The Aegean Sea Plot
"I've been plotting my proposal to Sal for quite a while. He was going to celebrate his birthday in Athens and Mykonos, so I took the opportunity to pick a day that we were going on a yacht ride, and had planned to propose to him while we were on the Aegean Sea. I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends who kept the secret and helped me with ideas for the ring’s design. My bit was to pretend that I wanted a picture taken of me facing a certain direction towards the sea. Everyone was in on the secret and was gathering around with their phones to capture the moment. I told Sal to do the same pose and instead of taking his picture, I got on one knee, ring in both hands. He turned around but was enjoying getting his picture taken very much so, and so he was facing me but looking up. I said, “Look down” and then he saw the ring, and his jaw dropped. Needless to say, he said yes!"
I can’t thank everyone at InBloom Jewelry enough for helping me make this dream come true. Their knowledge and professionalism were outstanding throughout the entire process. There is also some symbolism behind the ring's design, and they helped me capture it perfectly. The bamboo patterns match the bamboo on Sal's left arm tattoo. The 11 stones represent the number of years we have been together since the beginning of our relationship until the day I proposed. And finally, the different hues of colors have some greens (Sal’s favorite color), some blues (Boli’s favorite color), and a big ol' white diamond in the middle, to bring it all together. The inspiration for the colors also came from the gay men's pride flag, which features different shades of green and blue."