PW Reader Ring: Taylor & Lex!

The ring: My ring has a cushion-cut diamond set in platinum, with a diamond halo. It’s now my most favorite item that I own, especially because Lex designed the ring by himself, with the help of Peter Cooke at Cooke & Berlinger in Haverford. He met with them a couple of times to look at diamonds and design the perfect ring, and had a great time.

Little did I know that anytime I gush over rings on billboards or magazines, he was secretly taking very diligent mental notes and remembering anything I would say about the rings I liked. (I’m always just talking about things I see and love, I never imagined I was helping him with his proposal!)

The proposal: The proposal was amazing. We both grew up going to Cape May every summer, so it always held a very special place in our hearts. My dad lives there full time and Lex’s mom has a house there, so we still spend as much time as possible down there. It was any other weekend in May, and he asked on Thursday if I wanted to go to the shore for the weekend to see my dad and little brother and just hang out. Sure! Of course! While we were down there, we all hung out Friday night, got some sushi, everything seemed standard. Before bed on Saturday night, Lex asked me if I wanted to wake up and see the sunrise the next morning. We had done this a few times before so I didn’t think anything of it. I said yes, absolutely! We set our alarms for 5am. When they went off in the morning, we threw sweatpants on, grabbed some blankets and jumped in the car to drive down.

We were sitting on the beach, waiting for the sun to come up and just chit chatting like normal … talking about our futures and how much we love the beach and each other. We talked this way quite often, so I still didn’t think anything was strange. But then Lex said that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, and to that I said, Well me too! And just like that, he turned around and said “Well, why don’t we?” and he was holding an open ring box with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I WAS SHOCKED. I instantly burst into tears, wrapped my arms around him and just started crying and laughing and crying more. I realized I hadn’t officially said yes yet, so I just started mumbling “Of course! I’d love to!” through tears.

(Side note: He had gotten me a gift card two days before the proposal to get my nails and toes done as a “treat yo’self” present … I still didn’t think anything of this as he does nice things like this all the time. Looking back, though, I guess there were some signs!)

After a little while longer on the beach, we dried our tears and got back in his car. I didn’t ask where we were going, but I assumed we were going to go see my dad to tell him the good news. I was wrong. We pull up to Lex’s family’s beach house and there they all were, at 6:30am, my mom, dad, sister, brother, Lex’s mom, dad, and two step parents and sister, all waiting on the front porch with champagne and balloons. They were all hiding around the corner, waiting for us to drive to the beach, to run inside, decorate the whole house, set up a full catered brunch, and I had no idea. When I saw everyone on the porch screaming and cheering, I instantly started crying again! I couldn’t believe he had planned this whole day and I had no clue.

I also realized he chose to propose on May 3rd, since the 3rd has kind of become our day when all big things happen in our relationship (dating, moving in together, first I love you’s, etc). I loved that the proposal was done privately just for us but then I was able to quickly celebrate with everyone I love. I was so happy that family was just as important to him as it was to me.

The band: We just went back to Cooke & Berlinger last weekend to pick out our wedding bands. I’m getting a thin single band with pave diamonds all the way around to match my engagement ring. Totally sparkly and delicate.

Read other PW Reader Ring stories here. 

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

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