So you’re in love. Full on, angel orchestras are playing, rainbows appearing around their head, birds singing whenever they are near, the works. There’s no doubt in your mind- this is the person you want to spend the rest of your natural life with.
More than that, you’ve decided how and where you are going to propose. You’ve booked a table at that restaurant where you first met, or the second restaurant you ever went to if the first one was a Pizza Hut. The band are going to play your favourite song, and as the tears begin to well up in your partner’s eyes you’re going to get down on one knee and… hold it right there. Back up a bit.
That ring that you’ve chosen, the one you’ve spent a sizeable chunk of your salary on and chose to symbolise how you feel about each other, the one your partner will be looking at for years to come. Are you sure it’s going to, well, fit? I mean, if it just hangs off your love’s finger, or worse, has to be painfully forced on, isn’t that going to put a bit of a dampener on the best day of both your lives? Make sure you engagement ring fits!
Well, fortunately you’re reading this before that happy day (or you’re down on one knee in the middle of a restaurant reading a blog on your iPhone, which is odd, and a little bit rude) so we have plenty of time to avoid exactly that scenario.
To make your proposal as perfect as it is in your mind, you’ll need to find out your intended’s ring size. To achieve this you will need to use stealth, subterfuge and deception. In short, you need to ask yourself, What Would James Bond Do?
Gather Intelligence
If you’re planning on proposing, hopefully you will have worked your way into the affections of your partner’s friends and family. Now it’s time to exploit that affection. Find someone you can trust to keep your secret, and see if they know your partner’s ring size. If they don’t, you may need to recruit them to your cause. For instance, a friendly shopping trip can be a great way to spend a Saturday. If your partner and their friend should pass a jewellers, all the better! And while they’re there, why not try on some rings?
Straight Up Theft
If your partner doesn’t make a habit of jewellery shopping, or their friends and family are all terrible people, you may need to resort to more extreme measures. Wait until your partner is out the house, then hit the jewellery box and find one of their rings. Make sure it’s a ring from the right finger (the ring finger on the left hand) as, awkwardly, people’s fingers can be different sizes.
It’s possible you might not be able to get the ring away from the house. In that case, you’re going to need to use a little imagination. One trick that works is to try the ring on yourself. Let it slide down your finger, and mark where it falls. Show that to the jeweller and they’ll be able to estimate the size. Another option is to take a bar of soap or some clay (I don’t know why you’d have clay handy, but good for you!) and use the ring to make an impression which you can then take to the jeweller.
Night Time Operations
One thing you may remember about James Bond is that he faced very few problems that couldn’t be solved by getting someone into bed. It was practically his super power. Well, the same thing is true here. Wait for your beloved to drift off to sleep (the heavier a sleeper they are the better) then set to work with a piece of paper or some string. Carefully (carefully!) wrap the strip of paper or piece of string around their finger, mark the right place, then hide the evidence and get back to sleep.
Leave Room for Manoeuvre
This is possibly the least James Bond of our ring-size hunting solutions, but it’s worth bearing in mind non-the-less. If all else has failed, or even if it hasn’t, it’s always better to guess up than down. A ring that’s too big is easier to reduce than it is to make a ring that’s too tight wider. Plus, it’s much less comfortable trying to force a too-small ring onto your finger.