a quirky and off beat person, I wanted something that suited me. When Mr. G asked, I told him what I wanted: nothing big, nothing obnoxious, nothing 'sticky outey' (my exact words), and no diamonds.

Yeah, I gave him a whole lot to work with. On top of all that, I didn't own any rings so we had no idea what my ring size was and all those sneaky tips for guys planning to propose (like pressing a girl's ring into a piece of bread) to figure out her size didn't apply to us because I had no other rings.

He ended up with going with a 6 3/4 size ring, which fits perfect. He ended up getting me a blue sapphire ring - which is his birth stone, so it keeps him with me. I also told BM Marie that I "hate yellow gold" shortly before he gave me the ring. But I love my ring more than anything else! I wouldn't make any changes; its perfect.

I know, less talking, more photos. Like I said, I wouldn't want my ring any other way. Mr G. found something that fits me perfectly (literally and symbolically), he's the best :).








Anybody else with a non traditional ring?

Wedding Bands... No, not those bands!

I have perused wedding bands for Mr. TB online before. I know (or knew) exactly what kind of band I wanted for TB. I jumped on the titanium bandwagon because I love how hip it is and durable. After looking into it, I am super interested in Tungsten bands too. TB is an avid rock climber and enjoys being outdoors and doing active things. I read that the Tungsten are heavy (so the guys always know they are there) and are super durable (way more than titanium), so maybe the big T would be the way to go. TB liked this idea too.

I know it's early for looking at bands but I can't help myself. Actually, when I googled wedding bands, I got a list of people. . .playing music... for weddings. Oops! Haha, but I was like "Noo, not that wedding band, yo!"

Either way, seeing as TB and I are about 2 hours apart now, and he was at work, the easiest thing for me to do was email him a whole bunch of photos. He didn't know I was looking, but seemed super interested. Here's how it went:
MC: Does looking at rings give you those warm fuzzy feelings?
TB: You're a dork.
MC: Does it?
TB: Yes?

I know TB (hopefully! just kidding) and I know what kind of guy he is. He's not frou-frou and all (same for the type of clothes he wears), pretty simple, and not a 'bling' type at all. I knew the kind of ring I wanted to get him, and I knew the kind of ring he would like. Originally I wanted a titanium ring with a large brushed titanium stripe in the middle. It looks sooooo good. And sexy! Can a ring be sexy? Well I found one that is!

Here are the contenders! (I'll put the source link on the photo so just click the photo for the link.)









You can see they all seem a little similar, but all very TB. I would be happy with any of these for him. Originally the 2nd ring was what I wanted for him. I thought it was perfect, but after looking some more I found some other great ones. Oh and you know how I said I found a sexy ring? Yeah, look at the the fourth one! Ooooh baby! TB loves it too!

You want to know what really got me? It goes like this!
MC: So did you like that one?
TB: Yeah, I liked it a lot.
MC: I knew you would.
TB: Yeah, it looks nice.
MC: Do you want to be surprised by your ring?
TB: I want to be surprised to a point. I'd have to try it on first to see how it looks.

And cue the warm fuzzies again! I don't know why, because I do it for myself all the time, but that was the first time I pictured a ring on Mr. TB. It was a feeling I can't describe exactly, but it was definitely very very awesome.