Diamonds and pearls

The Ring.

This was the first thing people asked about when we announced our engagement - closely followed by 'have you picked a date' and 'have you started looking at dresses'.

For those of you who are interested - GiB picked the ring himself, totally on his own, had it designed and made. The only part I knew about was the pearl, which we had bought together about 18 months previously whilst on holiday in Broome, and which ultimately contributed to our decision to get married there.

The previous year we had been on holiday in Broome and went out to visit one of the pearl farms up there: Willie Creek Pearls. The tour included a biology lesson on the anatomy of an oyster, which was opened in front of us. Inside said oyster was the pearl. A small keshi, naturally formed inside the oyster, which had been labelled a renegade because it refused to take any of the seeds they use for farmed pearls (useless piece of trivia - anyone who knows me also knows that I excel at these!). On a bit of a whim we decided to buy it - we had already discussed buying something pearl related whilst in Broome, given it is famous for them, but had so far found the cost a bit prohibitive.

On leaving the pearl farm GiB turned to me and asked if a pearl was the sort of thing that would suit me for an engagement ring. Considering this was the first time GiB had discussed anything wedding or engagement related (he had previously adamantly refused any such discussion), I did not really know how to reply. But given that I had just seen where the pearl grew and came from, and was something we had bought together on a wonderful holiday, the only reply I could think of was - 'of course'.

Little did I know it would be another 18 months before I heard of or even saw that pearl again...

Now, the pearl sits on the third finger of my left hand - in a white gold setting with 3 small diamonds on either side. All in all it is a totally unique, somewhat vintage looking setting that was made by a local independent jeweller - who was excited to assist GiB to design and make the ring as it was so different and unusual from anything he had done for a long time, and not the usual run of the mill, stock standard diamond configurations.

And me - well I couldn't be happier!

The proposal

Wow, I have been wanting to document this for so long.

The proposal - not quite where it all began as we have been together for a while - but definitely the start of big plans.

One Sunday in June last year GiB let me sleep in while he pottered around the house sorting out fishing gear.

About 8am GiB suggested we take our poochie down the beach for a walk - a popular pasttime for us.

As we were walking along the beach hand in hand chatting about life, suddenly GiB stops and gives me a big hug, telling me how much he loves me and asking me to be his wife!

I'm speechless...which probably looked pretty funny to the guy walking along behind us with his dog!

To top things off, GiB runs off into the sand-dunes and comes back with an esky cooler bag, complete with chilled champagne and 2 glasses.

I honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning than watching the sun over the waves, with my boy and my poochie, drinking expensive champagne and talking about our future together!!

Even after a year this story still gives me goosebumps!