Our "diy" Little Lovely

I will never forget the moment Erik proposed (the official proposal, the one with the ring - technically there were two proposals). The sweetest part is that he had the ring box stuffed into his back pants pocket, thinking I wouldn't see this or think it unusual. It was such a tender moment and if it's possible, I love him even more for it.

He proposed with a promise ring that was meant to be symbolic and not necessarily The One. As we started looking for the official engagement ring, I was surprised that nothing in any of the stores was quite right for me. I thought that what I wanted was so simple it would be easy to find - not true! Simple + your standard jewelry store do not go hand-in-hand. And Erik agreed, as a designer he couldn't see me wearing a traditional ring.

I soon became obsessed with Tiffany's Etoile half-bezel solitaire: so perfectly simple, elegant, vintage, yet somehow modern...

I found a few online options that could work from places like White Flash & Jewelry Central:

But ultimately there was no way we were going to either buy a Tiffany's ring or risk buying a ring online. And we would love to work with a designer at a jeweler boutique, but that was really pushing our budget. So instead, we took these images to one of the friendlier jewelry chains in my area to see if they could craft a similar version, I mean, it's so simple, right? Well, they talked us into ordering a setting from a catalog and then having one of their designers tweek it so it's "just right". We tried this and at first I thought I had lost my mind. But after a couple of visits, they were able to shape the bezel just so and set the stone just like this and it ended up turning out wonderful! Our "diy" little lovely...

Little Lovely