The engagement ring we created last week came from a multitude of generations. The engagement ring represented 3 generations of mothers. The gold we used to create the engagement ring came from the wedding bands and engagement rings of her mother AND grandmother. Continue reading
I regularly get asked about Eternity rings and when do you give it to someone. They are such a personal gift and elegant way to display affection it’s not surprising the question comes up: Eternity Rings, when is the perfect time to give an eternity ring? Continue reading
Robert Young Sculpture would like to introduce to you, the King And I engagement ring.
This majestic engagement ring is the perfect fit for your queen. Make her feel like she’s on top of the world by making her feel loved and complete. Continue reading
This engagement ring, Eloise, has the elegance and beauty of that of a queen’s. For a short description, the Eloise is an 18k white gold solitaire diamond ring. Continue reading
Robert Young Sculpture would like to introduce this diamond ring that is as cool as the Summer Breeze. Using this ring as your engagement ring for the love of your life, your unique love will be coming together just like the two graduated bands of this invisible set ring. The diamond seemingly floats in the center of the ring, just above the private “love” engraving inside.
The style of this ring moves away from the more traditional claw set rings, which do sometimes get caught and can weaken. ( it happens just as a matter of course).
Is the concept of Australian men or fiancee’ paying for engagement rings an old tradition that’s ebbing away or is it growing stronger?
According to information from the United States, more and more couples are splitting the costs. This is a good idea since the partner gets the ring they desire and there are no unnecessary surprises. Some would argue, and rightly so, that this could lead to diminished romance.
Should it be mandatory for the man to buy the engagement ring, even in instances where the wife-to-be makes significantly more money than the man?
Oh really? Women are actually buying their own engagement rings, or at least splitting the costs?
According to the “Cut and the Knot”, this is true as there is an ever increasing willingness amongst engaged couples to split the engagement ring cost. This act fits very well into the 21st century system of managing family finances, in which both parties make contributions to every project at hand since they both have stable jobs. Findings from a Today poll revealed that almost half of the respondents were in support of the idea that each couple should bear the cost of the engagement ring and this number is expected to rise if they are told by their husband-to-be that they would have to go forgo their precious diamonds (not fun at all, especially since they would have to wave good bye to their dreams of flaunting their beautiful diamond engagement ring!) if costs are not shared.
This entire issue certainly brings up unsettling existential drama: the question then arises- is it really an engagement ring if you contributed to its purchase? The engagement ring is meant to be a gift from the man to a woman to demonstrate his level of commitment. When you display your diamond ring for all to see, you do that with the intention that everyone sees how invested your man is, financially, in acquiring you as his bride-to-be. (Quite funny to note that the man doesn’t need to demonstrate how committed you are to him. The women’s commitment is assumed to be assured and they are so grateful to be counted worthy to be selected for the honourable position of being someone else’s sandwich maker). So, if you paid for the ring yourself, it doesn’t matter if it is just half the price, it defeats the whole purpose. It’s no longer a show of his commitment anymore. Does the engagement ring, which isn’t a down payment on a future commitment even shine as brightly?
All these comes with the realisation that it is high time we ended the tradition of the engagement ring and other wedding rituals that were built on the premise that the bride is meant to be dependent and virginal. The idea that a woman has to get a husband and claim expensive totems of his commitment in order to hold him in place before the wedding is repulsive to both genders. It just does not make sense especially now that women provide for themselves. Let us come up with new traditions that adequately reflect our modern era and let go of sexist, retrograde wedding traditions that just doesn’t cut it anymore.
A new tradition has come up which involves broadcasting your engagement by means of a photo shoot. This presents a far more cost effective way of reflecting the couples’ enjoyable and romantic lives; without the expensive display of an engagement ring. More of this please!
It’s traditional for a man to buy his partner an engagement ring. Taking out that beautiful diamond, offering it to the delighted bride to be … it’s the stuff of Hollywood. But is it still relevant today? Are couples still getting engaged the traditional way, or are some new ways of doing things becoming more popular? After all, couples are now more likely to share responsibility for their home rent or mortgage, their grocery bills, even romantic meals out, so why not engagement rings?
share your love
According to some sources, it’s getting increasingly likely that women will share the cost of the ring with their partner – or even consider buying their own ring! That’s one sure fire way to make sure they get a ring they truly love, but what about romance? Does the modern way take the romance out of an engagement?
According to a poll by Today, nearly half of women would be happy to share the cost of an engagement ring. It’s quite a challenge to accepted traditions and women who embrace this hands-on approach (pun totally intended) may well find their friends and family looking at them askance when they delightedly show off the ring they helped to buy. But when you really think about it, it makes sense. If marriage is a partnership and both couples are contributing to the household coffers, why should the responsibility for a major purchase fall to only one partner?
There will be some who decry the idea of course. After all, an engagement ring is a gift, a demonstration of how much a man loves a woman. In times gone by, it was seen as a sign of being willing to invest in their partner and give her something flashy to show who she belonged to. Probably not the best values to espouse in our society today! So where does this leave engagement rings? Are they a delightful sign of romance and commitment, or are they becoming less relevant?
For some couples, there’s no doubt that an engagement ring is a gesture they both really appreciate, a way of showing the world they’re ready to commit. Perhaps in those cases, splitting the cost evens the score and brings the tradition into line with the modern world. But do we really need it? Thankfully, brides are no longer expected to be sweet, compliant and totally dependent on their new man to take care of them. The name of the game is finding a compatible partner to share life with, not grabbing yourself a trophy wife or well to do husband to show off.
So does this work for you ?
