Guys, I’m telling you, you can just do things. When my girlfriend of 6 years deployed to Iraq, I was home in my NY apartment and got word of a close call. The fear hit like a freight train, this is the woman I need to marry. I hit six jewelry stores for a ring… and every design looked like it came free with a subscription to “Mediocre Monthly.” Maybe I just had to spend more? So I walked down Madison Avenue until I found a family owned store run by a based woman in her late 80’s. Massively expensive rings. More than my annual salary but gorgeous. I asked her if she could sell one of the rings with a much smaller diamond and she laughed at me. “You can’t afford me dear but why don’t you design your own and commission a young jewelry to make it?” “But what if she says no and I have to return it?” “Dear, 50 years in the business and I’ve only had one guy ask for an immediate refund and he was ugly as sin. They always say yes.” Weeks of research in the NY Public library pouring through history and design books with rings like this and I had my design. A week later I faxed (yes, faxed) my sketch—plus photocopies of historical rings that inspired the celestial design—to a a skilled young jeweler in Beverly Hills. I almost picked a local design student, but an old lady warned me: “You need a brick and mortar store because women always track down the receipts.” So, Beverly Hills it was. A quarter century later my wife still gets compliments on it today. Total cost? Only about 5-10% more than a ring with same quality diamond at Zales. Only problem was it took time. Months. I paid extra to make sure it was there when she returned but her captain gave her leave a week early. So she returned and it was clear I was VERY happy to see her but I did not have the ring. In retrospect that week of extra anticipation and awkwardness on my part made it much more special and surprising. Moral of the story. Marriage takes work. Society offers countless shortcuts to marriage. Don’t take them. Do the work, avoid the easy answers, and live happily ever after. It’s worth it! P.S. I tried designing a ring like the one below… possible but well beyond anything I could pull off on my budget. P.S.2. DO NOT propose on the Brooklyn Bridge. Dropping to one knee with a one-of-a-kind ring in your shaky hands - over open grates 100 feet above the river - is not romantic. It’s a high-stakes game of emotional roulette. (And no I’m not going to share a photo. It’s her ring and it’s personal)

Notice I never said she loves the ring. I think she does. But one day, while she was out on a 20 mile marathon training run, I took it back to the old lady. “I hope she likes it,” she said. “I think she does.” “You’ll never know. A woman will go to her grave before admitting to her husband she dislikes her engagement ring.” I told you she was based 🤣

@PiotrSowinski23 If you absolutely must get her approval (I don’t suggest it) get your sister or female cousin (not her bff) to show her a picture of a similar ring and ask her opinion outside the context of your relationship