The story of the proposal and the ring. Strap yourself in! It’s a long one!

For our third anniversary last year, Marty and I discussed getting engaged in 2025. At first I told him that I was happy for him to just pick a ring and I could have a surprise, so I circled a few in a brochure that I liked and sent him on his merry way. Not long after that, we chatted and I said maybe I would like to be part of the choosing process, and I also decided that we didn’t need to buy something new; that we could perhaps find something at an Antique place. We went to one in Palmwoods, and as I was trying on a $12,000 white gold, 1.5 carat diamond ring just for fun, (very very carefully!) we got chatting to the jeweller who said that the value of gold had sky rocketed over the years, and if we had any gold “lying around” we would be better off getting something made ourselves.

It was such a funny throw-away comment, but I knew for a fact that I had some gold “lying around” in my jewellery box at home, as well as a particularly special sapphire. After having a conversation with Mum and Dad about our plans, (there were tears and excitement at the thought of us getting engaged) Dad told me the story about the “parti sapphire” that I was planning on using for the ring. He had bought it from a rock dealer friend of his (geologists and their rocks and gemstone!) for his mother (my Nanny) when my mum was pregnant with my older brother who is now 47. He had it made into a pendant which Nanny wore, which I inherited when she passed away, and has been sitting in my jewellery box ever since.

And it gets better!

The gold I had “lying around” was a little container of panned gold that very dear friends of ours, Lou and Di, had collected on one of their expeditions and gifted to me on my 21st birthday. This little container had also been sitting in my jewellery box for nearly 25 years. I contacted a jeweller friend of mine, and Marty and I met with him, and this is what we started with. The gold and the sapphire.

That was back in February, and I told both Marty and Chris the jeweller that from now on, they could sort out the deatails and everything else between them, as I wanted the proposal and the ring to be a surprise. So of course after a few months, I started wondering when Marty might get the ring, and when he might pop the question. There were a few times I thought it might be coming – on our trip to Sydney, our stay at Pizzeys, our trip to Melbourne, but I also knew that, for our anniversary in October, he had booked us a weekend away.

I normally organise our holidays because I love booking holidays, but around August, he let me know that he had booked a few nights away at our beloved Tamborine Mountain, which happened to be at the same time as our anniversary. And he took care of everything, so it was all a surprise for me. On the first day, we arrived around midday and he told me that we were heading to a day spa for three hours of pampering. Yes please!!!!!

We spent time in the hot sauna, the steam room, we refreshed with the cold water buckets, then spent some time in the spa. We were able to bring our own nibblies and drinks which we enjoyed outside, and then the final hour was a full body massage which was truly incredible!! We then headed to our accommodation which was a place we had stayed at previously, and just happens to be a wedding venue! We hung out for the afternoon, then got ready to go out to dinner, which Marty had also booked at a beautiful restaurant with incredible food.

It was our actual anniversary that day, and as I went to have a shower after dinner, I wondered if maybe he might propose another day while we were away, but as I walked out of the bathroom, he had lit a whole lot of beautiful candles, there were rose petals on the floor and bed, and there he was, standing there looking handsome as ever, with a little box in his hand. I started tearing up straight away, but really wanted to be fully present for what was about to happen. He took me by the hands and said some truly wonderful things that made me more teary, then he got down on one knee and proposed.

And after more tears and excitement, he asked me if that was a yes! Indeed it was.

It was such a wonderful moment and I still feel so excited and happy and giddy and all the things one should feel at this time. That’s when he told me he had had the ring since July, and showed me all the photos that Chris the jeweller had sent him, with all the steps in the process of making my beautiful ring!

How cool is that?? The next morning we told our parents and a few close family and friends, but we wanted to tell the kids in person and we still had two nights before we headed home, so we kept it pretty low-key for the time being, and just enjoyed our little secret together. When we got home and shared the news with the kids, they were so excited. Quinn has already started planning the wedding which is just lovely. I was also very excited to share our news and show the ring to Lou and Di, the friends who gave me the panned gold all those years ago. That was a very special moment.

So yeah I think that just about covers it all! The kids and I and Gran and Grumpy are heading down to Sydney to join Marty to celebrate with his family and friends this weekend which I’m so excited about. We are looking forward to a fun-filled 2026 and beyond, together!