Thank God that Rory wasn't waiting on me to buy the engagement ring and propose, because engagement ring shopping seems akin to the ninth circle of hell to me. I mean, you're buying a big-ticket item and often you have no idea if the recipient will even like it. AND you've got a hairy salesman breathing down your neck. (In my mind, it's always a man and he's always hairy. Just roll with it.)
So I was super-psyched to hear about Ocappi's One & Only program. Here's how it works: Your guy can go on the site and pick six of his favorite engagement rings, and the company will mail him CZ replicas. Then he can check out the rings in person, and ask you (or your sister or your BFF) to weigh in on the designs. Five days later, he ships the fakes back to Ocappi (they give you a return label) and then he can order the ring with the real-deal diamonds online. All without ever crossing paths with a heavy-breathing, hairy salesman.
Oh, and the whole program is FREE! (Except for the part when you order the diamond ring, of course. It's not THAT good.)
It kind of sounds too good to be true, right? Which is why I asked Ocappi to send ME six of their CZ rings, just so I could test-drive the process. Here are the six rings I picked:
Engagement Ring 1
Solitaire, $9,950.
Engagement Ring 2
Celeste, $11,950.
Engagement Ring 3
Alda, $12,375.
Engagement Ring 4
Regale, $13,000.
Engagement Ring 5
Heritage, $11,275.
Engagement Ring 6
Victoria, $13,300.
The only bummer I can find with the One & Only program so far is that all the CZ rings they send out are in silver-colored metal. This is great if your guy is looking to buy a platinum or white gold ring. But if yellow or rose gold are on his shopping list {I'm currently obsessed with rose-gold engagement rings! }, it will be a little tougher to envision what the final product will look like. Regardless, I'm still SUPER-excited to get my box of bling in the mail and share the pics with y'all!
Oh! One more thing: Since 6.5 is the most common ring size, that's what size the CZ rings are, but they're sent with a spacer to make sure the samples fit girls with small fingers! (My ring finger is a 4.25!)
Are you as excited about Ocappi's One & Only program as clearly I am? Do you think it would be easier for your guy than shopping in person? Or do you think it just further complicates things? Which of these engagement rings do you like best?
Pre-try-on, I think I like No. 5 the best.
P.S. If you're curious about Ocappi's stance on using ethically sourced diamonds, here ya go.