When it comes to jewelry, especially rings, I don’t like surprises. I want jewelry that I consider one-of-a-kind, truly beautiful, symbolic, and something that I will never get tired of looking at for the rest of my life. I think this is one of the reasons why Mahal doesn’t like surprising me. He wants to please me as much as he can and wants only what’s best for me and what can make me happy.

And so, we chose to have our engagement rings customized. Normally, it’s just the girl who gets an engagement ring, right? But as you may know, if you’ve been following me for a long time now, you know that I don’t follow the trends or what’s considered normal (lol!) I personally wanted us all to have one ring each to symbolize our promise to each other that we will soon become one legal family.

Just so you know, at the moment, on paper, we have different surnames. Our son, Tuz, is using my maiden name as his last name with no middle name to avoid complications in my annulment plans back in 2015. I’m still using my ex’s last name on all my IDs because I never found the time to have my IDs changed due to many sleepless years being a first-time, full-time mom, homemaker, and entrepreneur. I rarely use my IDs too since the pandemic hit and with the lockdowns, it’s just so difficult to go out and transact at government offices (for my passport and TIN). I figured, when I get married again, then that’s the time I’ll have the last name on all my IDs changed. 

So here I am now, engaged to be married. We may not be traditional, but I still want an engagement ring to symbolize our promise, albeit, a bespoke one.

To further make this occasion our very own, we decided to have a ring for each of us. One for me, one for Mahal, and one for our baby Tuzzy. I spent a lot of time looking at jewelry shops both online and offline to find the right ring maker that will cater to our hearts’ desires until finally, I remembered seeing my High School classmate’s jewelry posts on Facebook. I inquired and after a looong process of Q&A, we had our engagement rings custom-made by them — Jendrian Fine Jewelries — owned by my High School classmate, Queenie Ilogon, who resides in Cagayan de Oro City. It added another layer of symbolism to our momentous occasion because Hanz knew me and was crushing over me since way back our HS days in the same city. Our schools (Xavier Ateneo de Cagayan and Lourdes College HS) were brother-sister schools so we wanted to have something that will symbolize that connection. Queenie’s company was perfect for it.

The rings are mostly made of yellow gold and some white gold to symbolize our opposite personalities. I’ve always been a fan of gold, particularly the yellow kind. I’m not a fan of platinum at all because it looks like silver and I already have a ton of silver jewelry in my collection. I’m a very visual person and I like to see what I want to see. 

The rock is our birthstone, amethyst, (we’re both Aquarians, and those who are experts at reading zodiac signs say how rare and lucky!) The main amethyst stone of our rings have  two different tones. The dark purple symbolizes Mahal’s masculinity and the Very Peri color of my ring symbolizes my femininity.

Plus, it’s 2022’s color of the year! According to Pantone, this color is said to represent “inventiveness, originality, and visionary thinking” — it’s so me, right???!!! 

***Most of the photos below were taken at Shangri-la Mactan were we got engaged.

Tuz’s ring doesn’t have a stone though but is engraved with a heart because we wanted the ring to be adjustable so he can keep wearing it his entire life should he choose to.

As for the heart, it has always been my favorite shape growing up because I am full of love, I was always craving for love, attention, and affection, and now I’ve found real, lasting love for the rest of my life. ❤ ❤ ❤ 

For the 3 white stones on each side of the heart on my ring, they’re white Sapphires which symbolize the higher mind, bringing intuition, clarity and self-mastery. Plus, this ring was customized and shipped over a period of one month as I was getting hooked to the best Netflix series I’ve watched in my life — Manifest — where sapphire was portrayed and in real life depicted to be the “Glow of God”… Worn throughout the ages for protection, good fortune and spiritual insight.

Sapphires are not only symbols of power and strength, but also of kindness and wise judgment. It is a gemstone associated with royalty, believed to attract abundance, good fortune, blessings, and gifts. it boosts the immunity and grants good health. It is especially beneficial for reproductive health.

Sapphire also provides protection against evil eye, hexing and spells, perfect for my Wiccan personality. Since it carries a pure energy for clarity and intuition, it provides the wearer with an open mind throughout marriage as well. 

When compared to diamonds, they are almost as strong with 9/10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale! But they’re easy on the pocket so really perfect for Mahal who’s very frugal, and for me, who’s budget-conscious as well. 

All in all, we spent P73,000++ on our engagement rings. Not bad, considering we each both got one, a symbol of true love we can wear for the rest of our lives. Perhaps, in the future, when we celebrate our Tin Anniversary (10th year), we can add another jewelry to our collection — this time, made of big diamonds. That is something we can look forward to. 😉

For now, I am very ecstatic about our engagement rings! They’re truly beautiful and unique to us, plus full of meanings we can resonate with.