When New Jersey tattoo artist Joe Pagani decided to propose to his girlfriend, Emily, the fellow hit hyperspace past the jewelry store and instead chose to design an engagement ring inspired by R2-D2 from "Star Wars."
Pagani tapped CustomMade -- a Web site that matches dreamers with people who can turn those ideas into real, tangible things -- to find the artist who could create the sci-fi stunner.
CustomMade hooked Pagani up with Pittsburgh jewelry designer Paul Michael Bierker to tackle the quest that would seal the fate of two nerds in love. After six months of prototyping and design changes (this image shows the original plans), Bierker finished the R2-D2 ring in time for Pagani to propose to his girl on Halloween.
The final R2-D2 engagement ring design features a diamond center surrounded by sapphires, and complemented by well-cut inlays on the side that look similar to the droid's little legs.
"Every year on Halloween [the people at the shop] get all geeked out in costume and work. This year, I had gotten the ring the day before... It wasn't my original plan, but seemed to all fall into place," Pagani said in a CustomMade blog post. "Emily dressed up as Lucy Van Pelt from Peanuts and asked me to couple up and go as Charlie Brown."
Watch what happens next in the video below: