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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Figuring Out "The How"

written by Barbara Palumbo, SVP, UnionDiamond.com

Today we’re going to talk about you, guys. That’s right. We’re women, and we like to talk, but today’s blog is about showing the blogosphere just how cool, creative, fun, and romantic you can be, so stop blushing, and don’t listen to the guy in the next cubicle over. What does he know, anyway? He’s wearing an LSU tie, for goodness sake. The topic? Proposals.

Proposals are as big, and as important a part of getting engaged to the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with as the ring itself. You heard me. If you bought a ring already (presumably from UnionDiamond.com and if you haven’t then I really don’t want to know about it) but haven’t popped the question then you’re in for a big surprise, because the ring, my dear lad, was the easy part. Now it gets tough. Sure, she’s going to want to show off just how brilliant the diamond is that you spent MONTHS (in her mind… don’t ruin it) researching and trying to find, and sure, she’s going to tell all of her sorority sisters about how you designed the ring yourself by ripping pages out of magazines like Modern Bride and Martha Stewart Weddings and faxing them over to a Diamond Consultant with drawings and graphs and sketches (oh my!) demanding that this ring be as perfect as the one who will wear it forever (like I said, don’t ruin the image she has of how it all went down) BUT! BUT! That beautifully crafted imagery will take an immediate back-burner to the moment that will make you or break you, so prepare yourself mentally and physically for what is known amongst my colleagues in this industry as… “THE HOW”…

Oh, I know that was all a bit dramatic but it was awfully fun to write. In actuality, the majority of you dudes out there are pretty good at this stuff. Take this guy, for instance… here’s a fine, upstanding young man from my home state of Pennsylvania who took an idea from the movie “Love Actually” (I’ve never seen the movie but I hear it’s pretty cute) and ran with it. This lad had a limo pick his girlfriend up to take her to a romantic destination near State College, but before the driver dropped her off, he was instructed to give her a present and ask her to open it. Inside of the gift box was an IPad, and on the screen was a video waiting to be played by the woman who would be his wife. Here’s that video:


Is it me, or do you ALSO want to pinch his little face? Is that darling or what?? Chris was waiting there, outside of the limo for Danielle to exit, where on one knee, he asked for her hand. Danielle now had it all. She had the man, she had the ring, and now she had the STORY. Actually come to think of it, she even had an IPad. Hmmmm.  I wonder if I could get my husband to re-propose on the grounds of non-IPaddery. I won’t hold my breath.

Having been in the Diamond industry for fifteen years now (I started when I was 6. Oh shut up.) I have heard literally hundreds of different proposal stories. Many of them were simple and involved only the two parties in love, and several of them were grand and involved stadiums of people, but each was unique. None  - no two - were the same. Each story I’ve heard taught me a little more about who my customer was and I treasure that glimpse into their personal life and value even more that I was able to be a part of something as wonderful as the changing of it. “The How” as we call it doesn’t always have to involve a limo, an IPad, an ice sculpture, two turtles and Bette Midler, but it does require some thought and probably a little bit of design, but most importantly needs to be a reflection of who you are, because in the end, that’s the thing that won her over in the first place.

So, have you thought about it? Is your plan in place? Arrangements made? IPad purchased? Good, now go get her, “Tiger”, and make sure you tell Bette Midler that I loved her in “Beaches.”


1 comment:

  1. Awesome! Thanks for writing this fun piece!

    ReplyDelete