Love & Gratitude

Hello folks--we're back! After a week of Thanksgiving madness and joy, Alex and I are resuming our normal, already-hectic lives. And yet while much food and sugar were consumed in the last week, we've also been up to quite a lot of wedding-y things!

First of all, for anyone who is considering email Save the Dates, let me tell you--it's the coolest thing ever! Aside from the dozen or so emails that will bounce back, the immediate connection with friends and family--near and far--about your big day is such a thrill! Alex and I kept checking our email and watching the counter on our website (mywedding.com) to see the amount of visits rise! The boost in wedding buzz did us girls some good.

As I am spending many hours in front of my computer these days (yes, more than usual--and that's saying something) my mind has gone off and wandered over to many places, the old and new favorites being Etsy and Rock n' Roll Bride. All was not in vain, however, as I am finalizing the details on Alex's wedding gift (no, I'm not telling), we may have officially, finally found our wedding rings (more in a minute!), and I now truly know the meaning of the blogger term 'wedding porn' (thank you, Off-Beat Bride for that, too!).

Rings? Sorry, did I say something about rings? OH, I did. And no, we've decided not to have diamonds (champagne, recycled, conflict-free, eco-friendly, or otherwise). Check out "Love is on the inside:"


So, where did I find it? Etsy, of course. And this lovely ring is made by the guy with the coolest name: Jesse Danger. (And if you click over to his shop, yes, we are getting the dragonfly wing necklace and ring, too.) This is the description of this sterling silver and rose gold ring goes like this:

"The silver on the outside has a clean and modern look that will take on its own unique finish as it wears over time, while the inside remains true to the day it was first made..."

*Melt.* Gorgeous. Meaningful. Our two favorite metals. One ring to symbolize our continuous committment to each other. No diamonds that are 'forever,' but not really us. (We can save those for birthdays, maybe anniversaries, we think.) Nothing crazy out of our budget. Oh yeah, and did I mention all the materials are recycled? Yes, we are just a little bit in love.

The other fabulous news is that we may have found our UK photographer! More updates on that soon, but we spoke with John from Cornish Wedding Photography on Sunday night and we think it's going to be a fit!

Finding the Perfect Ring

Not gonna lie, I started to look for a ring for Alex in July 2008. While I knew she was the one for me ever so early, it was after a three-week stay with me in Los Angeles (where I was living at the time) that prompted my search: I just wasn't gonna let this girl go. There also might have been some time to kill in between restuarant work and the endless summer hours in my aluminum trailer...

Wanting to head down an eco-conscious route from the start, I began looking into recycled materials and conflict-free diamonds. One of my ladies from university, Knits with Carrots, is my go-to girl for anything ethical and so when I asked her about where I might start to look, she pointed me to Brilliant Earth, Dawes Designs, Green Karat, and Etsy.

Realizing after I'd been dazzled by diamonds that Alex probably didn't want any bling, I thought I'd combine money with politics instead and looked up Love and Pride, an online jewelry and accessory store where 10% of the profits are donated to LGBT orgs like Lambda Legal and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Of course, I found one I liked for me:

18k White Gold 3 Stone Spiral Ring, Love and Pride

The search still continued, but it brought me back to Etsy, my favorite place for all things handmade. I figured what could it hurt to type in "tree bark wedding ring" just to see what came up, right?

Why "tree bark wedding ring," you might ask? Well, I'd already decided where I was going to propose too, beneath this:

St. Catherine's Castle, 14 February 2008

Lo and behold, Etsy delivered and I had the absolute pleasure of finding Beth Cyr's jewelry, the Athens, Georgia, creator of--wait for it--the tree bark wedding ring. Not only that, but Beth's first wedding set was for two lovely ladies in Georgia and she was a such joy to get to know over the course of designing Alex's engagement ring.

The end result was perfect.

A&E

Tied with a ribbon, 11 April 2009