It’s June, which means we are celebrating PRIDE! This month’s love story features some of our favorite clients, Amber Tisue and Frankie Cail. They came to us a while back for two custom rings, designed to be as unique as each of them, and we are so happy to have played a small part in this beautiful couple’s love story.
Names: Amber Tisue and Frankie Cail
Current Location: Los Angeles, CA.
Meeting Location: Santa Monica, CA.
Wedding Date + Location: TBD
How did you meet?
I guess we really have to first answer this question as, “How did you first lay eyes on each other…”
Frankie: We met at one of Amber’s nightly music nights at a little restaurant called Santino’s. She was playing her guitar and singing for about an hour. I immediately fell in love with her, it was a feeling unlike I’ve ever had in my whole life. Something inside of me said, “at some point, you will be with this woman.”
Amber: I remember seeing her in the back of the restaurant, she really caught my eye. We were both in relationships at that time, but I distinctly remember the way she was looking at me, it stuck with me. But it wasn’t until a year and a half later that we actually met in person. That night, I was on the fence about going to a club where my roommate from college was the host. Then this little voice inside me said “just show up.” I decided to listen to it. About an hour after I arrived I felt a tap on my shoulder, and it was Frankie. She asked, “Is your name Amber?” and the rest was history.
The proposal – please tell us the stories!
Well, there are two proposal stories, as we both wanted to ask each other, but Frankie popped the question first!
Frankie: We had originally planned to take a vacation to Tulum, however, two nights before we were to go, Amber had been watching the live cam’s which showed the terrible seaweed epidemic that took hold of Tulum. We both decided that this was not the time of year for us to go and instead planned a last-minute trip up to Sedona. We packed our bags, I had visited Sofia about a month in advance and had the ring packed away tightly in my suitcase knowing full well that this was the trip I wanted to propose. Our drive to Sedona started off in all the right ways, with a side trip to a deer sanctuary about 45 minutes from the cabin we were staying in. We were so giddy to spend an hour with incredibly gentle animals and by the time we got to our beautiful cabin we were so excited to have had the chance to get away with each other. I was extremely nervous the whole day and night as I was anxiously waiting for the right moment to present itself for me to propose. The next day we woke up and decided to visit all of the energy vortex’s around Sedona. By the end of the day, we decided to take our final hike up Cathedral Rock. The hike up to the first Saddle was a bit challenging, in that we did not prepare ourselves with the right kind of shoes, thus, Amber decided to go barefoot and climbed all the way up and I followed. The whole day I was without the ring as I was too nervous it would have been discovered by Amber in our shared backpack, but on the final hike I brought it with me and as we built Cairns on the top of the first saddle together, Amber barefoot, no one around, I saw the moment and asked Amber to follow me to a small edge off to the side of the rock. We sat down, and I read a hand-written note that I had written the night before to Amber. And after we were both crying, I reached into the backpack pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me. It was sheer magic! We got engaged on May 23, 2018.
Amber: It really was meant to be that we went to Sedona, it truly was the most magical moment of my life. It was really important to me to ask Frankie to marry me in return, and my proposal came four months later over Labor Day weekend. I had planned to take Frankie to a ranch in Malibu where we first fell in love, and Debbie, the owner of the property was gracious enough to allow me to rent her bunkhouse to propose to her that weekend. I had told Frankie that I was taking her to Santa Barbara, but she sniffed me out when we stopped in Malibu to get snacks and Champagne with a supposed two hour drive still in front of us. Swiftly dodging her questioning, I stuffed the cheese and Champagne in the car and headed up the into the hills. We were greeted by Debbie and we were given free reign over the property. The property is just incredible, with vast views and rustic charm. Debbie built everything on her property by hand over the years and it shows. She also rescues animals which are abundant on the ranch. You can just feel the love emanating from this place. I decided to take her out onto the farthest hill overlooking the whole valley for what was an incredible sunset. We sat down on the bench and I gifted her a book of love notes that were to be opened on special occasions and I brought our speaker to play a song I had written for her. I asked her to marry me on top of that same hill where we first fell in love.
