It is a truth universally acknowledged that our reality TV stars are constantly looking for ways to capitalise on their massive Instagram followings and score themselves loads of free stuff.
There’s the holidays in Bali or Fiji, the free haircuts and lip fillers, or if you’re particularly lucky, a free engagement ring.
Bachelor couple Matty J and Laura Byrne just got engaged while on a lush babymoon holiday in Fiji – at the $1400-a-night Six Senses resort, no less – and the adorable couple took to Instagram to show off the stunning ring the father-to-be picked out for his new baby mama.
“There’s absolutely no one else I’d rather grow old and senile with. I can’t wait to start a family together and now I can’t wait to be your husband!” Matty wrote on Instagram, alongside an adorable video of his sweet and romantic proposal on a Fijian beach.
A clearly ecstatic Laura, who has her own jewellery line Toni May, then shared a series of close-up photos of her gorgeous ring on Instagram and tagged the company behind the ring, Aussie brand Larsen Jewellery, in the post.
Now, we all know what it means when an influencer tags a brand – it’s Instagram’s unspoken version of “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine”.
READ NEXT: Inside Matty J and Laura Byrne’s gorgeous love story
The couple’s sweet engagement announcement post. (Image: @ladyandacat/Instagram)
Check out that rock! (Image: @ladyandacat/Instagram)
Lucky you got that mani girl! (Image: @ladyandacat/Instagram)
The brand have cleverly capitalised on the exposure from the couple’s combined 406,000 Instagram followers, posting about the ring Matt J chose for Laura on their own Instagram page, and they even paid a publicity firm to promote the ring to numerous media outlets.
According to a press release sent to journalists, the ring, which Matty designed himself, features an “incredibly rare D colour 1.58ct pear shaped rose cut diamond.”
D colour is the highest colour grading a diamond can be given and it has a “high clarity grading at VS2”, according to Larsen.
The large pear-shaped diamond is surrounded by a half halo of 2.5pt diamonds.
Just like our favourite royals Harry and Meghan, who ensured Meghan’s engagement ring was made from “ethically-sourced and conflict-free” diamonds from Botswana, the diamonds in Laura’s ring are also conflict-free and ethically sourced, and the 18ct yellow gold band was responsibly mined.
Check out these gorgeous photos Larsen Jewellery posted on their own Instagram page.
The gorgeous ethically-sourced diamond. (Image: @larsenjewellery/Instagram)
(Image: @larsenjewellery/Instagram)
“This is the gorgeous ring @matthewdavidjohnson chose to propose to @ladyandacat with. It is a gorgeous boho-inspired design,” the brand wrote.
“Matty came to us with such a beautiful vision of the ring he wanted and we think Laura may love it even more than she loves the ring that Matty designed with Larsen for The Bachelor! We love, LOVE!”
Our suspicions that this ring may have been offered up for free, or at least heavily discounted, were peaked again, when bride-to-be Laura showed off her rock again on her Instagram stories on Thursday morning.
Laura also tagged the brand in her post. (Image: @ladyandacat)
The brand worked with Matty J on the first ring he gave Laura when she won his season of The Bachelor – a ring that would have been paid for by Channel 10 – so it makes sense that he would go with a designer he already had a relationship with.
“It was so great to work with Matty again, we loved working with him on The Bachelor,” said Kate Reid, senior jeweller at Larsen Jewellery.
“We feel privileged that he chose to return to us to custom make Laura’s engagement ring. He came to us with a beautiful vision of the ring he wanted … and we showed him a selection of diamonds and sketched a few variations of the design.
“He got a little emotional when he saw the finished ring for the first time which made our hearts melt! He is such a genuinely lovely guy and we wish him and Laura all the happiness in the world.”
WATCH BELOW: The moment Laura Byrne won The Bachelor. Story continues after video.
Whether or not Matty shelled out his own cash for the sparkler, or he got it for free, we can’t deny that rock is absolutely gorgeous, and it seems the couple’s followers agree!
“That is one of the most stunning rings I have ever seen ,” one commenter wrote, while another said, “One day when I get married, please show the man this ring because it’s the first engagement ring I’ve ever seen that really speaks to me.”
Others described the ring as “divine”, “magic” and “everything!!”, and we couldn’t agree more.
Now To Love has contacted Larsen Jewellery for comment.
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