On wedding bands

Art & I went to Hong Kong 3 weeks ago. Our main purpose for the trip was to find our wedding bands. We had about two months left till our wedding day and we still didn't have wedding bands, since it was difficult to find a design we both liked. Tiffany's at Rustans needed a 6-month notice to order the plain platinum band design we wanted since they didn't have our sizes in-stock. We figured that by going straight to Hong Kong, we'd not only get them cheaper at a direct franchise of Tiffany & Co., but we'd also get the chance to look at Cartier rings [which are no longer being sold in Manila] for other options, just in case. 

I've gotten a lot of advice to just get an eternity ring for myself, while Art gets his plain band. But I kinda want matching wedding rings, even if it sounds old fashioned. Ha! I still have a bone for old fashion-ness, and I'm not talking vintage here! :p Like I don't want to have pictorials with the groom before the wedding ceremony because it will lose the element of surprise between him and me when it's time to walk down the aisle. Hehe.

I mean, I do want an eternity ring. I love looking at diamonds on my finger, who doesn't right? But because of my career (*ehem), I just want to have a simple wedding band that I can wear everyday, especially in the hospital. I also walk around a lot and take tricycles around the city, so I don't want to have an attention grabbing ring on my finger. It's bad enough that I don't get to wear my gorgeous engagement ring on a daily basis. :( Hey, it's not like I have a 3 carat engagement ring, it's simple but it does command attention and I'm trying to avoid that. 

Back to the wedding band talk. We were both amazed at how cheap jewelry was in Hong Kong! It's a good thing because from then on, I'm gonna be thinking twice and thrice before I buy any more jewelry locally. The best thing is that, you can haggle! We walked along Nathan Road in MongKok and went into every jewelry store we passed by. We've had bad experiences from demanding sellers, and one particular very demanding woman who got so upset that we didn't buy jewelry from her store. "You no good, not serious buyer." Wtf, we were serious buyers, we just didn't like the designs in her shop. I had to admit though, that she had tempting prices. 

After going through a lot of Fooks and other jewelry stores, Art fell in love with a pair of wedding bands at TSL Jewelry. It's very rare that I see him get excited over something, so I decided that our wedding bands should be his choice. :) He got so excited over them that we weren't able to do much haggling this time, because he already exclaimed that we're getting the rings. I have to admit the ring looked perfect on his finger, although it looked a little bulky for my thin fingers. But I liked the uniqueness of the design. It was simple and elegant. So, even if we weren't even halfway down Nathan Road and even if we didn't get the chance to go to Tiffany's & Cartier at Tsim Sha Tsui, we struck a close deal with the very warm salespeople of TSL, and managed to save a little bit from not buying our platinum Tiffany bands. :)

The ring doesn't quite match my engagement ring, so I wouldn't be able to wear them on one finger like most married women, but I don't mind. :) I love our rings! And just like Art, I can't wait to wear them. 

About the three layered eternity ring I was eyeing, the salespeople at TSL were right. About a year from now will be our first wedding anniversary! Yey. I'm excited! :)