Hello Again Friend!

Some stories you carry with you forever. This is one of mine.

A young man walked into Ellsworth Jewelers on a quiet afternoon last spring. He looked equal parts terrified and overjoyed, a combination I have come to recognize immediately. (Bless every single person who has ever walked through my door planning to propose. I see you. I love you. Sit down, deep breathe, we're here to help!)

✦ The Story He Wanted to Tell ✦
He told me about her. How they had met in college on the east coast. How they had hiked together through every season Maine has to offer, through black flies and ice storms and impossibly perfect August mornings. How their first "I love you" had been whispered at the top of Cadillac Mountain at sunrise. How, more than anything, he wanted to propose to her on the cliffs of Acadia, at a spot they returned to every year, with a ring that felt like them.

"I don't want something that looks like every other ring," he told me. "Something that looks like us. Something that looks like Maine."

"I want something that looks like her."

Oh, my heart. I knew exactly what we were going to do.

"I don't want something that looks like every other ring. I want something that looks like her. Something that looks like us. Something that looks like Maine." 

✦ Designing Their Sparkle ✦
We started with the stone. He had a budget in mind, and we worked beautifully within it, because, sparkle does not have to break the bank (and I will fight anyone who says otherwise). We chose a stunning oval diamond with extraordinary fire, the kind of stone that catches every flicker of light, just like she did.

For the setting, we drew inspiration from the Maine coastline itself. The band has a subtle organic flow, almost like the curve of a wave or the gentle bend of a pine bough. We set the diamond in a delicate basket that lifts it toward the sky, toward sunrise, toward Cadillac, toward everything that mattered to them. Two tiny sapphires hide on the underside of the setting, invisible to anyone but her, a private nod to the deep Maine blue of the ocean on the day they met.

It is one of my favorite rings I have ever helped bring into the world. 

✦ The Moment ✦
He proposed at their spot. At sunrise. With the entire bay glowing pink and gold behind them.

She said yes.

And then, because they are wonderful, generous humans, they drove straight to Ellsworth Jewelers later that week to show me her hand. I cried. They cried. Even my bench jeweler, who is famously stoic, got a little misty.

(Don't tell him I told you.)

✦ What Their Story Taught Me ✦
Every couple's story is different. But what this couple reminded me of,  (what they reminded all of us of) is that the most extraordinary engagement rings aren't the ones that look like a magazine. They're the ones that look like your specific love.  Your inside jokes. Your favorite places. Your shared sky.

That's what custom design is for. Not to make a louder ring. To make a truer  one.

✦ If You're Dreaming of Your Own Proposal ✦
I want to hear your story. I want to know about her, or him, or them. I want to know where you fell in love, where you want to propose, what makes your love specifically yours.

And then I want to help you put it on a ring that will sparkle on her hand for the rest of your beautiful lives. ✨