Will you marry me?

Ah, the big day when I actually ask the woman of my dreams for her hand in marriage. For guys, I would think that this is one of the most feared things that we can prepare for. I actually asked a friend of mine once how he popped the question, and what is on his mind. His answer was that he must be sure that the woman will say "yes" before he would even do it. Well, by God's grace, I think I have reached that point in our relationship, so here goes....

the ring

One of the most important part (if not the most important) of the question, lies in the stone attached to the ring. This is the one stone that Shuhui will keep, and the one thing she can see and remember maybe 5, 10 years from now, the day I proposed. So, I wanted to make this the most incredible thing she will have in her possesion - the diamond ring I gave her when I proposed.

Each diamond is judged on the 4Cs - cut, color, clarity and carat, with the most important being the cut and color. The better the cut, the more expensive it is. The closer the color is to white (colorless - D), the more expensive. The clearest or the least amount of inclusions (IF, internally flawless), the more expensive. The bigger the carat, the bigger the diamond, the more expensive.

Personally, the clarity is not so big a concern since we'll need a scope just to see the number of inclusions. So, it really is no big deal of a difference between a diamond of VVS1, and one which is VS2, unless one has Superman eyes. The size, is of course, important but my personal opinion is that a big diamond looks a little "obscene". Something in the region of 0.25 to 0.30 ct would be perfect on Shuhui (she has pretty slim fingers). For color, it would be great to have a white diamond since it will give an impression of high quality, something in the region of D to F. And finally, the cut, which actually warrants a paragraph or two on its own.


a typical pattern of an ideal cut diamond seen thru a Gems Fantasy scope

While doing a search on the Web under Lazare, I found an excellent site in AGS-000 Ideal Cut Diamonds. Apparently, there exist out there diamonds which are of superior quality than the rest of them. This quality is called the AGS-000 which is defined as ideal in polish, ideal in symetry, and ideal in the proportions. Fewer than 1% of the millions of diamonds sold worldwide consists of this type of cut. And from this 1%, there exists another cut which is defined as the Heart and Arrows cut (H&A), which is fewer than 1/10 of the 1%. I wouldn't call it rare. A better word would probably be exclusive.


bottom (left) and top (right) views of a H&A diamond seen thru a Gems Fantasy scope

Basically, the term H&A refers to the pattern seen on the bottom and top of the diamonds when viewed thru the Gems Fantasy scope: 8 hearts seen on the bottom view, and 8 arrows on the top view...simply too beautiful to describe. So, how does it compare in real life? One independent researcher did an analysis on the average light returns for diamonds and the discovery was that for an "normal" diamond, the average light return is 70% while it is 96% for an AGS-000. For an ideal cut H&A, it has the most, with an average light return of 98%...this means that 98% of the light is reflected back, which gives you an idea how bright it is.

Actually, I have already wanted to get the diamond ring from Larry Jewelry after reading up on this, and was prepared just to settle just for an ideal cut. But when Carol Peng (the supervisor at the Ngee Ann City branch) mentioned that she actually has H&A diamonds in stock, I just realized how incredible things are falling into place. Needless to say, I provided her the specification I wanted: 0.25-0.30ct H&A ideal cut, D-F color, with VS1 or VS2 inclusions. 2 days later, I received a call, and was told they had found a diamond with the exact spec I wanted in New York. The rest is history.

the proposal

The actual proposal is done in Sentosa Island. Funny, because I had originally wanted to do it in Redang during one of our dive-trips (we met while doing a scuba-diving course together).

It was right after I came back from the US after a 2-month business-trip when Shuhui suggested that we make a trip to Sentosa. It was the school holidays, and the island is having a special promotion for the school holidays. We paid S$22.90 for the Mega-saver deal, which if on a normal day would cost us nearly S$98.00 if we were to go to all the parks listed. So it really is a fantastic deal. We had planned, the previous day, for a picnic of tuna sandwiches and eggs for lunch. So, in the morning, I went to Shuhui's place at Ghim Moh for breakfast. And then took a bus directly to the World Trade Center. We then walked to the island and took some really cool pictures.

The first place we visited was Underwater World, which is where I popped the question. When we first reached the place, we spent quite some time at the turtle pool with Shuhui taking a few pictures of the turtles being fed. After we went into the exhibits and she took more pictures of the fishes. Then we finally went into the walkway where we were surrounded by reef fishes, almost as if we were diving. I already had the ring in my pocket, when I hugged her from the behind and showed her the ring. Words almost failed me, when I asked her "Shuhui, will you marry me?" Seems like an eternity before she finally turned around and gave me a kiss and said "yes".

The rest of the day is spent having fun in all the various parks - we even had time to play a round of miniature golf. For dinner, we ate along the Siloso beach surrounded by the sand castles that were built for the Sandsation Competition 2000. We enjoyed the sunset, and then headed for the musical fountain before heading for home an engaged couple.

To God be the glory for ever and ever!

Next: Premarital counselling

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