Nuptials: Danielle Oeffler and John Dawson

When meeting new people, one can never be sure what role that new person will play in one’s life. They could become a friend — a best friend, perhaps. Or they could leave just as quickly as they entered. But, in some very special cases, they could become someone even more special — the love we keep so close to our hearts, it’s as if they help it beat with their bare hands — even when they’re a world away. Danielle Oeffler, 30, and John Dawson, 39, are easily a combination of every possibility.

In 2003, Danielle met John, from Schenectady, through mutual friends. Their outgoing personalities and shared interest in basketball sparked an immediate friendship.

A month later, John, a U.S. Marine, was deployed to Iraq for a little more than six months. Danielle, a Green Island native, took to writing letters and sending care packages to comfort him, keeping him connected to home. Danielle would keep John up to date with game scores, especially when his favorite team — the Dallas Cowboys — would play. They would write to each other about what was happening in their lives; anything that came to their minds when the pen hit the paper. It was natural … and powerful.

Despite the distance, each letter brought John and Danielle closer together. So close, in fact, that a few months after John returned home, Danielle knew by his openly honest nature that John was the one for her. John felt that no matter what, Danielle would always be there for him. After all, her thoughtful letters and packages filled with love touched him on the other side of the world. He imagined what they could become side by side.

They became a couple deeply in love.

July 9, 2010, John arrived home from picking up Danielle’s birthday gift. Danielle had picked out a black diamond cocktail ring for her right hand. She excitedly bugged John, pleading for her present. Giving in, John went to his car to retrieve it while Danielle waited on the couch. John sat next to Danielle and simply slipped the ring on her ringer. Danielle let out a gasp while staring at her left hand. She expected a ring, but she didn’t expect there to be a bright, shining diamond, offering the promise of forever.

“Is this the ring I think it is?” She asked, heart pounding.

John said yes.

Today, John and Danielle surround themselves with love from John’s 15-year-old son and their 5-year-old daughter. With John currently in the Army National Guard, Danielle holds down the fort when he’s away at training — sometimes for weeks. However, she feels lucky that missing each other is their biggest obstacle.

Designer Diamond Right Hand Rings

Diamond right hand rings became a favorite of many designers as a canvas upon which to display their design prowess. What easier way than to take a publicly advertised diamond product theme with De Beers dollars behind it and design their way into the limelight.

After all, right hand rings were about the individual with all their styling quirks. Right hand rings in this way allowed designers to go beyond their standard collections and expand their range to showcase traditional styling all the way to the audacious and ahead of their time styling and material.

Here is a piece from the manufacturer/designer Andin which is fairly basic in concept but simply elegant in excecution. At first blush it would seem to have more in common with a solitaire engagement ring rather then a right hand diamond ring.

First there is a mounting and second there is a single center stone. Now if a matching band came with it then perhaps but without that, all indications are that this could be called a right hand ring. It has a tailored one of a kind look despite its simplicity. A right hand does not always have to be showy and larger than life.

Contrary to the the previous ring, here is a larger than life diamond right hand ring with brown diamonds in the center set in Rose gold and white diamonds set in white gold. This is more typical of right hand rings in terms of scale. Previously this would have been called a diamond cuff ring but now this could definitely be called a right hand ring.

The centre motif is rose shaped and is appropriately rose gold. Wide cuff rings like this are not for everyone’s fingers because of the extra width.

If you have short finger you may want to consider a different style of right hand ring. In fact you may want to try the next style of ring shown below from the designer Diamonds in the rough if you have short stubby looking fingers. It features cognac diamonds in the rough set in 18k rose gold with small pink diamonds on the periphery. Rough diamonds are big now in the jewelry design world. Their prices have skyrocketed as a number of jewelry designers have introduced styles of their own only to realise that the prices have gone way up in the past three years.

Five years ago nobody was even looking at rough diamonds, diamond ring design was based on the premise of cut and polished diamonds whether modern or period cuts. Now rough diamonds are being paired with raw look gold for an inspired back to nature look. This coincides well with the green movement.

Glamour

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