Well time is moving swiftly on and we’ve hit the 1-year mark so it’s time to start planning the rest of the wedding with a vengeance. We decided to mark the occasion by going out for dinner in the Arklow Bay where we have booked our reception (seeing as we’d never actually eaten there, it was quite a good idea!) Well, I don’t think any of our guests will be disappointed on the day because the food and service was superb… we rolled out of the place full of food & drink.

One thing I was anxious to get sorted was our wedding rings. My engagement ring is platinum so that pretty much determined what my wedding band was going to be made of… and I got some serious shocks when we went to get quotes…. almost as much as my e-ring!!!! Anyway, being a sensible girlie, I got a number of quotations from jewellers on the east coast for our rings - then I tried to sell Russell on the idea of having a silver wedding ring (all the more for me then!). That little scam was firmly knocked on the head because he wanted a platinum wedding band too. Time to get creative with the budget!

I had my heart set on a Tiffany wedding band called Etoile - it was set with 12 round diamonds & would have cost ½ as much as the wedding reception… so bye bye Etoile!. Then I investigated getting my ring made and things started to seem more achievable. Eventually, after going through the same exhaustive process as finding a venue, we decided to travel up to Newry and see Jack Murphy of Jack Murphy Jewellers.

Jack was so helpful when quoting us initially by email for the rings… and even nicer in person - a true gentleman. We found his shop easily enough & his colleague Corinna sat us down in a private room before bringing out trays upon trays of rings to show us… sheer heaven!

After much debating, we decided that Russell was going to have a 4mm domed platinum band with “no bits” (Russell-speak for absolute plainness) and I am getting a 3.5mm domed platinum band made with EIGHT diamonds. My justification for this ring is very simple… I only got one diamond in my engagement ring so I have to make up for it!!!! The price - well that’s a secret, but let’s just say that it was close to half the price we were quoted on Grafton Street (and that includes taking the currency variation into account).

We’ll collect them next summer and I shall resist trying my ring on every night just to see what it looks like…. honestly!

While I’m waffling away here, I just want to wish two WOL brides lots of happiness on their wedding day - Louise & Bernie are both getting married on Oct 25th which also happens to be my parents wedding anniversary…. have a ball girlies!

Take care,

Aoife