A California couple who traveled to picturesque Park City, UT, for a snowy post-engagement photoshoot learned a tough lesson about how fingers can shrink in the cold weather.
The couple's photographer started off the shoot by encouraging Kim Saw, 33, to use snow as a prop in a series of fun shots where she is throwing it in the air or blowing it at the camera. But when the photographer was ready to shoot a closeup of Saw's hand on her new fiancé's chest, she noticed the ring was gone.
“Ten minutes into the shoot, we lose the ring,” Phil Mui, 34, told fox13now. “Hearts are sinking, we’re kinda freaking out a little bit.”
The couple frantically looked for the ring, but came up empty. Passersby assisted, and the couple even enlisted the help of the Park City Ski Patrol, which brought along a metal detector. Still no luck.
At one point, a member of the ski patrol half-joked that the couple should resume the search after the spring thaw.
“We thought it would take only a few minutes to find because we were in such a small area and so many people were helping us look for it, but it ended up taking us two hours,” Mui said.
Yes, after two full hours, just when they were about to give up hope, Mui spotted the diamond ring glistening atop a patch of snow-covered grass.
“As soon as Phil was like, ‘I found it!’ I was like jumping up and down, and I just started crying because I was so excited that we found it,” Zaw said.
Mui was in a kneeling position when he found the ring and remained that way when he spontaneously re-proposed to Saw — to the delight of the nearby helpers and the folks on the ski lift that was passing overhead.
Zaw believes she remembers the exact moment the ring flew off her finger.
"We did a pose where we picked up snow and threw it in the air and then we did another pose where we picked up snow and blew it at the camera at our photographer and I think it was that moment where it was so cold that I shook my hands to kind of just warm up and it fell off," she said.
It is very common for fingers to swell in the summer and shrink in the winter. Scientifically, it has to do with expanding or contracting capillaries.
Many a bride has experienced her engagement ring or wedding band feeling a little snug in the hot weather and then spin freely in the cold. These effects can be compounded if the rings are already a bit tight or loose under normal conditions.
This is why it's so important to have your precious jewelry professionally sized. It's also wise to wear gloves to protect your rings when encountering frigid weather.
Credit: Screen capture via fox13now.com.