And then I think I stopped breathing …..
And he said ” You know I love you to bits, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you……..
( I am at this point beaming and nodding like a complete goon)
……”so I wanted to ask…. will you marry me?” and he is holding a silver band that he sometimes wears and I am jumping up and down ( like a rain soaked, bedraggled ridiculously happy goon) and saying “yes! yes! of course I will of course!”
Some years previous we had been on a break to New York and I had persuaded James to take me to the huge 5th Avenue Tiffany store. It totally lived up to my expectations and I completely fell in love with the romance of it all, the beautiful glittering jewels, the besotted couples chosing diamonds together….
I knew from that moment forth I wanted to live the blue box dream.
After I had accepted his proposal James explained how he did think about buying a Tiffany ring himself to propose with but thought I would enjoy the experience of chosing it myself so he had arranged for us to visit the concession in Harrods the following weekend.
I was so happy and excited all that week, I was going to marry the man of my dreams and I was lucky enough for him to want to buy me the perfect ring. I swiftly bought EVERY wedding magazine known to man and spent many an hour browsing the Tiffany website – there were quite a few sparklers that had caught my eye so was hoping to get the opportunity to try them on.
Breakfast anyone? – I was TOTALLY having my Audrey moment….
The night before the “big day” (!) I was too excited to sleep, it was like Christmas and birthdays and the offer of free MAC make-up for life all rolled into one….
Looking back maybe I had just got swept away by the romance a little too much because when the Tiffany sales assistant brought out the tray of rings and I tried them on I just didn’t get that feeling of “the one”, I was actually really upset – more upset for James than anything as he was so happy to see me so elated. And also incredibly guilty – how could I be so ungrateful? I’d been offered exactly what I’d asked for.
So we left the store for me to “think about it” and go back later on in the afternoon…….. we both knew I wouldn’t.
oh dear.
We so didn’t have a plan B.
James being his usual positive self took it all in his stride and told me we would look at all the other stores, all the other rings until I found one that was perfect for me.
And there it was, the Cartier “Honeymoon”, a single classic brillliant round diamond set in a platinum band. I was in love.
I tried it on and it was gorgeous. I couldn’t take it home that day as it had to be re-sized ( I have stupidly small fingers – an F) but it was ready within a few weeks. I loved ( and still love) looking at it every day and I felt (and still feel) like the luckiest girl on the earth.
So I had the perfect man and the perfect ring…. now onto planning the wedding.
