Call Me Kate Middleton

For obvious reasons. In case anyone was wondering, so far my your-ring-looks-like-Diana/Kate's-ring! comment count is fourish, which isn't so horrendous. While I understand that most brides would probably be aghast at the insinuation that their ring looks in the least like someone else's, I am pretty zen about it. Here's why.

1) We are all unique... just like everyone else.

There are no original ideas; there are original takes on the same ideas. My birthday is in September, like millions of other peoples'. I have always loved my birthstone so I told Tim that I was completely open to a sapphire ring if that was also in his vision. (I picked out many different rings -diamonds, sapphires, antique, solitaire, three stone, ten stone, etc.- and I left the choice to my fiancé, who I can honestly say knew me much better than I knew myself, and made the perfect choice. :)) I would not presume to think that I am the first person born in September (or whenever) to think about the sapphire option.

2) We are all trend-followers... just accept it.

Do you follow the year's most popular baby names list, scroll to number one and cry "That's it! I'm going to give my baby the same name as everyone else!"? Of course not. Most people go somewhere in the middle/bottom area and choose something that will give their child a unique edge. Then their year comes around and, wouldn't you know that just about every other baby has the same one-of-a-kind moniker. In fact, the only people I've seen succeed at unique naming are celebrities (and God help Fifi Trixibelle in school) and my mother. And if Blythe became a trendy name I would probably cry. But that's a tangent...

We are not our own generation unto ourselves, so when we are thinking something it stands to reason that most people our age are thinking the same way about the same things. You can apply this theory to engagement rings. Just like all weddings are tacky (and someone WILL think your wedding is tacky... embrace that now), all weddings are trendy. Fashion becomes fashion for a reason, and I could say that I considered a sapphire ring far before gemstone rings were en vouge, but I'm sure that Jessica, Penelope, and Diana said the same thing.

3) Size Matters

Like many of my bridal sisters, I went with my nearly-betrothed to look at (all diamond) rings before our engagement. And -unfortunately for said nearly-betrothed- the bigger they got, the happier I was. Shallow? Fine, judge me, but I honestly didn't think something small (or even modestly large) looked awesome on my finger. Since I'm certainly not blind to the budget I embraced the diamond-alternative center stone pretty early in our ring search. Sure enough, for the same price that would have gleaned less-than-my-ideal diamond, I got a trés magnifique 2 carat sapphire. It's rather wonderfully huge and it has so many facets that it looks like an ocean when the light hits it; cue the blissful sigh. And speaking of money, did you know that Princess Di's gargantuan sapphire ring only cost $60,000? I know I know, that's actually an insane amount of money, but think about the fact that she was marrying a prince, could get whatever ring she wanted, and that even Bennifer's diamond ring cost $1,000,000 (throwbaaaack here). Diana got an impressive ring for a -by celebrity standards- modest sum. So in short, when you want to go big or go home... get an awesome gemstone and save money while you're at it!

4) Dissing the Diamond Drama

Do you inspect the 4 c's of your friend's (or Facebook frenemy's) engagement ring? Well, those more keen toward negative thoughts might automatically assume that those who go the gemstone route cannot afford a diamond, or hate diamonds just for the sake of being unique. First of all, I love diamonds. In fact, I love them so much that my ring has 32 little sparklers AND my big blue center stone. (See girls? You really can have it all!) I have to say that I thought this reason would be my biggest soapbox, but in fact it's been my smallest. I've received no negative feedback on my ring (to my face anyway), and you know who I have to thank for it? Jessica, Penelope, and Diana. Yes, this trend has made my ring super cool to everyone and, while I might not have cared because my one-and-only did such an amazing job, it is still fun to have everyone gush like w h o a when they see it.

So do not be afraid of my taking any offense; make all the Kate Middleton comments you'd like. Some may think I'm Trendy McFollowface... but I'm a Trendy McFollowface who's getting married. ;)

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