PW Reader Ring: Bethany & Mark
Bethany’s ring!
The couple: Bethany Swanson and Mark Saxon, Northern Liberties.
The ring: The ring that Mark proposed with was his grandmother’s ring on his dad’s side. The original ring was yellow gold with one large center diamond and 26 small “chips” arranged with the gold to create a sort of bow, and then it had been reset in the 80s into more of a cocktail ring style. It was gorgeous, but far too large for everyday wear and for my small hands, plus I wear more silver and white gold. When he proposed, he told me that we would go together to have it reset into something we both loved.
The ring I’m wearing now was made by the wonderful folks at Safian & Rudolph. We worked with Hy Goldberg and his son Richie to take the center stone from Mark’s grandmother’s ring and place it in a setting that was more our style. It’s 14-karatk white gold. The small chips in the halo were added to make a two-row halo.
The proposal: On Labor Day weekend 2012 we decided to get out of the city to enjoy a quiet weekend in Hershey at the Patriot House Bed & Breakfast. Little did I know that Mark had conspired with a coworker attending the Olympics in London to have her bring back my favorite cereal from when I studied abroad there in college—and that he had also conspired with the innkeeper to have her serve me a bowl as we sat down for breakfast on Sunday morning.
Luckily, we happened to be the only ones in the hotel that night, so we had the dining room to ourselves. It took me a minute to register what I was being served (I was momentarily confused about why I was being handed a bowl of cereal when I was told there would be French toast!), and he then explained he’d had it “flown in” for me and it clicked what it was. Thinking that was such a nice surprise, and what a thoughtful boyfriend he was, I started eating my favorite British cereal again, when he added, “You know what I don’t like about this cereal? There isn’t a prize at the bottom of the box.” I looked up to see him grinning at me, and then about three seconds later I was trying not to choke on my cereal as I started to realize what was happening. I’m pretty sure I told him to “Wait! Stop!” a few times while I tried to swallow and have my brain catch up on all the beautiful things he was saying about us and our relationship. I’m so glad he didn’t listen. About three more seconds later, I gave my emphatic “YES!” we cried a little, ate some more cereal, then some French toast, and then lots of chocolate the rest of the day.
The band: We are going to use the 26 chips from Grandma Saxon’s ring to make my band, which is likely to be an infinity band in white gold.
Read other PW Reader Ring stories here.
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