Doyle & Doyle Brides: Jane Marie & Julian

There’s something about the unique treasures we collect that brings all sorts of incredible characters into our lives at Doyle & Doyle. Artists, journalists, actors, adventurers, politicians, and, in general, a lot of truly wonderful people pass through our door. And we feel so lucky to become a part of their lives through the jewels that they take home. Of course, we keep all of our customer’s personal information in the closest confidence, but every once in a while someone agrees to share their special Doyle & Doyle story with our community, and for that we feel so lucky.

Jane Marie & Julian starting their new life as man and wife

Our latest Doyle & Doyle Bride is a woman whom we all personally admire, and has in fact already shared a little bit of her engagement ring story with her own community. Jane Marie writes for one of our absolute favorite online sites, The Hairpin, and we were so touched when she initially shared her experience of shopping for engagement rings at Doyle & Doyle this past August (if you haven’t already, definitely check it out here). Then, when we saw the pictures from her gorgeous wedding in late November, and were so overwhelmed by how joyous, carefree and sweet the event appeared, we couldn’t resist contacting her to share the story of her romance, engagement, and wedding with the Doyle & Doyle community, as well.

Read on to find out all about her courageous first date, falling in love with her engagement ring (and husband, of course!) and the series of unfortunate events that actually resulted in the best day ever.

Can you tell us a little bit about your love story? How did you and your fiancé meet? What led to you falling in love and deciding to get married?

It was a fix up! I’d had my heart broken a few years prior and was feeling like my picker was totally broken, so I was totally game when a mutual friend of ours suggested it. It was a blind date — he sent me a note through Facebook of all cheesy things after the friend gave him the green light, but the note was sweet and he was good looking, so I said “Sure!” And then he took me on the best first date: to watch him do the crowd warm up at The Colbert Report where he worked — which was so brave and hilarious — and then a romantic dinner in SoHo. From the first moment we met, I remember thinking, “This is a good guy. This guy will be careful with my heart.” And, phewsh, finally I was right.

We dated for a few months and it was great and then his career began to take a turn — away from NYC and toward LA — and I think that’s what prompted our more serious “Where are we going? What is our plan?” kind of discussions, but we never actually spoke about getting married before we got engaged, despite our having ring shopped together.

Can you tell us a little about your proposal and how you (or your fiancé) found your ring?

Well, one day we were shopping — Julian loves shopping, especially the window kind — and we just ended up hitting a bunch of jewelry stores and trying on rings, but never actually saying “Hey, I’d like to marry you someday!” It was very awkward. “Oh, this one is nice. What do you think?” and then going on to the next store. After a few wayyy too expensive and commercial shops in the West Village, I was like, “Can we walk back to our hood and stop in at Doyle & Doyle?” We were both fans of the shop (we love antiques!) so we walked all the way there, still not talking about what we were doing. The minute I saw my ring, I knew it was mine, and when we left I think he said something like “Do you like that one more than the $13,000 one from earlier?” and I was like, “Duh.” He bought it in August and didn’t bust it out until JANUARY.

Can you describe your ring from Doyle & Doyle and why you/he knew it was the right one?

My ring is an Art Nouveau “toi et moi” style with two diamonds, one larger and one smaller, set in rose gold with some swirling acanthus leaves. I loved it instantly for it’s uniqueness, symbolism, and the old-fashioned feel. Plus, I just love rose gold. (Editor’s Note: You can see a stunning piece that shares some features with Jane Marie’s ring in our current collection here).

As your wedding has already taken place, can you tell us about your day? What was the planning like?

Planning was a little crazy since we live in LA and got married in Philly. He’s from that area and most of our friends are in NYC, but we knew we couldn’t afford a New York wedding, so we really appreciate our friends being willing to travel to Philly. It turned out to be great, but it was super nerve-wracking doing everything from afar. I just had to make a conscious effort to let go and not worry about every little detail since there wasn’t much I could do about it from across the country.

Did anything unexpected, funny or surprising happen leading up to or during your wedding?

A water main broke in Philly! Some of our wedding party lost water and had to use other people’s hotel rooms and then the salon called and said they were affected too and had to come to my hotel. THEN, because we were using blow dryers and curlers on my whole wedding party in one room, we blew the fuse and everyone had to scramble to find other rooms to finish their hair in. It was actually super funny and since the hotel was close to the venue than the salon, it ended up being really convenient.

 Do you have any favorite memories from the day?

My husband won’t be happy about this, but probably when he cried during our vows. It was just so sweet and genuine and romantic and vulnerable and man, I just love that guy.

What advice would you give future Doyle & Doyle brides? Be it about planning their own wedding, things you wish you would have known or any other advice you’d like to share?

To not spend a million dollars on the ring! Unless it’s the perfect one or you’re rich. Honestly, my ring was around $1,000 I think, and not that that’s SUPER cheap, but it doesn’t feel any less extravagant or beautiful than the giant Tiffany’s cookie cutter rings you see on every other person. Plus, I like to imagine the other women who’ve worn my ring and how it came to be theirs. Maybe it was only one woman? Maybe it was a man! I don’t know. Do you guys know?

Congratulations to Jane Marie and Julian on finding one another, and thank you for letting us share the story of your romance. To see more photos from our Doyle & Doyle Bride Jane Marie’s wedding, be sure to check out her photographer – Clayton Hauck’s – blog.