Almost Engaged: Ali Fedotowsky

If you have been keeping up with the Bachelorette, you know there is one episode left.   If things go according to plan, Ali will be engaged on Monday!  (Well, of course this stuff is never live so in real life she is either already engaged, was never engaged or has already broken off an engagement...).

On the last season of the Bachelor, the spoiler blogs were all over Jake's decision.  We all knew he was going to pick Vienna (now no longer engaged).  Yet, the spoiler blogs have been pretty silent about Ali so far.  There is speculation that she might have filmed alternate endings as a smokescreen or that she may have waited to decide until after the After the Final Rose special.  Either way, I guess you will have to stay tuned for a Monday night update...

Pretty in Pink

OPI Fairytale Bride Otherwise Engaged

One of my friends once told me that you should paint your nails right after you get engaged because everyone is going to ask to look at your ring.  Instead of giving them a glimpse of plain nails or chipped nails, a fresh coat of polish will do just that, polish up your look.  We love OPI nail polish!  Especially this color from the Fairytale Bride line: Otherwise Engaged.  The names alone just make us happy.  A few others from the Fairytale Bride line include At First Sight, I Pink I Love You, and Isn't it Romantic.  What is your favorite OPI color?  Did you paint your nails shortly after you were engaged? 

Diamonds: Amazon vs. Blue Nile

When really bored, after I have caught up on Post Secret, Best-of-Craigslist, and a few of my other favorites, I sometimes find my way to Blue Nile or Amazon.com checking out diamonds.  Why?  Well, you always want what you can't have.

I decided to do a little quantitative analysis between the two sites.  It would be extremely difficult to find two diamonds with all of the same characteristics, so I focused on round diamonds and the main four characteristics: carat, cut, clarity and color (varying, very good, VS1, H).  I looked at diamonds from both websites that met these characteristics.  If the site had multiple of each increment, I selected the diamond with the lowest cost. Below are my results.  As you can see, Amazon was a little bit cheaper 'til it got to the heavy hitter, the 2.0 ct, when it was substantially cheaper.  Worthy of note, Amazon's selection was smaller than Blue Nile's, at least for these increments.

	Amazon	Blue Nile
0.5 ct	$1,340	$1,345
1.0 ct	$5,395	$5,815
1.5 ct	$11,245	$11,780
2.0 ct	$20,535	$27,230

Proposal: Your Story Here

Want to share your engagement story?  Please send it to us at ringdrunk@gmail.com.  We would love it if you included a picture of the two of you, the location of your proposal, and/or a picture of the ring! 

 

Posting your engagement story on a blog has many benefits!  Here are a few (yes, I love lists):

1.) Easy link to send to family and friends who ask for the story.

2.) Details permanently saved for you and yours to reflect on.

3.) Inspire others searching for the perfect way to propose. 

Engaged: Linda Hogan and ... her 21-year-old BF

As reported by OK! Magazine, Linda Hogan is now engaged to her 21-year-old boyfriend of two years. (Linda Hogan Engaged to 21-Year-Old Boyfriend? OK! Magazine - The First for Celebrity News).  Yes, that makes him younger than Brooke. Thankfully, he is still older than Nick.

Linda and Charley Hill plan to get married on her yacht, cleverly named Alimony.

We can't wait for Linda's tell all book.  We anticipate it will be a good side-by-side read with Hulk's: My Life Outside the Ring

Eye Candy: Blue Nile

From time to time I find myself browsing diamonds at Blue Nile or Amazon.  I am currently working on a post comparing the two, but I had to show you one of my new favorite finds on Blue Nile first!

Blue Nile has started to post pictures of completed rings, showing in detail the diamond characteristics and how much the ring cost!  In addition they also show what diamonds have been recently purchased and create a graphis displaying the most popular characteristics.  Check out the rings and diamonds!

