PW Reader Ring: Kierstin & Jeff!

The couple: Kierstin Levan and Jeff Hildebrand, from Pottstown.

The ring: Jeff and I never went ring shopping together, but he knew of a few requests: I love rose gold and really wanted an oval cut stone. Well, I’m a lucky girl because he designed my ring with both in mind! He even added his own touches with seven side stones in the front and back. It jazzes up the bling, since the band is solid rose gold.

He asked one of my best friends to go with him to local jeweler, E.G. Landis in Boyertown and the rest is history. He did a fabulous job and the ring is everything I could have imagined.

The proposal: The finished ring arrived just one week before our extended weekend to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Jeff loves Notre Dame sports and I had a friend staying out there, so the timing was perfect—I just had no idea just how perfect our weekend would be! Jeff had it planned all along—he requested off work for that weekend over the summer with the memo line: “I’m going to ask my girlfriend to marry me this weekend.”

Since the football game was on Saturday, we had all day Friday to sight-see around campus and stop at the gift shop. It was an odd, but beautiful, 60-degree November day, and we had one last stop, The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, on campus. {Ed note: This special spot contains a small piece of stone from the original famed shrine in France where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette; it’s a spot to spend a few quiet moments, light a candle, and say a prayer.} 

We waited for my friend Meena to get out of her seminar in the evening so we could see all the candles lit up at night. While we were waiting on a bench, a downpour started, but when Meena arrived, she urged us both to still go in and have the experience. So we went over to where all the candles are, but I got frustrated with the water dripping off our umbrella and not being able to light my candle, and almost ran out. That’s when Jeff stopped me and got down on one knee. I am never speechless or surprised, but on that day, I was both! The crowd around us applauded and cheered while Meena snapped tons of pictures!

Our engagement announcement attached was this picture of my hand with Notre Dame’s football stadium behind us, with the quote, “This is the most beautiful thing these eyes have ever seen” from the movie Rudy.  Jeff’s an avid movie buff and it was a requirement to watch the movie before our trip. (My nails were also painted gold and navy before we left.) Everyone who was important to us knew of the engagement before we left—I was the only one who didn’t know the secret.

The band: My wedding band will either match the solid rose gold gold of my engagement ring, or be blinged out. I haven’t began my search from the perfect compliment to my beautiful engagement ring.

Read other PW Reader Ring stories here. 

Wanna submit your ring? Here’s how: Show Us Your Bling! 

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