PW Reader Ring: Kimberly & Matthew!


Kim's ring!

Kim’s ring!

The couple: Kimberly Velardi and Matthew Zuccarello, of Hammonton, NJ and New Hyde Park, NY.

The ring: My gorgeous engagement ring has a radiant-cut center stone with a white-gold double-shank band, featuring 16 round, brilliant-cut stones for the halo and 32 additional round, brilliant cut stones along the double shank band.

I had never tried engagement rings on, so last year around this time I took my mom to a local jeweler just to try some on. I wasn’t really sure what shape or setting I wanted, but after this visit we took a few pictures that I eventually shared with my fiancé when he began asking me what kinds of rings I would like. He designed my ring with the help of his friend and Long Island jeweler Dennis Mole.

The proposal: As a hobby, Matthew is an amateur harness driver and we have been traveling all over the county to his races together for the last year and a half.

Matthew had this plan to propose in the Winner’s Circle at one of his races that I would be in attendance for—but this “win” eluded him the last two times I was there, though. Little did I know, my engagement ring had been in his uniform pocket at a race in Saratoga, New York, and then had made its way down to Pompano, Florida over the past few months. Neither of those races resulted in a win, therefore he waited to propose. This particular race at Harrah’s Philadelphia was The Gold Cup Final, and would be his final race of the season—his last chance to make this Winner’s Circle proposal happen.

Matthew won the race and as he made his way to the Winner’s Circle, he was surrounded by my family and a few friends. As he walked towards me, it was then that I realized that he was going to ask me to marry him. It couldn’t have been a more perfect proposal!

The band: As for a band, we are going to go back to Dennis to have him help us design something spectacular. As of right now, I am thinking maybe a single band of diamonds to match those used in the double shank band on my engagement ring.

Read other PW Reader Ring stories here

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