One of my customers recently offered to write a testimonial. This is not uncommon, however, I was unprepared for what was to come.

I am posting it as a blog article (with permission) as it is a wonderful piece about modern relationships, conscious living and the process of having rings hand made.

I will now let Cat and Julie speak in their own words:

“When my partner Julie and I decided to get married we knew we wanted it to be a celebration of our commitment to each other and a reflection of our lives together. As in our daily lives, we made decisions to minimalise our impact on the environment, choosing video invites and a web page to pull our international gang of friends and family together. As we were getting married abroad and the fact that we’ve lived together for years before we wanted to highlight a charity donation for presents instead of accumulating more stuff in the house. One of the most important items we decided on was to get ethically and sustainably sourced rings. These rings would stay with us forever and not only did we want them to make an “green” statement we also wanted them to look perfect! To our surprise we only found only two options in Australia for just such a ring. We were delighted though when through our correspondence with Melinda of Ethical Jewellery Australia we found the perfect fit.

Melinda worked with Julie and I on our rings from start to finish; gathering detail and passing back photos of similar looking rings. Melinda educated us on the different types of metals, how they’re sourced, how they hold up over time, their degree of “shiny-ness” Melinda and I emailed back and forth on style, she having to interpret my view point of the ring, my idea of rough and hewn, my idea of hammered but not hammered…she did really well!

There was never an issue with our same-sex marriage, Melinda simply celebrated our union and was excited at the chance to help create a unique ring for us. Not only was Melinda’s professional expertise on jewellery and metals invaluable but her steady determination to make this ring perfect for us was admirable. To take a mere concept to reality with only emails was quite a feat!

We then added a last minute engraving on the rings in Thai (our wedding was in Thailand) and it came out perfectly! I was also able to surprise my wife on our wedding day with ethically sourced diamond earrings cleverly packaged in a gift box made by Thai women, with proceeds going directly back to their community….again, Melinda was brilliant with this process as well (educating me on the diamonds, sourcing them from an ethical supplier, and adding that special touch of the gift box!).

Melinda’s dedication to her customers and ability to relate to their needs resulted in these incredibly unique rings that Julie and I will both cherish forever. I can’t recommend her highly enough. I’m looking forward to working with her on our fiftieth anniversary present!

-Catherine and Julie-”

It is a lovely testimonial and a great story.

Until next time

Melinda Nugent

About the Author

Melinda, a jewellery designer and qualified gemmologist, is the founder and driving force behind Ethical Jewellery Australia (EJA) and The Promised Ring.

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