The stunning engagement ring Jogia Diamonds made for Amber and I

Carrying on from ‘The Proposal: Part 1 ’ I would like to talk about a most important decision; the ring.

Amber and I had offhandedly discussed rings in the past and I had garnered some ideas from her, but I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to take a gamble as to the ring’s design. It is an expensive investment and a life-long accessory and not something I wanted to get wrong. Of course, no matter what I had bought I know she would have loved it, but I just knew Amber would enjoy putting her influences on the design of the engagement ring (and was I right!).

In hindsight, I believe Amber revelled in the fun and excitement that was generated by us choosing the design of the ring together (Ok, so it was mainly Amber choosing the design and me confirming that the design was indeed amazing. She did a superb job!). But is your girlfriend similarly inclined? Would she like to have input on the ring she will wear for the rest of her life? Or would she prefer a chivalrous down-on-one-knee surprise with a shiny ring, to be happy with whatever you have chosen for her? Seriously, picture it in your head; the build up, the dinner, the proposal. It’s a big decision, arguably one of the most important you will make in the span of your relationship.

I used Amber’s much-loved sapphire ring as a proposal ring, following up with “Let’s design a ring together.”

But just getting the sapphire ring into my pocket was a trial. Amber enjoys wearing that ring, so after telling her to dress nice because I was taking her out to dinner, I had to linger around the jewellery box and make sure she didn’t put it on (or worse yet, go looking for the ring once it was already in my pocket). I had to tell her I would meet her in the car, while dodging questions of “What are you doing? What’s the hold up? Stop faffing about.”

Ladies, if your man tells you he’s taking you out to dinner and is then somewhat nervously goofing around inside while telling you to go wait in the car, stop talking, stop asking questions and go wait in the car!!

For us, the decision to design our own ring turned out to be an excellent choice.

We did the typical shop-to-shop wander in Perth city to test out designs and Amber very quickly realised that circular and tear drop diamonds were not for her; instead she fell heavily in love with the emerald cut style. This is an important – nay, paramount – point as I would have most likely chosen a circular or square diamond. Emerald cut diamond rings are not common and therefore I highly doubt I would have selected one for Amber.

Now, be prepared to shop around. We were astounded by the prices we were seeing. $14,000 for a simple ring with a .8ct diamond that you could see imperfections in with the naked eye. Wow, really? With the service staff throwing about an air of “We know better than you, just trust us”, it felt as though we were in the domain of charlatans. This did not change much from one Hay St merchant to the next. We didn’t bother with venturing up to King Street…

Herein lies the benefit (or problem, depending which side of the fence you’re on) of the Internet.

Amber was using an Australian website as a benchmark for diamond prices and was finding an immense disparity between the prices in shops in Perth and the cost of buying a diamond and getting something made. In a humorous turn of events, she suddenly realised the company behind that comparison website was right here in Barrack Street, Perth! We phoned up Jogia Diamonds and booked an appointment, armed ourselves with photos and sketches and everything flowed quickly and easily from there. Jogia delivered to us a handmade, hand designed ring with a visually flawless emerald cut diamond (that we chose ourselves) for close on a third of what the local ring shops were demanding. Honestly, a third.

I am not typically one to throw names about or wear labels (except  – for anyone who knows me – motorbike t-shirts…) but I am happy to spruik for Jogia. Do note though that their customer service can sometimes be a bit… well… off-putting, or even intimidating. An example being when Amber was told very matter-of-factly (as opposed to being advised politely) she should be getting a smaller ring size than she had chosen. She disagreed and chose her preferred size. But of course, upon receiving the final ring and me asking how well it fitted, she responded with “It fits fine” and proceeded to flick her hand about, soon after which the ring went flying off her finger.

And thus back it went for resizing. At no additional charge. Excellent!

Designing a ring ourselves was not a quick process. If you do not want to wait several weeks for a ring, perhaps a store-bought solution would suit you better. Rohan Jewellery in Leederville are worth mentioning for their stunning designs, but Perth has many superb jewellery design houses.

Designing a ring does mean you get the option of proposing twice, as I did. The second time was on Yallingup beach, which was a lovely experience for both us and the lady up the beach who was grinning widely when we wandered back up to the stairs.

So if you too decide to go to Jogia, or any place to design your own ring, arm yourself with a lot of examples of what you are after and some ideas of stone shapes and sizes. Oh, and if you do go to Jogia, prepare yourself to be told what you should be doing, whilst having faith that what is being suggested to you is more than probably the best way to be going about things.

I believe Amber and I will end up back at Jogia to have our wedding bands created.

… We just need to build up the courage first.

Ms Gingham says: “Lesson: Next time your man seems to be faffing about while you’re waiting in the car have faith that he’s NOT just checking the footy scores…. “

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