Long before Christie Mann met her fiancé, Taylor Youngblood, she thought about what her perfect engagement ring might look like.
“As a normal girl, I started looking at rings online years before I even metTaylor. I never did any serious shopping, but every once and a while I would scroll through different designer sites,” Mann said. “One day, about a year and a half after Taylor and I had been dating, I saw a Verragio advertisement on Facebook. I followed the link and fell in love.”
With their shared love of antiques though, Mann had originally envisioned a vintage engagement ring with its own unique history. But rather than run the risk of taking on someone’s tragic history, Youngblood wanted a fresh start for the couple’s engagement. Fortunately, the couple found everything they were looking for in Verragio’s designs.
“When I found the Verragio site we knew that this brand was perfect for us because it combined the things that we both wanted in a ring. I wanted a ring with scrolling, a split shank, and a halo,” Mann said.
During their first visit to Robbins Brothers in Houston, the couple immediately knew they had found their dream ring.
“The first ring I tried on was the Insignia 7046 and it was love at first sight. I did not even have to try on another ring. I immediately knew that I had found the one for me,” Mann said. “Thankfully I had already found the man to go with the ring.”
The couple met years ago ‘by accident,’ as Mann puts it, while she was in School for American Sign Language and working on a music video for her class’s final project.
“Taylorwas my camera man. He spent the day teasing me and pretending that he could sign as well. I loved his sense of humor and we had a great day laughing with each other,” Mann remembered. “At the time I did not know it, but when he got in the car to leave he told his friend, ‘Now that is the kind of girl I can see myself ending up with.’”
Mann, feeling a certain fondness for Friday the 13th, having been born on a Friday the 13th, had a hopeful, sneaking suspicion that on April 13th, 2012, there may have been more in store for her than the planned dinner and a movie date.
“I knew that Taylor had been to the trunk show and was on edge almost every time I saw him, trying to guess when the big day might be,” Mann said. “I spent the whole night at dinner talking about weddings and what it would be like when we were engaged.”
But it wasn’t until the pair got home from dinner that Mann received the surprise of a lifetime.
“When we got home I started setting up the movie that we were going to watch. When I turned around to ask Taylora question I saw him on his knees and instead of saying anything he signed to me ‘Will you marry me,’” Mann remembered. “I was so shocked to see that he was using American Sign Language that I stared and said ‘What did you say?’ PoorTaylorhad a look of dread as he tried his signed sentence again ‘Will you marry me?’ I still did not give him any relief because my next question was “Who taught you that?” FinallyTaylorsaid the words ‘Will you marry me…please?’ To which I exclaimed ‘yes.’”
After being presented with her new Insignia 7046, Mann found out that Youngblood had studied how to sign his proposal from ASL instructions on the computer.
“I loved that he incorporated my passion into his proposal, even if it did catch me off guard,” Mann said.
Despite having seen the Insignia 7046 at Robbins Brothers, Youngblood, full of surprises, was even able to catch Mann off guard with the engagement ring too.
“Taylorsurprised me by putting sapphires, one of my favorite stones, in the Verragio crest, Mann said. “I love my ring and I could not be happier.”
The couple is currently planning an intimate wedding for September 13th, 2013; a Friday of course.