Diamonds are a Girl’s Guilty Pleasure.

The night I met my fiancé, I was wearing about eighty-thousand dollars worth of diamonds. It was the 2006 Best of Louisville Awards Show, complete with a red-carpet arrival and an array of Louisville celebrities. My friend Tim Krekel and I were there to perform a song together, as well as to say, “And the award goes to…” several times. It was my one and only brush with the kind of celebrity where jewelry stores call you a week in advance to ask what you plan on wearing to the event.

This wedding is probably the only time in my life where I will know what I’m wearing more than an hour before the main event, and I remember just laughing and telling the nice woman from Merkley Kendrick Jewelers in Louisville, “I have no idea.” She then explained that she was bejeweling the female awards presenters (I don’t think she actually said the word “bejeweling,” but I just love that word), and she needed to know what style accessories would complement my gown.

Because borrowing jewels is something I thought only Nicole Kidman got to do, I tried to help out. “It’ll probably be something either vintage or simple and classic,” if that helps. No, I didn’t know a color or neckline … no, I didn’t know a fabric …

The woman was probably frustrated with me, but she didn’t show it. Instead she just said, “Diamonds, I think.” That sounded find with me, and I moved on with my life.

I didn’t think much about it the rest of the week, but I did manage to borrow a dress from a friend. Lacey, vintage-looking, and bright white, it fit beautifully. When I showed up to the Best of Louisville Awards that night, the jewelers smiled and adorned me with earrings, bracelets, rings, and a Harry-Winston-Eat-Your-Heart-Out diamond necklace.

Now I love sparkly things as much as any princess, but I’d never actually really worn diamonds before. I admit to having that feeling that advertisers want you to have. I just felt pretty … like a princess, I suppose. So all night long I flitted and fleeted around the party talking to everyone I knew and most people I didn’t. Actually, that sounds like what I do even without the jewels, but I did feel extra sparkly that night.

At the end of the evening, when I went to return the jewels, I asked the woman there how much they would cost to purchase. As I turned around and lifted my hair so she could remove the necklace, she told me the retail price of each piece I was wearing. I I turned around quickly. “Um, do you mind if I wear them for just ten minutes more?” She grinned back and said it wasn’t a problem.

Then I flitted and fleeted for about five minutes before I got freaked out that I might lose them. Good thing I asked about value at the end of the night.

Hmmm … I didn’t really tell you how I met FWT, did I? This blog’s long enough for today. But let’s just say it involved friends, the room stopping for a minute (at least for us anyway), a truck, two and a half years, and … cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.