Back in 2021, jeweler Presley Oldham found himself living in Los Angeles, and he recalls going on the first few dates with his now-fiancé Tyler Paige—just as the city was opening up again post-Covid. “We went to this rave called A Club Called Rhonda, and no surprise, we both got Covid,” says Oldham. “We ended up quarantining together, and we’ve pretty much lived together ever since.” Call it love at first dance.
Flash-forward to this summer, and the happy couple have continued to set down roots together in New York, where they now share a home in the upstate town of Kinderhook. There, Oldham—a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist—runs his fine jewelry label, while Paige works as a professor at Pratt and a technical director for Linked By Air, a design and technology studio in Brooklyn. “We both work from home quite a bit,” says Oldham. “We’re properly in the woods now: Having quiet and waking up to the birds is what I’ve always wanted.”
That peaceful time away from the chaotic cities of L.A. or New York is precisely what got the couple recently thinking about marriage. This summer, Oldham simply knew it was the time to propose. “I really started thinking about it at the start of this year,” says Oldham. “Being in my 30s and buying a house, coupled with the political state of our country—it all felt like, why not now?”
Oldham popped the question last month, while the couple was hiking at Solstice Canyon back in Los Angeles, where they first met. “It felt like the perfect place to do it, since all we could do in Covid was go to the beach in Malibu,” says Oldham. The designer asked for Paige’s hand in marriage at the very top of the mountain, and spent the rest of the day lounging by the beach. “It was the perfect day,” he says.
Given Oldham designs jewelry for a living, it only made sense that he create his fiancé’s ring himself. (A fitting move, given Oldham is now expanding his business into engagement and wedding jewels.) For Paige, Oldham crafted a unique engagement ring made from solid 18-carat brushed yellow gold: The unconventional style featured over 2.5 carats of stones, including a mix of old-mine and recycled white diamonds, as well as a few bicolor Montana sapphires.
