The engagement ring is ready, your jeweler has just delivered it to you, you feel its case on your heart in the inside pocket of your jacket and you will finally be able to make your marriage proposal and offer it to the love of your life .

Yes, but now, how do you offer a jewel as loaded with symbolism as an engagement ring? A knee in the white sand like in romantic comedies or above the clouds in the basket of a hot air balloon…

You are not very inspired, and I can understand you, but rest assured, the Compagnie des Gemmes, the jeweler of the fiancés has chosen to help you by sharing with you the experiences, the testimony in the form of confidence, of what the house has its most precious clientele.

Emrich K, graphic designer 30 years old

I got married 10 years ago, I had just turned 20.

For the engagement, I was therefore a very young man and I didn’t want my marriage proposal, the moment when I would offer my engagement ring to be too solemn, I actually wanted the opposite, neither fuss nor tralala, I wanted to make a cool marriage proposal, maybe I was wrong, you will understand why.

For the purchase of my engagement ring, I had done things alone without consulting anyone, I wanted my request to be a surprise.

I had opted for a simple ring, a diamond solitaire that I had made in the workshop of the Compagnie des Gemmes, a ring with a diamond not too big (in relation to my financial means).

I was a student in a school of applied arts and I was able to participate in the design of my jewel, I really liked it and I was happy with the result. The ring was simple but modern in some aspects. I was in a hurry to offer it, the jewel was starting to burn my fingers.

Solitaire “precious garden” by Compagnie des Gemmes Paris

To stay cool, I decided to simply propose to a restaurant.

My wife is English and she likes French restaurants that are a bit cliché, like Ratatouille .

So I opted for a Parisian brasserie that went well with my desire for simplicity.

I didn’t imagine a stuffy restaurant, a starred restaurant, I repeat, I wanted to be cool.

So I booked a table at Bofinger, the brasserie in Bastille, which in my eyes is an archetypal Parisian restaurant.

Main hall of the Bofinger brewery, photo Bofinger ®

In the evening, from the height of my 19 years, I therefore presented myself with my fiancée who was very excited by the place, its revolving door, its boys in white aprons.

One of them took care of us, checked the reservation and at no charge, installed Jane on a very large leather bench facing a very small table and me on a chair opposite.

The tables were practically key key. It was sorely lacking in privacy but I hadn’t dared to ask the waiter for another table, who had already left anyway. And then Jane found this promiscuity very “exotic”

We were barely settled when a family came to take the table right next to ours, a couple with two grown children. I immediately recognized Etienne Chatiliez the director of the film “life is a long calm river”, he was with his family. No one spoke, neither his wife nor his children, straight as i’s and silent.

Quickly I realized that Chatiliez was more interested in us than in his family, he stared at me strangely. It made me uncomfortable. At one point, he moved his chair, pointing it towards us as if he wanted to take notes. I never understood why, maybe he found us inspiring for his next film.

At that moment, on our left, a rather corpulent lady, a lonely and very extroverted American, sat down. She quickly understood from her accent the Anglo-Saxon origins of Jane and she began to speak to her openly by mingling in our conversation.

It was all very nice but not great for making a marriage proposal.

Finally at dessert time I made up my mind and took out my case. Jane was moved to tears, the American uttered cries of outrage (if I had offered her the jewel, she would not have been more demonstrative) and on my right Chatiliez, silent, continued to gauge the situation, her face closed .

Absolute Coolness ;))

In summary, the restaurant is good but gourmet is better and then you have to put the server in the confidence, it may be less cool but you have to know your back.