Samantha K Schmidt

On November 14, 2015 my amazing boyfriend asked me to be his wife and almost immediately gave me the deadline of 5 months to plan and prepare a wedding and merge our two homes. I had known since the beginning of our relationship that he wasn't fond of long engagements and admittedly the sooner I could marry him the happier I would have been; however, I believe he underestimated just how much there is to do in preparation for a wedding. As the wedding day got closer and closer I found my capacity for other processing almost entirely disabled. A normally organized and alert individual, I began to lose track of dates, tasks, and even people's names. The other day I found myself pondering over the name of a coworker for nearly 3 minutes before it finally made its way out of long term memory. I began using the term wedding brain when I realized that like a pregnant woman I was so focused on this monumental change in my life that I seemed to be forgetting little details....

As the engagement season begins to come to a close you may still be waiting around for that perfect ring, or you may be gearing up for a new year to find love. Either way millions of girls around the world are dreaming of the perfect ring to mark a special bond between them and their one true love. Unfortunately, when thinking of the perfect engagement ring the same image pops into every girls mind. When I got engaged there was one thing I knew I didn't want... the same thing everyone else had. And let's face it the diamond is so overdone. It wasn't until the 1900's that diamonds became a popular gemstone among the general public. Previously, diamonds were only possessed by kings and queens (which probably increased their desirability). In the meantime, however, common people wore less rare gemstones made of brilliant colors and precious metals. When we think back on our grandmothers' jewelry collections we remember all of these beautiful colors and antique des...