Matching B-A-N-D-S It Is!

"The Ring", as Chubs puts it, was his assignment. Meaning, it was h2b's turn to Google for inspiration, Yey! And amongst his pre-screened inspirations (read: he forgot the specs!), here's our fave:


09 June 2008. I emailed Matus Jewellery to inquire. Belle was kind enough to attend to my query in spite of just providing her the above pix. She originally quoted a 5mm band width, but seemed too wide for us, so I asked if it's possible to recreate the ring within the 3-4mm range. She said that our design is best for at least 4mm to emphasize details. She then gave me the following specifications:

          4mm, 18k white gold with 3 princess-cut diamonds at 0.15tcw. per ring
            (0.30tcw./pair)
          Investment is Phpxx,xxx.xx for a pair

11 July 2008. Chubs and I have a trek at The Gold Souq. With Matus' specs as our benchmark, we started to ask around hoping to get a lower quotation...

First stop was Damas. The sales attendants were not that keen to entertain us. They even told us they don't customize although their Al Ghurair Branch told us so!!!

Next the Lifestyle GCC. Maroof and Kumar were very accommodating - plus, they have this Kabayan colleague who was very helpful, too. They gave us discount without us asking for any. Hmmm, urban legend says actual prices in Gold Souq are really half the published rates.

Then we tried Marhaba. The account officer for the customized items was really nice but his quotation was way too pricey, as in double that of Lifestyle's! But then again, the urban legend???

Last but not the least, Sky Jewellery. With a few press in his calculator, the efficient assistant was about to give us an answer when he saw the other stores' quotes. Ooppss, our bad! So again he made a little more computations here and a little more there. But "(He) can't beat the price anymore".

Sine qua non, we went back to Lifestyle and paid in full right there and then. Our rings will be ready for pick-up in six (6) days. Ei, that was quick! And we managed to negotiate for free engraving as well! Har, har, har!

'Tis the finished product:


Both h2b and I were in 7th heaven when Maroof showed us the matching bands. It was really a mixed feeling of amazement, elation and gratefulness. We almost didn't stop ourselves from fitting them! H2b even whispered, "Can we just go to St. Mary's (Church), now na!".

And until now, we couldn't help but smile whenever we lay our eyes on those bands (binding agreement symbolisms used in nuptials wherein then-called duo are sanctified as one).