They needed “deadline days” so they wouldn’t become too attached

But once Mary MacGill and Terrence Breschi got engaged, the couple received their own announcement over the intercom at an Ocean State Job Lot store.

When it came time for Terrence Anthony Breschi to propose to his girlfriend, Mary Paulsen MacGill, a jewelry designer, he had a problem on his hands.

“Can you imagine how difficult it would be to find a ring for a woman who designs it for a living? " he said.

Fortunately, as chief operating officer of Ms. MacGill's eponymous company, Mr. Breschi knew who to ask for help : Marion Albers, Mrs. MacGill's right-hand woman at work and a close friend of theirs. “She had very precise notes,” said Mr. Breschi.

It is with this in mind that in June 2022 he called on Gabriella Kiss, jewelry designer and mentor. to Ms. MacGill whose studio in Bangall, New York, is about an hour's drive from the couple's home in Kinderhook, New York. Mr. Breschi and Ms. Kiss worked together all summer to create not one, but three rings. The rings are gold and stackable, with a different type of diamond (mineral, white and brown) embedded in each ring, representing Mr. Breschi, Mrs. MacGill and their two dogs, Mira-Belle and Ande-Belle.

“It’s a beautiful story and a nice feeling to have them with me all the time,” Ms MacGill said.

Mrs. MacGill, 35, graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in studio arts and English. She opened her first brick-and-mortar store in Germantown, NY in 2017, and her second in Block Island, NY in 2018. She is the founder, creative director and general manager of her jewelry company.

Mr. Breschi, 37, was a product designer at Facebook and its parent company, Meta, before joining Mary MacGill L.L.C. in 2022.

Ms. MacGill and Mr. Breschi met at GioBatta Alimentari, an Italian restaurant in Tivoli, New York, in October 2020, after meeting on the dating app Hinge. Mr. Breschi had moved from San Francisco to Hudson, N.Y., in September and was eager to meet people after ending a long-term relationship. Ms. MacGill had lived in upstate New York for four years and “knew everyone,” Mr. Breschi said. She, too, had recently ended a relationship and her friends had encouraged her to "get back out there," she said.

"Terrence was the first person I messaged, and the first and only person I went on a date with," Ms. MacGill said. They spent the evening talking about two of their passions, art and design, and had a second date the next day. They clicked easily and quickly; to avoid becoming too attached or dependent on each other, they instituted "cut-off days" on Tuesdays and Thursdays , where they would spend time separately.

“We really love our independent time to create, to relax, to do different things,” Ms MacGill said. “It was one of the best things we decided to do early on because we were honest with each other about the lessons from our past relationships.”

On October 10, 2022, while on a walk with their dogs at a local nature reserve, Mr. Breschi said he needed to dive into the woods to go to the bathroom and would bring Mira-Belle with him. Moments later, Mira-Belle ran out with a ribbon tied around her neck, from which the brown diamond ring hung.

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“Then Terrence got down on one knee with the other two rings and asked me to marry him,” said Ms. MacGill. They had a booth at Field + Supply, a craft and design fair in Kingston, New York, this weekend...