Sharing my one-of-a-kind afternoon with Simon G designing my one-of-a-kind wedding band while Marilyn Monroe's iconic line plays on repeat in my head.
On a sweltering Wednesday in June, I trek over to Simon G's headquarters to brainstorm and collaborate design ideas for my one-of-a-kind wedding band. Located in a nondescript "I can't believe this is the home to diamonds" industrial building in LA, I enter not knowing what's waiting on the other side of the massive steel door.
I quickly discover that this isn't just an office-it's where bling is created. Upon entering, I'm ushered to a meeting room where minutes later the CEO and his PR team comes in with stacked leather boxes that snap open to sparkling wedding bands of every shape and style. After recovering from my momentary blindness, we go through them with a fine-tooth comb as I spend quite a bit of time outfitting each on my finger secretly pretending to be a Russian Czaress. Meticulous notes are taken and the CEO is furiously sketching prototypes based on my input. We narrow down the styles to the final three and go over every stone, angle, and crevice until a final sketch brings to paper the diamond vision that I've long held onto in my mind.
We then go a tour where hidden amongst the admin and accounting offices are rooms filled with heavy machines, pools of bright green water, and mechanical instruments completely foreign to me. Each station serves a different purpose in cleaning, refining, chiseling, and building the perfect diamond ring. As a layperson, I can't quite explain the diamond making process without making a few blunders so I will refrain. But trust me, the process is thoughtful, careful, technical, and in Simon G's case, everything is made by hand.
As I close the steel door behind me and make my way to my car, I stop for a sec, close my eyes, and revel in what just took place-yet another extraordinary moment gifted to this ordinary girl.
