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To celebrate being together with my husband Damien for nearly 20 years, I recently had my engagement ring remodeled. Below details what I did…. and I’ll also share my epic proposal too (because, well, any excuse to relive it!) The great news is that Anania Jewellers are offering a prize of a ring remodeling to one lucky reader – details on how to enter below.

It all started when I had my ring cleaned for the first time in about ten years, and I caught up again with Daniel at Anania. He said it wouldn’t be hard to reset my ring, so I ran it by  Damien and he was okay with it (when he proposed, he actually presented me with a diamond in a box as he knew I like to have a hand in things!) I do love my ring, but after nearly 13 years of marriage, I wanted to really make that diamond sing again with a fresh setting. And I couldn’t be happier with the results.

All this happened as COVID shutdown began so I had a meeting with Daniel over FaceTime and he showed me some options. I started a Pinterest board of references, which I sent Daniel. When the lockdown lifted, I was able to pop in to Anania and try on some options. Finally I had a decision.

A week later, Daniel dropped the ring off. We were having drinks by the firepit with the neighbours and Damien dropped to one knee with an impromptu re-proposal – bringing back a flood of happy memories. Just quietly, I think I may have one of the most romantic proposal stories of all time…

Before
After

Damien had been orchestrating it for months (and had multiple spreadsheets to prove it!) Not wanting to arouse my suspicion, he timed it with the eve of my 25th birthday and told me to meet him for a celebratory dinner at Guillame’s restaurant at the Opera House (now Bennelong).

I fronted up straight from a day of beauty eventing. In typical late Noughties style, I’d had a fresh spray tan and was wearing false lashes from an Ardell launch, so thankfully was ready for any photo ops that just happened to come my way.

When I arrived I was ushered outside the restaurant to the steps of the opera house where my private waiter, John, was waiting for me. He led me down the steps of the opera house up to Bennelong Lawn in the Botanic Gardens, that overlooks the Harbour. There, waiting in a custom-built black and white striped marquee set up as a private dining room was Damien, with several bottles of Veuve Clicquot.

I was, of course, very hopeful but didn’t want to assume anything in case I was disappointed. He didn’t make me wait too long thankfully, before dropping to his knee and giving a carefully prepared speech that made me cry floods of tears and shout “Yes!!” Our neighbour jumped out of the bushes, camera in hand, having caught it all (this was before the time of phone cameras!). Michael runs an event company Visions In Style and Damien had asked for his help styling the marquee and pulling it all together.

Sigourney and Damien’s engagement

After eating an incredible Michelin-worthy meal that John served us from Guillame, I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see our closest friends and family arrive, who Damien had assembled under the ruse of it being a ‘birthday party’ (this also explained the multiple bottles of champagne!) It was the most perfect celebration of the most beautifully planned proposal, and I felt like the luckiest human in the world that day. I still do. We’ve been married nearly 13 years now.

So, the ring, being a symbol of all that, was already so special as it was, but it was pretty incredible to be able to relive the magic with Daniel from Anania.

If you or someone you know would like to remodel a ring – any ring – head to the link here and enter your details to go into the draw! Good luck!

Words by Sigourney Cantelo. Photography by Alice Mahran. 

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