PW Reader Ring: Audrey & Johnny!

Audrey’s ring!

The couple: Audrey Johnson and Johnny Caputo from Philly.

The ring: My ring is actually Johnny’s grandmother’s white-gold engagement ring with additional diamonds added to it. He went to Helzberg and also a small local jeweler to put the ring together.

I knew he was planning to propose because he didn’t keep the ring planning a secret entirely; he had also asked me to show him what I’d prefer, style-wise. But I had no idea when it was coming.

The proposal: Johnny and I went on a double date on Valentine’s Day with Johnny’s brother and his girlfriend to LaScala’s. There were a lot of love songs playing including the song I had always wanted to walk down the aisle to some day, so my wheels started turning. But even though I knew he had been ring shopping, I was still trying not to be “that girl” who expected it on every major holiday.

During dinner, Johnny’s phone rang but he didn’t hear it, so I reached to give it to him, and the second I touched the pocket of his coat, he grabbed my hand and said, “What are you doing?” I told him his phone was ringing, he got it, and I went about eating, but my heart dropped, wondering why he didn’t want me to touch his coat. But again, I didn’t want to be that girl.

We went out for a bit afterwards, and then I drove us home since I hadn’t really had anything to drink. We were sitting at a red light at the intersection of 13th and Locust, laughing and people watching, when suddenly I heard, “Baby?” I turned to look at him in the passenger seat, and he was holding a stunning engagement ring with a huge smile on his face. He said, “Will you marry me?”

I was freaking out and could barely keep my foot on the brake pedal, so he asked again because I was so excited I couldn’t even answer! I said yes, we cried, we kissed—and then the light was green! He put the ring on my fingers and my hands were shaking holding the wheel, and I told him it was kind of risky that he had done that while I was driving!

The reason he did it that way was because he had wanted to make sure we got engaged on Valentine’s Day like his grandparents had, it was getting late, and his first two plans hadn’t panned out. His original plan was to do it in the back of the Art Museum overlooking Boathouse Row, but it was all icy and snow-covered, and they hadn’t shoveled it (he had called and asked), so we couldn’t get back there. The second attempt was to have a message pop up on the screen at a movie at the Ritz (we’re huge movie buffs and love to go to the movies together), but they said no!

So in the end, it wasn’t some big elaborate scene. It was a private moment shared between the two of us, and it’s a story only we can tell. And the next day, we found out that my grandparents, too, were also engaged on Valentine’s Day. I woke up that day with a boyfriend, and now I wake up with a fiancé.

The band: I definitely want my wedding band to match the engagement ring: small diamonds on a white gold band.

Read other PW Reader Ring stories here. 

Wanna submit your ring? Here’s how: Show Us Your Bling! 

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