Keith & Katie

Tell us the story of how you two met! (Feel free so be as detailed as possible)

I had just gotten out of an engagement and so had Keith. I had recently moved back to the city and decided to try match.com with my friend who didn’t want to go it alone. 

We both setup dates for one Friday night and also agreed to be each other’s outs just in case the dates didn’t go as planned. Well, the dates both didn’t go as planned (and neither did being each other’s outs haha). So, after my date was over I was sitting in my car in the parking lot when I decided to message my other friend to tell him about my date-gone-wrong. He said, “Don’t be lame, it’s 9pm on a Friday, come meet up with me!” Sounded great to me so I said I’d come meet him. He then added, “I have a friend with me here so I hope that’s ok.” 

About thirty minutes later I was at the pub with my friend and he introduced me to his friend Keith. He told me a little about himself and I told him a little about myself and the rest is history. 🙂

What was your proposal like? How did it happen?! 

We met in February 2011. In December 2011 he casually asked me what type of rings I liked. I sent him some ideas and that was the extent of it for a while…

In May 2012 we went on vacation to Mexico. Unbeknownst to me he had been saving for months to get a ring and it had been burning a hole in his pocket for weeks. During the trip we ended up taking a stroll along the beach at night. At some point while we were talking he had slowed his pace and was walking a little ways behind me. I stopped after a little bit to see why he was lagging and he said something along the lines of: “Katie, you’re smart, beautiful, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you…Will you marry me?” I said yes! He didn’t say those words verbatim but that was the gist of it. 😉

We got married in March 2013! And remember that friend who said don’t be lame? We asked him to be our wedding officiant. 🙂

Tell us about your wedding day. How did it go? 

Well everything went splendidly except for me being an hour (or longer? 😬) late to the altar.

I would have been on time but when I left my getting-ready-suite at the hotel my phone lost data/cellular signal and maps wouldn’t load the directions to the wedding/reception location. 😭 I was cussing and yelling and asking Jesus for help all at the same time; I was super furiously frustrated! My friend who was driving me to the wedding location had the same cell service provider so her service wasn’t working either.

We both got out of the car and walked up and down the block. We held our phones high (I know, haha) and just nothing worked. I kept calling the mother of the groom, my friends, basically anyone close that could tell me how to navigate there and NO ONE WAS ANSWERING! 😭 I later found out people were worried I was a runaway bride. 😂 

(I don’t know my way around well and use navigation pretty much anywhere I go that isn’t Target, Costco, or Walgreens. 🤭🤫)

I know, it would have probably been easier a number of other ways I didn’t think of at the time since I was in full panic mode. I was all done up in my makeup and wedding dress! Good news is I did end up making it to the wedding location after one of the people I called finally answered. 🤩🤩🤩

It was a mad rush to get me down the aisle since I was so late. I can’t forgive myself to this day. I was in such a rush I think I speed walked down the aisle which did not make for good photos or video. To make matters worse when I had a chance to watch the wedding video the entire thing was blurry and out of focus (not just the ten seconds of me walking down the aisle, the entire ceremony/reception video). This was from a professional and popular wedding videography company so I was shocked and disappointed. In the end they made it right. 

My polar-opposite-in-all-situations soon-to-be husband patiently waited for me at the altar with no doubt in his mind. ♥️ And yes, he was one of the people I tried to call to direct me to the wedding. If I remember correctly, he was the one who finally answered. ♥️♥️♥️

Other than my timing fiasco everything went smoothly. The ceremony, the vows, the reception, the toasts, music, food, bouquet/garter toss, etc.

Tell us about your ring! How did you know this design was the one? 
I have always wanted a very specific type of ring and it got even more specific after I was married. 

One of my fav movies is Sweet Home Alabama (starring my husband Josh Lucas 😂 jk) and I’ve always wanted a ring similar to the cushion cut solitaire Reese Witherspoon picked out at Tiffany’s after Patrick Dempsey asked her to marry him. I later found out thick bands (like the one in the movie) don’t look good on my shorter, stubbier fingers so I needed a very thin band.

Note : What I gathered from the good old internet is that it was a cushion cut but some other sources say it was round brilliant cut. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Either way I love the sparkle in a cushion compared to a round brilliant.

My original wedding ring set I had featured a full eternity wedding band and it was difficult to resize so I wanted to get a half eternity band instead. 

My original wedding ring set had all diamonds which are beautiful but expensive to replace (I was terrified of losing my original set, I’m sentimental). I studied up on diamond alternatives, came across moissanite, and was sold in a heartbeat

BUT I like to do my research so I mulled over moissanite and metals for years (about five years to be exact) before I decided to finally pull the trigger and go for it. I looove colorful stuff like rainbows and loved that moissanite sparkled like a rainbow instead of more white light like diamonds. 

I knew I wanted a ring that:
-had a thin band
-was a solitaire
-cushion cut
-moissanite
-platinum
-had enough millimeters to cover a good portion of my stubby fingers
-half eternity band
-some type of reinforcement to the prongs (like a shoulder/collar/under bezel?)
-had claw-like prongs instead of the more squarish button ones my original set had
-had a hidden halo like my original e-ring

I was watching YouTube videos of moissanite when I came across the F&B product showcase for a custom Coco Cushion and I got tingles - it was the one!

I emailed back and forth with your company with tons of questions (Rachel I believe, thank you!), studied the videos and product pages meticulously, and was finally able to purchase my dream ring in March 2020. Your team was a dream to work with. Even though I think I was told it might be longer due to COVID, the Coco Cushion ring arrived at my doorstep earlier than I expected. It was a stunner when I opened that box - even better than I expected!

I’ve now had the ring for well over a year and I kid you not - everyone who sees this ring for the first time comments on how gorgeous it is and they want to know what it is and where it’s from! I love spreading education and knowledge so I have no problem teaching them about the wonders of moissanite and your company.