People love to say that love is in the air around the holidays, and New Year’s Eve is a built in celebration; a combination that makes this past week the most popular time of year to get engaged. And so many celebrity couples followed suit this year, with a couple surprising announcements and some not-so-surprising outcomes. Here are a few of our favorite recent engagements that range from the sweet to the downright awkward.
Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris
Age before beauty, as the saying goes, so we will start with the Hef. The 84 Year old Playboy mogul has announced that he will be walking down the aisle for a third time after proposing to his girlfriend, Crystal Harris, on Christmas night.
Hidden in a Little Mermaid box under the tree was the gift most little girls in love dream of: a 3 carat Round cut diamond ring on a pave set platinum band. But rather than ask for the24 year old blonde beauty’s hand in marriage, Hefner supposedly simply said, I hope it fits.
Pretty presumptuous in most cases, but for the man who created an empire off of the idea that sex sells, it was pretty safe bet.
LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian
This somewhat controversial couple didn’t surprise too many people when they announced their engagement last week, as they have been surrounded by engagement rumors more than once before. However LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian have finally confirmed that they are indeed engaged.
After their rocky beginning, having both been married at the time that they became involved, these two haven’t always been the most romantic of couples, despite their efforts to shake their shady start. However, Cibrian is doing his best to change that by custom designing his new fiancé’s engagement ring.
The ring, currently seen around town on Rimes’s finger, is a 5 carat oval diamond, set onto a rose gold band, and although Rimes had some input, according to people magazine, the majority of the design was Cibrian’s idea. The actor wanted to make sure the ring was just perfect, and sat down with the jeweler, who is supposedly an old friend, multiple times to ensure it was a new ring with an antique feel.
Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied
As if Natalie Portman wasn’t having a good enough time lately, with rave reviews from her new movie Black Swan and even a few Oscar rumors floating around, things just got even better. The movie star has announced that she is not only engaged to her costar and dancer boyfriend, Benjamin Millepied, but the couple is also expecting their first child.
However, unlike the other couples above, don’t expect to hear too many engagement ring details or proposal stories, Portman recently told Entertainment Weekly.
“I have always kept my private life private,” she told the magazine. “But I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience.”
Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth
This Hollywood leading lady has always deserved a happy ending, and it looks like her boyfriend and Hollywood agent is going to give it to her. Reese Witherspoon has confirmed her engagement to Jim Toth over the holidays, and has finally been spotted around town wearing a very impressive engagement ring.
The ring might look like something you have seen before, but the 4 carat center diamond is reportedly very rare. Inspired by a diamond once owned by Indian Buddhist warrior Ashoka Maruya, the square cut design is known as an Ashoka diamond, which out of all rough diamonds found each year, only 10 percent has the potential to be cut in this way.