Bicycles — and pants! We lived in Dallas at the time and Adam was a buyer for a large bicycle retailer; Anne worked in sports, but also had a clothing line of commuter bicycle apparel and Adam placed an order for a size run of the pants. A year or so later, we re-connected over a shared love of sports, travel, and dogs! We recently moved to Minneapolis for Adam’s work in the bicycle industry at Quality Bicycle Products. Anne no longer sells pants, but she still works in sports.

We really believe in connections with people and places. We also really like things that have a neat history and a special provenance behind them, or, in the maker’s spirit, come directly from the person who made them. The proposal was a surprise to Anne, and Adam knew that he wanted to choose an engagement ring together, so he proposed with a casual diamond ring that Anne now wears on our athletic adventures, like riding bikes or hiking. Since we were new to Minneapolis, we searched online for jewelers who offered estate pieces — and we found Filigree! Walking in, there were a few reasons we knew that Filigree was the place for us: The space itself has a neat design that we love: modern and historic all in one (even the art on on the walls is similar to Anne’s paintings). Also, the stunning collection features both original, modern designs as well breathtaking estate pieces — but, the best reason of all is that we have truly enjoyed working with Catherine, Brent, and the whole team.

We selected a 30s-era estate piece for the engagement ring, but later worked with Brent to have him create our bands so that they would have a modern look, but also complement the engagement ring. Adam’s band is truly a striking design, featuring an elongated 6mm emerald cut stone that almost seems to float within the brushed white gold band.

We love the mix of old and new and the provenance that our three rings have, and we love the connection we now have with the people at Filigree.

We’d spent New Year’s 2019 with some of our closest friends in downtown Chicago. Anne’s hometown of St. Charles is a Chicago suburb, so we swung through for a night and stayed at historic Hotel Baker. Before driving back to Minneapolis the next day, our plan was the stop in nearby Elgin at a one-room wooden church that Anne’s maternal ancestors built on their land after immigrating from Scotland in 1840. The church is where Anne was christened and is one of her most cherished places. That cold, snowy January day was the first time she was showing Adam the church … so it was especially fitting Adam proposed in front of the church while they were there. And, in December 2019, we were married in the church!