Guy ShepherdThe Mating Season
“Love is in the Freshest of Air,” says regular columnist Guy Shepherd, as he talks nervous suitors through the intricacies of getting the right engagement ring
Article by Guy Shepherd
“There was a flash of blonde hair and a whiff of Chanel No. 5 Five and a girl came sailing in, a girl whom I was able to classify at a single glance as a pipterino of the first water…… Like the heroine of The Mystery of the Pink Crayfish and, indeed, the heroines of all thrillers I have ever come across, she had hair the colour of ripe corn and eyes of cornflower blue. Add a tiptilted nose and figure as full of curves as a scenic railway, and it will not strike you as strange that Stilton, sheathing his sword, should have stood gaping at her dumbly, his aspect that of a man who has been unexpectedly struck by a thunderbolt.”
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, by P.G. Wodehouse
As a true romantic, I know exactly how G. D’Arcy “Stilton” Cheesewright felt. Many of us are lucky enough to suffer the weak-kneed emotion that renders rational thought impossible at the first glimpse of the one we love. We often wish to symbolise this indescribable tornado with occasion, whether by buying intoxicatingly fragrant flora, gulping back the slippery elixir of Galway Bay or quaffing the sparkling liquid delights of Eastern France. If the tornado strengthens to a hurricane, these occasions are marked by more permanent trinkets such as clothes, handbags and shoes before we finally enter the eye of the storm which we mark with medals hewn from rocks and precious metals, lasting symbols of eternal love, with the purchase of an engagement ring.
I have oft mentioned how lucky I am and this time I feel even more so. Some might even use the term “fizzy” to describe this feeling. Not only have I been lucky enough to experience the same thunderbolt as Stilton on a few occasions (and even managed to graduate to the marital level once upon a time) but I have the joy, in my line of work, of dealing with chaps at this most extraordinary juncture in their lives. It is tremendous fun.
If you can’t picture him, allow me to explain.
His fund has been performing admirably, better than previous expectations and all those fraught decisions are now a forgotten memory having paid off a sizeable chunk of the flat mortgage and spoilt himself to that little English two-seater after which he has been hankering. They were the two biggest purchases of his life and they seemed easy, compared to this one. The one that was making this lion of a man quiver like a faun. It isn’t the girl. She completes his world. She is his everything and has been ever since that first glance that made his legs feel like gelatine and his heart crash like a base jumper’s. It is the ring. It is the unknown.
He has gone online but was terrified by the price discrepancies and the illusory nature of it all. Is he really going to spend all his hard-earned wedge on something he has never seen and then, who is going to set it into the ring? Forging the two concepts together, he has visited Hatton Garden but, although he understood that many of the better businesses represented value, where was the artistic expression that he craved, like his meticulously selected wardrobe, furnishings and cellar? Same too on Bond Street, iconic names with beautiful designs that he has seen so many times on so many people in so many places.
But she deserves something unique. What is the name of that digital goldsmith he has read about and that couple at the dinner party also recommended? He looks online again and calls. We speak for the first time about this romantic journey we are just about to share and book an appointment at the shop.
When we meet, he seems slightly pained but very excited. Has she given him any hints to the style she likes? No. Great. So we have a blank canvas to make something that is perfect for her. What type of clothes does she wear, who is her favourite artist, is she tall or small, size 8 or 18, what colour is her skin, what is her favourite colour? A baffling bombardment of questions to help us ascertain exactly the style that will suit her, the metal that compliments her best and the subsequent gemstones to WOW her.
All the time we are breaking down the illusions that can initially frighten people about fine jewellery and he is relaxing into it and becoming more inquisitive. I was told to spend three times my monthly salary on an engagement ring. Spend whatever you are comfortable spending and stick to that budget. Everything I will show you from now on will be within the parameters you set me. I was told that colour is the most important aspect of a diamond’s four “C”s – colour, clarity, cut and carat. In fact, they are all as important as each other to make the perfect balance for her. Only we two can decide which looks best by showing various qualities, sizes and shapes next to the metal medium and styles that we are slowly edging towards.
So it is when we meet up a few days later to play with a selection of stones assembled from the world’s appropriate markets. We look at these ancient crystals in different lights, next to the appropriate non-rusting material, at which point the right stone(s) manifests itself/themselves to us both. He leaves a happy chap and loves the experience still more when the designs arrive by email a week or so later. He approves the design and we meet up a few days again to inspect the three-dimensional print in the shop. We lay the stone(s) on the prototype and it looks marvellous. Let’s go for the reality. OK. So what are your romantic plans when this is complete?
It is at this point that the realms of jeweller and new-found friend become inexplicably and wonderfully intertwined. I often joke that my consultation area is more like a psychiatrist’s couch as we delve into the complex world of where,when and how to plunge lovingly onto one knee to ask her that magical question. I often live vicariously through these moments.
Yes, sometimes they are not entirely original but it does not matter. All that matters is that man is asking that girl that question in the way that he thinks she will appreciate the most. Wonderfully, I have also witnessed the planning of some of the most creative proposals and, yes, I do have some very clear favourites. I will share this one.
One client, for whom the entire experience described above happened without visiting our Mayfair boutique because he lives in Portland, Oregon, created an organic engagement ring, using a Victorian diamond and recycled rose gold (it was important for him not to contribute to any new mining issues), from our Digital Nature collection. He documented and sent me, in literary depth and photographic enchantment, their proposal moment; secretly clearing her work diary with her boss, waking her at silly o’clock in the morning, driving her into the north western wilderness to an area they both know and love, donning fancy dress with a foxy (not real fur) hunting theme, climbing the gate into a beautiful meadow with “Marry Me” in Spanish emblazoned in flowers on the posts, with a delicious picnic made up of all her favourite treats awaiting, plus he was armed and dangerous with our eternal hardware. She said, “Yes!”. Love is in the freshest of air.
So this hopeless romantic signs off for another month with thanks to all those fellas, and occasional girls, who have given me the privilege of sharing their own joyous journey into the world of proposal. What enormous fun it is. 
Guy Shepherd is a Director at GUY&MAX