That may not be possible. Before building the trip around a fitting, find out who can attend. A private consultation doesn’t necessarily mean space for the whole family, and you’ll want enough time to try rings without rushing straight back out.
Check who can actually come
Ask whether children count towards the guest limit, including babies, and whether there is room for a pushchair. Confirm the expected appointment length too. These are useful questions to settle before buying train tickets or inviting someone else along.
For a London fitting, Lily Arkwright’s Marylebone Square showroom offers private consultations on bespoke ring design. Check the guest arrangements with that showroom before organising the rest of the family’s day.
If you’re visiting its Didsbury showroom in Manchester to discuss lab-grown diamond quality and value, the page currently lists a maximum of two people per appointment. Confirm how children and babies are counted, and arrange your appointment directly with the team before booking travel.
Work out who needs time in the showroom
First, decide whether choosing the ring together matters to you both. If it does, a separate fitting may be better than a city break where one partner misses the experience.
If you’re happy for the person choosing the ring to attend alone, the other adult can take the children out. Agree a meeting place and leave enough time for their outing to be enjoyable in its own right.
If you both want to be at the fitting, a trusted friend or relative might be able to join the trip and spend that time with the children. That only works if they genuinely want to come. It needn’t become a bigger, more expensive weekend just to make one appointment possible.
Without that option, ask about a video consultation or make the showroom visit separately. There’s nothing wrong with realising that the family break and the ring fitting would be better on different days.
Leave room around the appointment
Map the whole journey to the address, including the stretch after you arrive in the city. Didsbury, for example, needs its own travel plan rather than an assumption that you’ll step off a city-centre train and be at the showroom. If the children are spending that time at a city-centre attraction, allow for the journey back to meet them too.
For a London visit, one adult could take the children for a walk in Regent’s Park while the other attends the Marylebone appointment. Choose the entrance, route and meeting place beforehand, with time to spare if the consultation runs longer than expected. Keep a wet-weather alternative in mind.
Avoid putting the appointment just after arrival or before the last workable train home. Leave time for food and toilets, rather than adding another attraction to fill every gap.
Keep a familiar book for the journey easy to reach. It may help with a wait, but a bag of activities isn’t a substitute for checking the showroom’s guest arrangements.
For an approved visit with children, explain what will happen in words that suit their age. Agree with the accompanying adult what to do if they’ve had enough, so you can step out without a debate at the counter.
Map the whole journey to the address, including the stretch after you arrive in the city. Didsbury, for example, needs its own travel plan rather than an assumption that you’ll step off a city-centre train and be at the showroom. If the children are spending that time at a city-centre attraction, allow for the journey back to meet them too.
For a London visit, one adult could take the children for a walk in Regent’s Park while the other attends the Marylebone appointment. Choose the entrance, route and meeting place beforehand, with time to spare if the consultation runs longer than expected. Keep a wet-weather alternative in mind.
Avoid putting the appointment just after arrival or before the last workable train home. Leave time for food and toilets, rather than adding another attraction to fill every gap.
Keep a familiar book for the journey easy to reach. It may help with a wait, but a bag of activities isn’t a substitute for checking the showroom’s guest arrangements.
For an approved visit with children, explain what will happen in words that suit their age. Agree with the accompanying adult what to do if they’ve had enough, so you can step out without a debate at the counter.
Don’t make the fitting do everything
If you’ve split up for the appointment or arranged childcare, agree what would make the visit worthwhile. Send a few preferred styles ahead and ask whether suitable samples will be available. Settling on a setting, or finding out that you need another visit, is enough. You don’t have to order because the family made the journey.
You can finish the appointment with one design worth another look, meet the rest of the family and get on with the day. The ring can wait until you’ve had a quiet conversation about it.
If you’ve split up for the appointment or arranged childcare, agree what would make the visit worthwhile. Send a few preferred styles ahead and ask whether suitable samples will be available. Settling on a setting, or finding out that you need another visit, is enough. You don’t have to order because the family made the journey.
You can finish the appointment with one design worth another look, meet the rest of the family and get on with the day. The ring can wait until you’ve had a quiet conversation about it.
