Finishing up our celebration of Stuller’s Year of the Wedding™, we are highlighting stunning rings and the Stuller associates who wear them.
What an incredible year it has been! Since January, we have met some phenomenal Stuller associates, seen gorgeous rings, and learned the stories behind them. We can think of no better way to end this Year of the Wedding series than with someone from our bridal team who now has an engagement ring of her own.
Katelyn Oglesby, a product manager on Stuller’s bridal team, spends her days developing new engagement rings for brides across the world to enjoy. With the help of Stuller’s bridal experts, her now-fiancé Hunter recently popped the question and presented her with a custom-designed ring of her dreams.
The journey from meeting to the ring is quite a tale. Let’s dive into Katelyn and Hunter’s ring story.
City Girl Meets Country Boy
If you were to ask Katelyn, she would describe the start of their relationship as a “girly-girl in love with a city life whose hobbies include brunch and happy hour meets a true outdoorsman who loves to hunt, fish, and spend time around a bonfire with friends.” While Katelyn has lived in cities like Baton Rouge and New York City, Hunter has always lived in Lafayette. Katelyn has an outgoing and vibrant personality, whereas Hunter is quiet and reserved. With such different personalities and lifestyles, how do these individuals come together? They both have a love of adventure and trying new things. When they met, both saw the potential in a great adventure together.
Katelyn and Hunter met at a birthday party thrown by mutual friends of theirs. While they had known about each other for years, it was the first time they had a chance to meet. While they were at the party, Katelyn caught Hunter’s eye and a conversation ensued. This conversation continued into the days after, and both quickly came to the realization of what they wanted.
Things Get Serious
Their relationship began long distance with Katelyn living in Baton Rouge and Hunter living in Lafayette. Almost a year into dating, the world experienced the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the ability to work from home being an option, they gave the concept of living together a shot. Katelyn moved in with Hunter and their dog Teal in Lafayette — the beginning of a whole new adventure.
“Something I think we all realized last year is that COVID either brings you closer together or tears you apart,” mentioned Katelyn, “For us, it definitely brought us together and encouraged us to get more serious about the future.”
Eventually, Katelyn was asked to start going back to work in Baton Rouge. When the conversation came up on where she should live, Hunter immediately told her he wanted her to stay with him in Lafayette. For a while, Katelyn commuted until she accepted the opportunity to work with Stuller’s bridal team at the start of 2021.
During this time, they truly grew together and introduced each other to parts of life they have never experienced before. Life started to settle into a solid rhythm for Katelyn and Hunter, so conversations about the future began. With Katelyn working with engagement rings every day, Hunter knew he needed expert help in creating the perfect ring for Katelyn.
The Best Possible Team Creates the Best Possible Ring
As Hunter started to look for a ring for Katelyn, her teammates in the bridal department came to the rescue. Working with engagement rings, Katelyn gets exposed to countless new designs on a daily basis. Stone shapes, design details, and other aspects of her dream ring are all things she shares with her team, so Hunter had the best inside knowledge for what she likes.
Her coworkers reached out to Stuller’s Product Design and Development as well as CAD/CAM teams to bring all these concepts together. They started with a sketch to get an idea of what the ring would look like and then with a CAD rendering to make sure everything would work together.
In the end, Hunter had a unique and beautiful one-of-a-kind ring that contained all of Katelyn’s favorite design elements. Both triple and double claw prongs tightly secure the 2.25 carat marquise diamond center stone adorned with hidden baguette and round diamond accents that wrap the gallery of the head. Alternating sized baguette diamonds also cascade down the 14K yellow gold shank.
With the perfect ring in hand, the final step was for Hunter to think of the perfect way to propose.
Keeping a Special Loved One in Mind
When Katelyn moved in with Hunter, they began a life together along with their dog Teal. As avid dog lovers, Teal was a part of the family. Katelyn told Hunter that when the time came for a proposal, all she wants is for Teal to play a part in it.
Unfortunately, Teal passed away while the ring was being created — a devastating loss for the couple. It was important to Hunter that he still honor Katelyn’s wishes and think of a way for Teal to be a part of the proposal.
One day in November, Hunter asked Katelyn to help him remove some large sticks in the yard so he could mow the lawn later. They live on a spacious 10 acres of land so active yardwork was a familiar activity for both of them. A tired Katelyn reluctantly agreed. Little did she know, this was all part of Hunter’s plan.
He brought her near a large tree on their property where they had buried Teal and had a little memorial in her honor. They picked up sticks until Hunter suddenly grabbed Katelyn and pulled her close. He thanked her for helping him and asked if she would always be around to help him.
“I told him ‘Of course!’ All he had to do was ask,” said Katelyn. At that moment, Hunter stepped back, reached into his pocket for the ring, and got down on one knee right next to Teal’s memorial.
A Happy Ending Creates the Path to a Wonderful Future
The cinematic details of Katelyn and Hunter’s story might sound like the plot of a great Hallmark movie — city girl meets country boy, the movie-quality meet-cute, the perfect proposal that pulls at the heart strings, and more. The best part about this being more than just a movie is that this happy ending will lead to an even happier beginning for the couple. Katelyn and Hunter are jumping into wedding planning and will tie the knot in March of 2023. Cheers to the happy couple from your Stuller family!
Thank you for joining in this celebration of love and commitment during Stuller’s Year of the Wedding. While the Year of the Wedding and this series may be coming to an end, remember to look at every ring as an opportunity to tell a story. Behind every ring is a couple on a journey and a tale waiting to be told.
Want a recap of all the posts in our Stuller Ring Story series? Click here to read more!
