Though I am an extreme lover of weddings, I will freely admit I’m not a connoisseur of engagement rings. There was never one particular style or shape I loved or hated, so I knew I wanted to try on a few different options before John or John and I settled on the final pick. Going into our “looking” trip, I thought I knew that I wanted a very thin, yellow gold band, I DIDN’T want a halo, and I was most interested in oval-shaped diamonds. Here are a few of the images I gathered in the days before our trip:

Credits, from top: oval gold engagement ring from Asprey, micropave cushion-cut engagement ring in platinum from Harry Winston, horizontal gold setting from Marvin Katz, photo by Kate Headley, photo by Whitebox Weddings

And, well, here’s what I ended up with!

Surprise! I ended up with a halo, since it turns out I liked halos, just not ones that were bezel-set. Ovals just weren’t my shape :)

As for the yellow gold? I LOVE it! All in all, I think my ring is sparkly, while still being classic and simple. I couldn’t ask for anything more!

For those of you who are also yellow or rose gold lovers, here’s a little more engagement ring inspiration…

“Loved” ring from Catbird

Photo by Tec Petaja via Once Wed

Photo by Nancy Ray

Oval white sapphire rose gold ring from EidelPrecious

“The Tiniest Pearl” ring from Catbird

Elisa Solomon 18K diamond ring from Stuart & Wright

Conroy & Wilcox 18K triple diamond ring from Stuart & Wright

Suzanne Kalan white rose ring from Sundance

What does your engagement ring look like?

Let me know what you think! :)

Squee!!! My drink stirrers were featured in the most STUNNING wedding a few months back on Style Me Pretty!

Doesn’t Kate make a beautiful bride? When she asked for tall drink stirrers in lavender and cream, I never knew I would be sending them to such a gorgeous celebration. See the rest of her photos, by the talented Samm Blake, here! (And if you’re wondering why it took me a few months to share, it’s because her wedding was just featured in Wedding Style Guide, an Australian publication, which landed on newsstands a few days ago!)

And if you’d like drink stirrers of your own, click here!

On another personal note, I am so excited that one of John’s sisters is engaged!! Seth asked for Marget’s hand a few weeks back (in Paris!), and the two will be married at the Eolia Mansion at Harkness State Park next summer. We’ve had two planning calls already, and things are starting to take shape. Can you tell I am a little excited for them?!

Two photos above of Harkness (top by Carla Ten Eyck, bottom by Raw Photo Design)