Proposal: Five years in the making

My boyfriend and I had been dating for about 5 years; we met in college and happily stayed together through him traveling 3 hours away to attend a live-in firefighting academy, me going to grad school 2 hours away, and are currently living about 2 hours apart. In that time we had begun to seriously plan our future. He had plans for us to move in together, to merge finances, a Fall 2011 wedding, and even plans to adopt the Greyhound I'd been wanting for as long as I could remember. The only problem was that all of these plans hinged on us getting engaged! I knew that as of a few months ago he had the family diamonds we planned to use for the ring, and around the same time he had me call a particular jewelry store in my hometown to speak with someone directly about the setting. Still, the time for me to turn in my own lease for another year was rapidly approaching, and there was no ring! I went home to Maine for a week or so at the end of June for a family event, and I had really been hoping I would be able to celebrate my engagement with my family. Unbeknown to me, during my vacation he had traveled from upstate New York to Maine and back, all in a day, to collect the ring! A week later he asked me to visit him (very unlike him - he usually says I am always welcome and he would always love to see me!) so we could spend the 4th of July (my favorite holiday!) together. We went for a walk over the water early in the day, and halfway over a beautiful bridge he came up behind me put his arms around me and had in his hand the ring of my dreams!  
--Browsing Greyhounds, New York

Proposal: Old Spice

Have you seen the new old spice commercials? I feel like I could watch them on YouTube all day along and apparently, I am not alone. Old Spice launched a unique question and answer campaign a few days ago, although the approach seemed more like Simon says or truth or dare. The Old Spice Man started a twitter account, accepted questions/requests, and replied via YouTube.   where he responded to questions and requests. Some examples: sing happy birthday, are eyebrows considered facial hair, and what would you do on a day with the Stanley Cup?

One request really caught my attention: a marriage proposal! Johannes S. Beals asked the Old Spice Man to propose to his girlfriend. Luckily, she said yes.

Anyone else wonder what a love plant looks like? Would you accept this unconventional proposal?

Guest on a Budget: Engagement and Wedding Shower Gift Ideas

Wedding season is in full swing! If you couldn't already tell by how busy your calendar is, I bet your checking account is starting to notice. Between engagement parties, showers, bachelorette parties and weddings, your trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond are probably as frequent as to the grocery store. Below are some budget ideas that would work well for an engagement gift or a wedding shower gift. Have more good ideas? Be sure to leave them in the comments.

Step 1: Be web savvy and don't be ashamed to check the online registry frequently

Keep your eye on the registries. I find that Macy's has the best and most frequent sales. Look every few days. Bedding and small appliances frequently go on sale, especially around holiday weekends (including the holidays no one you know actually get off). My last two wedding related purchases were on sale. The first, I saved 15% on a Macy's purchase, the second, I saved 75% on a Crate and Barrel purchase. Patience and planning ahead are key!

Step 2: Pay attention to sales and coupons

Hoard your 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupons (and the $5 off $15 purchase ones too!). Don't be ashamed to go back more than once, buying a single item at a time with your coupons! Picking up some basic cooking tools (think: spatula, whisk, measuring spoons) with a coupon is a great steal. Add a cook book that you got at Borders with one of their continually emailed 40% off coupons or add one you make yourself for a complete gift! Sign up for the following email spam: BB&B, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Target, Amazon, Williams Sonoma, Borders, Shutterfly and wherever else your friends are registered!

Bed, Bath & Beyond: Spatula

Step 3: Skip the shipping costs

If you live near a Crate and Barrel, you can order out of stock items through the store. The items will be shipped to the store for free! Other retailers have the same policy. This even extends to many clothing companies!

