It was December 1995 and our 5th anniversary was approaching fast. I had noticed that I had started looking at other people’s engagement rings on buses, the subway etc. More and more I felt I wanted to get engaged too. I loved Pierre so much, and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this treasure. 
Pierre had asked me a couple of years ago, when our relationship was still very new, and that time I said that of course I wanted to get engaged, but that I’d rather wait a while. I felt I was so young…

(Important note: As you may have read in the section preceding this, engagement in Sweden most often doesn’t imply the same things as getting engaged in other countries.)

We were both studying at the University in Stockholm, and to put it mildly, our economy was crap. Buying engagement rings at that point would have been quite unwise. 
-I remember one occasion earlier that fall… My mother was visiting us, and so was a dear childhood friend of mine. One night we were playing Trivial Pursuit, enjoyed some wine, and were just having a good time together, all of us. I accompanied my mother and my friend out on the balcony to watch them smoke, and for some reason Therese (my friend) asked me if Pierre and I weren’t getting engaged some day. I said that we probably would, but that it was mainly a matter of economy at that point. Little did I know that my mother heard all this, and what thoughts it had triggered in her mind…

Pierre had probably laid the whole issue on holdby then, because he hardly ever mentioned getting engaged these days. And knowing he’s a very rational and down-to-earth kind of guy, and we were living together and all, he most certainly just didn’t think about it very much either. 

Well… back to December…. I remember I was out in the kitchen doing the dishes, and the thought of our 5th anniversary coming up in only 3 days made me feel like I wanted it to be special in a way, and that an engagement wold provide us with a nice step forward in our relationship. To be honest, I kind of panicked a bit thinking that we’d been together for 5 years, and “nothing” had happened yet. :o)
I went out to the livingroom and told Pierre how I felt about the whole thing, and he too thought it would be a great thing to do. But rational as he is, he said we couldn’t quite afford it. Me being the totally irrational and romantic one suggested that we could take half our rent money to buy the rings, and then lend the amount from my dad to pay the rent 2 weeks later. Amazingly, Pierre agreed to this! 
I wanted this to be properly done, so I took his hand in mine, and asked him if he wanted to get engaged. He did, and the next day we went downtown for ring shopping. 

The rings

We found our rings quite easily. Ran around to a bunch of different jewelers, mostly to check on prices. We both wanted to have smooth golden bands, so there really was no hassle about that. The hassle turned out to be regarding the delivery of our rings. They were to be engraved and that would take a few days, they said. But we had to get the rings by Friday night. This was Thursday, and we wanted to get engaged the night prior to Saturday, since we got together in the middle of the night, towards the 16th. (We've always considered December 16th to be our anniversary.)
The kind people at the jewelers did all they could to help us, and with the help of an extra delivery by courier, we managed to get our rings in time. 

Finally getting engaged

The moment we got engaged wasn’t very fancy so to speak. There was just him and me, sitting on our bed. We had bought a bottle of sparkling wine, lit a bunch of candles in the bedroom and everything was really cosy and nice. We told each other how much we loved each other, and put the rings on each other’s ring-finger. Then we sat up talking for some time, just enjoying the moment. I remember how odd it felt, the ring kind of tickled since none of us had never been wearing a ring on that finger before. 
Then we had to sleep, because I had to get up for work the next day. I was working part-time in a grocery store to earn some extra money, and when I arrived there that morning and my colleagues asked me how I was doing, I just had a huge grin on my face and waved my left hand in front of them. All day I remember I couldn’t stop looking at that beautiful, shiny ring I had….

When I got home from work Pierre said the phone had been ringing all day long. We had put an ad in the local newspaper here in Västervik and everybody wanted to congratulate us on our engagement. My mum called and just cried on the phone, out of happiness. She told me she had overheard Therese’s and my conversation on the balcony, and talked about it with my father and sister. She was thinking of having them collect some money for us to buy engagement rings, but then she didn’t know how we would react to that, since engagement is such a personal thing to do.  My mother is really the sweetest person ever!!! We also received a telegram from mum, dad and my sister later that night, wishing us all the luck in the world…

It was a really great thing to do, and I’m so proud of my engagement ring, even though it has gotten a bit scratched throughout the years. It’s such a wonderful way of showing the bond between me and my dear prince.

Make sure you read about our “second” engagement and wedding plans on the following pages. You can also see a picture of our engagement rings on the proposal page.