“Fate brought us together, as cliché as that sounds”.
We chatted with Nikki & Vicki, long time friends from university who were brought together years later through their strong friendship. The couple share the story of their love, and their journey creating engagement rings for each other!
How did you meet?
N: We were friends first. We went to uni together 10 years ago. We weren’t on the same course, but we were in the same house! We were in a flat together with five other people.
V: Fate brought us together, as cliché as that sounds. It was just chance that we actually met each other! We stayed friends for five years before we got together. I’m sure there was the danger that we would be friends forever!
So you were friends for five years. What changed?
N: Oh… life! We went to uni in Scotland, but Vicky did her first year there and then she moved home. We stayed friends, and throughout the four years she would come stay with us. After uni, we both went our own ways, but would always reach out to each other for support. As the years passed, it gradually began to turn into something more, and it reached a point where we thought, why are we pretending that we are just friends? It got to the stage where it would have been silly to not give it a go!
So Vicki, when did you know that Nikki was the one?
V: I can’t pinpoint on one thing! Nikki was always there for me, and she supported me through a lot. We found that we shared the same life goals, and the same ambitions.
N: On the surface we seem very different, but actually we are very similar.
So Nikki, when did you know Vicky was the one?
N: Well, it’s a collection of moments again! It was always really easy with Vicky, compared to previous relationships as we’d spent so much time together as friends first.
Nikki, when did you know that you wanted to propose?
N: Oh, years ago. However, it wasn’t practical then… I’m a bit of a dreamer! When we did finally get together, it was long distance for a while. It was a good two years of travelling long distance between Scotland and Manchester, so we could only see each other every other weekend. It wouldn’t have made sense back then.
We put the engagement off because we wanted to focus on moving in together, and on our careers. We started saving up for a house, so I thought that we might not be in the financial position to get married.
We were trying to be sensible, and there was a lot of people around us were getting married, so we didn’t want to step on any toes- it just didn’t seem like our time yet.
But then eventually I just thought, why not? We’ve waited long enough to be together.
Nikki
So how did you choose the ring?
N: She’s trained me well over the years that we have been together.
V: Whenever I would pass a store or see something I didn’t like, I would say, don’t get me that one! Or, I would say I like this and I like that!
N: When the time came around to actually designing the ring, I knew exactly what she wanted.
Do you both have a favourite memory of a time that you share together?
V: My favourite memory is the first day that we moved into the flat together. We bought sandwiches from Asda, and sat on bean bag chairs as it was the only furniture we had.
It was a realisation for me that yes, this is forever. We’re finally not long distance anymore.
It was home, and even though we had nothing in the flat, it was just perfect. That is my favourite memory.
N: Well for me, the proposal is always going to be up there, the whole day was amazing. Our first holiday together was a great memory though. We were still a long distance at the time. Vicky is a teacher, so luckily she has a lot of holidays where she was able to come and stay with me for longer periods of time, but the holiday was the first time that we were in a shared space that wasn’t just my apartment. It was that first experience of having so much free time with one another, being able to just go home together, and not have any work to do. It was early in the relationship, so it was great to get away together.
So tell us about your proposal!
N: It’s a cheesy one. When we were doing long distance, we had a habit of making each other presents.
V: We’re not really one for spending lots of money on each other’s presents. We like handmade, bespoke things.
N: So one Christmas, she got me this jar and it had these little notes in it for date ideas. So, from that Christmas whenever we were together, we could choose a new date from the jar to go on. We would go to the movies, or spend Sunday doing a jigsaw, or whatever the note we picked from the jar said.
Some of the dates had little presents that went along with them as well. One of them was a face mask, one was popcorn to go along with movie night, one was a pair of comfy socks because it was a stay at home night… silly things like that! So for a few months we went through most of the dates, then it kind of died down a bit. I strategically kicked it back into life when I thought about the proposal, I think at this point there was about four left. I thought, right. This is an opportunity. So I made my own little date note that said “get married” inside of it
We had planned to make a scrapbook of the dates once we finished the jar. When it came down to the last date in the jar, I said to Vicky that we should make a night of it. We’ll get some drinks, some take out and we’ll make this scrapbook. She didn’t know, but I secretly booked this night away in the Peak District in this cute little shepherds hut I’d found.