Step 4: Get creative

Make a cookbook. We all have some standard recipes that we make all the time and love. Add those to a few of your mom or grandma's classics or maybe one or two you adapted from a cooking idol, and make your own cookbook. There are a few ways to go about this: crafty or techy. If you are crafty, type them up, print them on nice paper and find a scrapbook to include them in. If you are techy, or looking to be efficient, look to a website like shutterfly where you can make your own photobook. This may take a while, so plan early. Take pictures of some of your finished products for your cookbook and work your magic on shutterfly. They have an easy template for recipes. Shutterfly is another website that fills your email box with coupons. Typically before Mother's Day and Father's Day, shutterfly will offer a percentage off photobooks, or even a free one (just pay shipping)! The best part about this is you can reorder them for other showers, mother's day (grandma's too!), Christmas/Hanukkah and house warming gifts. As I write this, photobooks at shutterfly are 30% off.

Step 5: Mix and Match

Wine Coasters, Corkscrews, Stoppers and Pourers: These come in varying price ranges. Check the happy couple's registry to see if they already registered for any of the above. Crate and Barrel has some popular wine coasters that are very nice looking and only $11.95 (see above). Stoppers and pourers start a little lower. Pick up one of these and gift it with a bottle of wine. If you buy a semi decent bottle of wine or a bottle that will be substantially better a later date, include a note about hoping the couple saves it for their 10th anniversary.

Crate and Barrel: Classic Wine Coaster

Pitchers and Decanters: These come in a variety of prices, starting around $15. Gift a pitcher with a bottle of wine (can be cheaper), and the remaining ingrediants for sangria (seltzer, orange, lime, lemon, etc.). Include the sangria recipe for a nice bundled gift that will look like you put lots of time, money and thought into it. Skip the extras for the decanter and gift it with just the wine.

Pretend Engagement Rings

Have you ever worn an engagement style ring before you were engaged on your left hand?

I have heard stories of women wearing a fake engagement ring to fend off guys, but more recently, I have heard of women wearing fake engagement rings to get more attention. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have a CZ stowed away for part-time use?

Eclipse Review: Bella's Engagement Ring

I am a little slow, or maybe I have just been too busy this summer, but today I finally got around to seeing the third movie in the Twilight Series. In this movie, Edward proposes to Bella with his grandmother's ring.

The ring, as reported by InStyle, was designed by Stephanie Meyer.

Last we saw Edward and Bella at the end of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, our favorite brooding vampire had just popped the question to his mortal lady love. But the antique engagement ring that writer Stephenie Meyerdescribes as a delicate piece with an oval face “set with slanting rows of glittering round stones” doesn’t appear untilThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse, so we talked to the prop team to get all the details. To bring Meyer’s vision to life, prop master Grant Swain started by researching engagement rings from the Victorian era, called in several samples and enlisted four different jewelers to create prototypes of the bauble. But Meyer wasn’t satisfied with any of the options, so she drew a rough sketch herself and Swain sent it to Portland-based jeweler Rick Thurber, who’d created the Cullen family crest jewelry worn by Edward and his clan. Thurber mocked up a computerized 3-D drawing of his vision and sent it to Swain and Meyer for approval. Once he’d been given the go-ahead, Thurber used the illustration to laser cut a wax model, cast the band and setting and set the face with delicate pave diamonds (cubic zirconians were preferred but there wasn’t enough time to order them!). The ring was then rushed from Portland to the Vancouver set of Eclipse, arriving just hours before filming began on the pivotal scene. Talk about a ring with history!

A jewelry company in Utah has tried to imitate the ring. I don't think it comes anywhere near as beautiful as Bella's ring. Judge for yourself.

Tiffany & Co. Engagement Ring Finder

Have an iPhone? You are in for a very small free treat. Tiffany & Co. has created an application called the Engagement Ring Finder.

Key Features:

Ring Sizer - Allows you to place a ring on your phone and use a scale bar to help determine the owner's ring size.

Collection of Tiffany's Rings - What appears to be all of Tiffany's engagement rings are available for browsing. The size of the diamond set in each ring can be altered incrementally to give you an idea of what different size stones would look like, although there is no promise that the ring pictures are to scale!

Download that app to your iPhone here!