Tiffany & Heath, a Couple’s Q&A

He loves her outspoken wit and confidence; she is enamored by his humor and laid back demeanor. The old cliché that opposites attract might ring true for Tiffany and Heath in some respects, but when it came to her engagement ring they both knew that a custom design by David Gardner was the obvious choice.

How did you know he/she was the one? She has the sharpest wit of anyone I have ever met…and the biggest heart. She is the “go-to” person for all of her friends in any situation.

Watching him interact with people is what made me realize I wanted to marry Heath. He is smart, kind, sincere, and hilarious (among other things), people just love being around him. He is also very calm and steady, a great balance to my Type A + Italian blood combo.

Describe the proposal and plans leading up to it. How many people had to keep it a secret? I kept it a secret until I picked up the ring, and even then, I only told our parents and siblings. I put it in a safe deposit box to give myself some time to come up with something good, but I left the bank and decided I couldn’t wait. I was so nervous about Tiff finding out that I decide to go for it and planned the whole proposal in 24 hours. My buddy helped me locate a restaurant with a nice courtyard that I could propose in, and I sent an email to 50 of our closest friends and family the night before (secrecy was key), informing them when and where it was happening. I told Tiff we were going to grab dinner at a new spot, and while driving over she informed me that she had had a rough day. I remember telling her “Well it’s about to get a lot better.” The whole thing went off with military precision. We had nice moment by ourselves in the courtyard and then she was shocked to see our closest friends and family members waiting inside. I found out later that my buddy and her roommate had physically moved a band that was playing at the restaurant that night that had tried to set up in the courtyard. All in all it was perfect, and a memory we will always cherish.

Did you have butterflies when you asked her to marry you? Of course I did. I had a whole nice speech that I was going to use when I got down on one knee. I ended up telling her the speech on the way home because the actual proposal was a blur and I pretty much blanked out when I showed her the ring.

Describe the process of having her ring designed. Fears? Expectations? The process was intimidating to me at first. As a guy you know it has to be done right, but you have absolutely no idea what you are doing. David made it easy and took the time to find out what Tiff and I both wanted. He and I had conversations throughout the design process about what I wanted it to look like, and what he thought would look best. After our conversations I completely trusted him to knock it out of the park and the end product was incredible. It out did every expectation we had; even my buddies make comments on the ring.

When Heath got down on one knee and proposed, I found myself scared to look at the ring!!! As I recovered from the shock of being proposed to, I bent down to Heath on one knee and hugged and kissed him and said YES!! When we came back into reality, Heath was still standing there with the ring – the most beautiful ring I have ever seen – and said, “well, are you going to take this?” I laughed and took it and was quickly reminded why I was so obsessed with DG’s couture pieces. I asked Heath if this was seriously my ring because it was so much more than I could have ever imagined.

I get comments on it everyday. When Heath is with me and is commended on a great job on the ring, he responds,