Let go of the old traditions and find new and more modern ways to announce that you’re ready to get married? you could still have the romance of asking the question, but in a different way. Certainly todays society is all about focus on equality so why not start building up new traditions that celebrate what each couple has together, instead of trying to mold today’s young lovers into yesterday’s old traditions.
Story about change and the meaning of love
Change and the meaning of love.
For several years now, I drive past this house. The occupants have a pretty serious addiction to hoarding. They don’t seem to throw anything out. From the street, you can see a car, a van and a trailer jam-packed full of stuff. Even on the roof racks on top of the vehicles and even under the trailer! There are also more stuff chained to the cars and trailer.
When you look up at the house, it’s just piled high. There is a walkway maybe 40 cm wide toward the front door. And on each side of the walkway are more things and stuff to about 1 meter tall. On the front lawn, it must be 2 meters deep of stuff.
To me and other passersby, it all looks like rubbish, recycling or the odd repairable item if you had more time in your life. Basically junk and rubbish. For years I drove past this house watching the pile of junk getting higher and higher. I often wondered how the neighbours thought about it. If they complained of rats or stink.
Last week, the house burned down. It was gutted. It’s now uninhabitable. The roof was gone but a few walls were still standing.
Did the occupants have insurance? Where are they now ? Were any of them injured?
You can just guess that the ‘stuff’ was a terrific accelerator to completely destroy a house. Now the daily existence of the occupants has changed for ever.
I was moved emotionally, from, “Eeeww, look at that. They’ve got a bit of an issue!” to “They must be in a terrible place now, homeless, and loosing all their possessions, including all that rubbish and junk that obviously had some hold over them.”
I celebrate love in my work and explore the meaning of love. I’m fond of helping people connect. It also occurs to me that grief and loss are parts of life and love. This emotion is not really given much limelight. Often, fellow jewellers make fun, saying, “Oh I’m going to start a hate collection.”
I lost my Mum a couple of months ago. I am grieving. Whilst she was elderly and frail with a series of health problems and the outcome was inevitable and for the best, it doesn’t change anything: I miss her and miss the feeling that she’s there, on my side no matter what.
There are times in life when change is good or even forced upon us. I’m going to start working on a new collection that embraces times in our lives for starting again, picking ourselves up, honoring the expression of our loss. ‘It’s time to be quiet’, and then ‘It’s time to celebrate the new life’.
Maybe I might even design a divorce ring, a ring to acknowledge grief and a connection to the person we loved.
A start-over ring…
For several years now, I drive past this house. The occupants have a pretty serious addiction to hoarding. They don’t seem to throw anything out. From the street, you can see a car, a van and a trailer jam-packed full of stuff. Even on the roof racks on top of the vehicles and even under the trailer! There are also more stuff chained to the cars and trailer.
When you look up at the house, it’s just piled high. There is a skinny walkway maybe 40cm wide that heads toward the front door. And on each side of the walkway are more things and stuff to about 1 meter tall. On the front lawn, it must be 2 meters deep of stuff.
To me and other passersby, it all looks like rubbish, recycling or the odd repairable item if you had more time in your life. Basically junk and rubbish. For years I drove past this house watching the pile of junk getting higher and higher. I often wondered how the neighbours thought about it. If they complained of rats or stink.
Last week, the house burned down. It was gutted. It’s now uninhabitable. The roof was gone but a few walls were still standing.
Did the occupants have insurance? Where are they now ? Were any of them injured?
You can just guess that the ‘stuff’ was a terrific accelerator to completely destroy a house. Now the daily existence of the occupants has changed for ever.
I was moved emotionally, from, “Eeeww, look at that. They’ve got a bit of an issue!” to “They must be in a terrible place now, homeless, and loosing all their possessions, including all that rubbish and junk that obviously had some hold over them.”
I celebrate love and the meaning of love in my work. I’m fond of helping people connect. It also occurs to me that grief and loss are parts of life and love. This emotion is not really given much limelight. Often, fellow jewellers make fun, saying, “Oh I’m going to start a hate collection.”
I lost my Mum a couple of months ago. I am grieving. Whilst she was elderly and frail with a series of health problems and the outcome was inevitable and for the best, it doesn’t change anything: I miss her and miss the feeling that she’s there, on my side, no matter what.
There are times in life when change is good or even forced upon us. I’m going to start working on a new collection that embraces times in our lives for starting again, picking ourselves up, honouring the expression of our loss. ‘It’s time to be quiet’, and then ‘It’s time to celebrate the new life’.
Maybe I might even design a divorce ring, a ring to acknowledge grief and a connection to the person we loved.
A start-over ring……. the change collection……
Sky Lanterns
On my wedding day, my best woman, Julia, organised a surprise. After the speeches she asked everyone to step outside of the Lifeboat Inn in Thornham, Norfolk, where we were holding the reception. There, waiting for us, were two-dozen sky lanterns. The guests stood in a circle and together we all lit the flame underneath. With my new husband, Aden, we grasped the top of a lantern until the heat expanded the paper and it became too difficult to hold. With whoops and screams, and exclamations of ‘love, long life and happiness to the bride and groom’, everyone held on until the force inside became too strong to hold down. Then one by one, or in pairs, the lanterns were released. They floated upwards like graceful doves in flight. Each lantern represented a symbol of our love, and as they rose higher and higher, drifting in the night sky, my own heart felt like it was opening and soaring.
This photo is a moment of perfection and of life’s innate sweetness.
Claire Scobie.
The Palace is a Museum of love, a place to read and contribute to the question, what is love ? what is the meaning of love ?
Add anonymously ( or not) your objects of love, a little piece of paper with a message, a poem from your first love, you daughters first painting. This Palace is a protect and honour the essence of the true meaning of love.