When did you know that your significant other was the one?
Frankie: When Amber and I spent a weekend in Malibu at a music festival that Amber played at, I knew she was the one for me. That weekend was so connecting for us that I knew I could never have anything remotely close to what we had with anyone else.
Amber: I think for me, it was about two months after we started dating, she was staying overnight at my place and I was brushing my teeth while she was laying in bed. I quietly watched her without her noticing, and a little voice in my head whispered, “She’s going to be the one.” Deep down I knew at that moment what my intuition was telling me, and I haven’t looked back.
What is your favorite thing about your significant other?
Frankie: I love how passionate she is. Whether it’s about our love or about her hobbies (making music, ceramics) when she’s into something she goes all in. It’s a remarkable quality that I truly admire about her.
Amber: I love how much she makes me laugh, like the kind of laugh where no sound comes out because you’re laughing so hard. I love how much she truly cares about those around her, and her fierce loyalty to those she loves. She’s an epic adventure as well as my home.
What made you choose your rings?
Frankie: I had an idea of a ring for Amber for about 2 years before I got it made with Sofia. I went in with the image and idea that I found online and Sofia and I sat together a few times discussing how to make the ring unique and one of a kind and the result with the little black diamond around the halo to match the salt and pepper diamond in the middle is exquisite.
Amber: I had a design in my mind for literally about the same amount of time as Frankie before heading into Sofia’s, but it wasn’t until I received my ring that I solidified the design I wanted for her. We both desired a unique story to go along with our rings, and when I was choosing the diamond for Frankie, Sofia remembered that she had the other half of the stone to my ring. it was a no-brainer that that other half would belong to Frankie. Two halves of a whole.
As it turns out, when Amber began the process of designing Frankie’s ring, we let her know that the diamond Frankie chose was part of a pair. When Amber saw the matching diamond, she knew that was the stone she wanted to use for Frankie’s piece..!
Do you have any notable stories that have stood out over the years – hilarious, sentimental, anything!
Frankie: After Amber and I first met at Santino’s it wasn’t until a year and a half later that we ran into each other at one of our favorite DJ’s set at Sound Nightclub in Hollywood that we re-connected. We both got home around 6am and I decided to Facebook message her that I would love to take her out for a drink. She made me wait two weeks later to have our first date at The Other Room in Venice. Our first date lasted 7 hours and I never wanted it to end. To this day we are forever our favorite DJ- Lee Burridge’s number 6 couple that has told him that we fell in love at his show. It’s truly so meaningful to us that this whole night happened because of him!
Amber: This story still astounds me to this day. We moved to Chicago from LA and drove across the country along Route 66. We stopped at a confluence of two giant rivers and were skipping stones along the water. Before we left, we decided to search along the shoreline to choose a rock to take with us. We both casually chose our own rocks, standing about 20 feet apart from each other on the shoreline. We walked back to our car and I stopped to use the restroom in the parking lot, asking Frankie to hold my stone for me. I grab both stones from her after I’m done so she can use the bathroom next. I look down at the two rocks that are laying perfectly on top of each other, the each half making one whole rock, down to the very crack. I can’t make this stuff up, we both individually had chosen a rock that was somehow split apart and ended of on the opposite ends of each shore, and she had subconsciously put them together like a puzzle. Needless to say we lost it and started crying tears of gratitude.
What are you most excited about for your wedding? Are you going on a honeymoon?
Frankie: I’m most excited about the intimacy of our wedding and getting to spend quality time together and with the ones we love. Absolutely honeymoon! We’re thinking Thailand and Japan.
Do you have any advice for planning a wedding?
Make the wedding about you and what you two want.
We loved playing a part in this beautiful couple’s love story by creating a pair of custom rings as unique as them.
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