Putting a Ring on It

Putting a Ring on It

By Brian Scott Lipton

A rose may be a rose may be a rose, but every engagement ring is far from the same. There’s the choice of stone and setting, the differences in the cut, clarity, carat size, and color, and, most importantly, the story behind it. Did the couple pick it out together – or was it a complete surprise? Did it just come from a store (not that there’s anything wrong with that) or is there some unusual family history behind it?

As it happens, there is a special background to the ring Patrick Hurst, a Connecticut-based insurance broker, gave to his fiancé Griffin Bartone, a competitive Irish dancer, earlier the year. Appropriately, it’s an unusual ring for an unusual couple!

“Griffin and I have been together for 11 years,” says Hurst. “We met at the University of Hartford as freshmen, and we’ve dating ever since. Shortly after we started dating, I became very close to his family, especially his grandmother. So not long ago, when she was on her deathbed, we told her we finally wanted to get married. And after she passed away, he was so sad about losing her that I wanted to do something special to make him really happy.”

From there, an idea was born—with the help of Griffin’s mother. “We knew that his grandmother was often at Lux Bond & Green; she had purchased everything from diamonds and gold to Rolexes and figurines at that wonderful jewelry store,” says Hurst. “His mother told me that some of the grandmother’s jewelry had been left to her family, and we decided that we could use the natural diamond from a pair of her earrings to be the center of an engagement ring.”

On top of the family’s connection with Lux Bond & Green, Patrick was good friends with the store’s marketing director, Sarah Karp Ward. She helped facilitate a connection with Norma Green, a member of the founding Green family, who was instrumental in putting the ring together.

“Norma really helped design the ring with us,” says Hurst. “Griffin is very particular; so, we all wanted to choose a ring that would really reflect him. I really liked the idea of putting little diamonds on the side. I thought that looked classic, timeless, very masculine—and just gaudy enough to be beautiful. Norma and the store’s onsite gemologist, Terri Cinque, pulled out lots of diamonds for us to look through, which I admit was a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, we were able to meet with Norma three or four times, since I was constantly dragging my feet on making a decision. She never pressured us!”

Once Patrick made his final choice, the Lux Bond & Green team moved onto the final step, collaborating with world-renowned designer Michael Bondanza, who created the CAD and custom-crafted the ring. “It came out spectacularly,” says Hurst. “It’s such a fitting setting for such a precious family heirloom.”

Just as no two rings are alike, the same goes for wedding proposals.
“We live in the historic district in Old Wethersfield, which is one of the oldest towns in the state. It is kind of like Salem, Massachusetts. We also had witch trials,” says Hurst. “Anyway, there’s a famous cove and beautiful gardens where we like to go on walks; the area is kind of hidden away. So, one night, I told him we had to go walk our dog—and Griffin just really didn’t want to go out. But I convinced him he had to, and I just proposed to him there. He was very surprised. I think it was perfect.”

While many of the wedding details have been finalized —it will take place in Ireland next May—there are still a couple of important decisions to still be made. “I don’t have an engagement ring, and we don’t know what we’ll do about wedding rings,” laughs Hurst. “We’ll probably do something simple, but you never know!”