How often do you hear the groom’s side of the pre-engagement story? For most of us, the focus is on the ring and beyond but a lot of time and planning goes into just putting the ring on the finger! Today we get to hear from our groom of the year, Nick! He shares exactly how he choose the perfect ring and even gives some helpful tips for choosing the perfect piece!

Brianna and I recently picked up our wedding bands, so I thought I would take you back in time to explain our engagement ring and wedding band selection process. I knew from the moment I wanted to marry Brianna that she had a specific ring style in mind and I made sure I did everything in my power to make this happen for her. She deserves the world and I love her so much I would do anything to make her happy. 

2019 is the year that her mom and I became best friends. I took her mom out for coffee and had secret meetings so we could chat about how I wanted to propose. I knew how I wanted to ask her to marry me since I took her to Nantucket for the first time in 2012. I talked to her mom about the engagement ring style that Brianna had in mind. I mostly knew what she wanted since we’d been together for eight years but being brand new to jewelry buying it was nice to have help. Having her mom in my corner for this was a massive advantage throughout the proposal and engagement ring process. My tip to anyone looking to propose is to figure out who in your significant other’s life would have information on their preferences and recruit them to help. 

After planning out the proposal with her mom and discussing each aspect of Brianna’s dream engagement ring we finally went to Barmakian Jewelersto make her dream come true. Coordinating times to go without Brianna knowing each of our whereabouts was an obstacle, but I became a great white liar when it came to this feat (don’t worry I don’t lie about anything else!). One time I said I was going to play 36 holes of golf to buy myself about 8 hours of time. While she thought I was golfing I was actually in Nantucket with my parents to pick out the spot where I was going to propose. Her mom and I had secret meetings in parking lots and coffee shops without Brianna knowing! 

Here are the things you need to know before you go ring shopping:

• What type of metal does your fiance like?
• What size diamond does your fiance like? If possible, also try to figure out which of the 4 C’s they think is most important: color, cut, clarity, or carat?
• What kind of wedding band will your fiance want? I was told a lot of people don’t think about the wedding band until after the proposal and end up not liking the choices they have given the way their engagement ring is designed. I knew Brianna would want a match so I looked at bands, too.

I knew exactly what I was looking for when I entered the jeweler and with the help of Brianna’s mom and the wonderful employees at Barmakian it made for an exciting Saturday afternoon. Brianna has always loved yellow gold and had told both of us that she would want a yellow gold ring with a beautiful round center stone that was set up high. Knowing this about my future fiancée I went into the jeweler knowing exactly what I wanted. 

I asked to see a yellow gold setting flanked by 3 shared prong diamonds down each side of the band. With a few adjustments like raising the center stone higher and tapering the prongs it would be the perfect ring. I could envision myself putting it on her finger as I am on one knee proposing to her. There was just one thing missing. I needed to find the perfect center stone to be placed in her setting. Her mom looked over at me and said “I have an idea about her center diamond if you are open to it”. We left the jeweler and went to a nearby coffee shop to talk more about it. Her Mom said, “I have her grandmother’s engagement ring and if you wanted, you could use center stone in the setting you picked out for Brianna”. 

I knew how much Brianna’s grandmother meant to her so this was a great way to keep a gorgeous diamond in the family. Even though her grandmother is in heaven now, I knew she would be thrilled for her granddaughter. They spent a lot of time together at their family’s vacation house on Cape Cod when Brianna was young. They became very close and formed an unbreakable bond that would last forever in Brianna’s heart. Using her grandmother’s diamond in Brianna’s engagement ring was the perfect idea. 

I brought the diamond to Barmakian so they could put the center stone in the setting I had already picked out. Four weeks later it was finished and I was able to see the final product. I gasped as they opened the ring box. The ring was blinding, but I couldn’t take my eyes off it! I thought to myself “she is going to lose it when she sees this”! Needless to say, she totally did. 

Four months after we got engaged, we went to Barmakian together to pick out our wedding bands. We both wanted to have bands that were yellow gold. Brianna naturally wanted a band that matched her engagement ring so I showed her the one I had eyed when picking out her ring – a yellow gold shared prong setting with seven diamonds down the side. Little did I know, Brianna had been eyeing a wedding band for me for about the same time as I’d been thinking about engagement rings for her. She showed me a satin finish yellow gold band. Neither of us tried on any other bands besides the ones we had picked for each other. Like with choosing each other as “the one”, we knew these bands were “the one” instantly. We put out our hands with our wedding bands on, looked at each other, and just smiled. Brianna pretended to exchange vows with me and we couldn’t stop grinning.

Wedding planning can be a crazy time and it’s so important to enjoy the ride. Picking out rings is a special part of planning just involving you and your fiance. We wanted to soak up the excitement so we planned to continue our day with a lunch date after where we kept talking about the wedding and staring at the photos we took of our rings. I highly suggest booking an appointment so your time with a jeweler is secured, dressing up so it feels special, and going on a date afterwards.

We are now five months out from the big day and I could not be more excited to marry the girl of my dreams! 

– Nick (the groom)