V: It was in the middle of a field, there was no internet and you have to walk miles just to get anywhere. It was such a stormy night, the whole hut was shaking. So we sat in our cosy little hut making the scrapbook. There was no TV, no internet- just a playlist of chilled music in the background.
N: So as we got to the end of the scrapbook, we decided to start winding down and getting ready for bed. As we got into our Christmas jammies I sneaked the ‘date’ I’d made into the empty jar, hoping she would see it and say “Oh, there’s one more date we need to open it!”. She didn’t even look at it! I had to show it to her. I had to coerce her into opening it!
V: She was like, “look!” I just thought it was something that was going to continue that night, like maybe a game or some more wine. Or maybe something she had booked, like an afternoon tea or something like that for the next day. Maybe an extra thing for the holiday that we were doing.
So as she opened it and read it, I got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. She said, “really!?”
Nikki
V: Well, I didn’t think it was going to happen! I thought it would be after we buy a house, once we’re completely settled and ready. So then I was like, yeah, obviously I’ll marry you!
So Vicky, you did not suspect anything at all?
V: No, not at all!
N: She didn’t seem to have any idea! Even though I felt I’d been accidentally leaving clues for ages. I even had one of our friends, Liam, help out with the process secretly.
V: He had a ‘job interview’ in London, and claimed he didn’t want to be on his own, so Nikki and Liam went to London together. I found out that night that there was no job interview, but they went to London to meet the ring designer to design the ring!
Do you both have a date planned for the wedding?
V: We do, yes. August 29th next year. We have found this beautiful little venue, Aikwood Tower on the border of Scotland. They only do so many weddings a year as well, so we had a limited choice. The date coincides with our holidays, and it’s also bank holiday weekend. We’ve got the whole place for ourselves from Friday to Monday and it means people won’t rush off!
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Nikki, what is it about Vicky that makes you smile?
N: Little things. As I work in gaming, it can be long days. To make me feel better, sometimes she will have dinner ready, and sometimes I’ll find a little note, or she will leave me some flowers. Sometimes I work such long hours that I feel guilty about not coming home on time, and she will leave me a note that says “Don’t worry about coming home on time, you know I love you”.
That is the best note to get when you have to work late.
And the same for you, Vicki?
V: I think it’s just that we can be so silly together, like singing really loudly in the car, and dancing around. All the little things like that.
So Vicky, you had a ring made for Nikki after the proposal?
V: Yes, Kate designed both rings! So with Nicky’s, it was a joint design and we both visited the showroom.. The ring is a princess cut in a brushed band. Nikki pretty much designed her own ring. I just did the final touches. In Nikki’s ring on the inside of the band, it’s my birthstone. My ring has her birthstone, because we wanted to match. We both have such different taste in rings that it was nice to be able to tie them together in this way with the signature stones on the inside of the bands.
So you like the geometric nature of the princess cut?
N: I love it. It’s so different. I wanted a ring, but I’m not a very diamonds and sparkles person.
V: Because of the nature of work that Nikki does, she needed something quite flat, where as my diamond is set above the band.
N: It’s quite an easy ring to wear. It’s quite heavy, but I got used to it. I love it.
I think once you have a platinum ring, everything else seems light, because it’s about 35% more dense than gold, so it has a lovely heft. Well that’s amazing that you guys both had rings with us. That’s fantastic!
N: Yeah, they both turned out great. And excellent service from you guys. Kate was a dream to work with, she was lovely. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She knew what I was trying to tell her even when I didn’t know what I meant myself. You can just tell that she loves her job, she was really excited about both of the rings!
What are the dreams you share together for the future?
V: Well, first the wedding! The house is next. To have a cat. The cat is definitely high on the priority list. We are both very driven in our jobs. So it’s nice to just settle down a bit and then encourage each other.
N: We’re really boring. But I’m absolutely fine with it!
You are both still giddy after ten years together, it’s very sweet.
N: Yeah, it is nice. We say that to each other a lot, why is this still so nice?
