A bride-to-be lost her irreplaceable engagement ring down a storm drain during what was planned to be a magical photo shoot with her fiancé celebrating his recent proposal.
Niki Mack and Corey Berebitsky were taking engagement photos at the Italian Cultural Garden in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 24 when the disaster struck, People reported.
The couple had already had to reschedule their shoot with a professional photographer due to bad weather on their first two dates, but that Sunday turned out to be a “beautiful fall day,” Berebitsky told the outlet.
At the very start of the photo shoot, however, the couple’s photographer Emily Ruth noticed that the groom-to-be had something on his pants.
Mack went to brush it off, and the quick movement sent her ring flying from her finger right into a storm sewer, according to the magazine.
“My fiancée went off to wipe off whatever was on my pants, and as she was doing so there was a ‘ting’ sound and she looked down and the ring was not on her hand,” Berebitsky told People.
“My heart dropped.”
The diamond ring hit the bottom of the sewer drain, making the stomach-dropping ‘ting’ noise he described.
“Niki was surprisingly calm,” Berebitsky said. “Myself, the first thing that goes through my head is, ‘Oh my God, we’ve been pushing off the ring resizing for so long, and of course this happens.’”
The ring was irreplaceable because it contained diamond baguettes from the rings of both Berebitsky’s and Mack’s grandmothers.
“Money is one thing. You lose it, the insurance can pay for it or whatever,” Berebitsky said. “But you can’t get the diamonds back from family.”
But after calling for help, a team of local firefighters saved the ring — and the day.
A crew from Cleveland Fire Station 30 arrived in under 10 minutes and were able to fish the precious ring out of the sewer with a metal rod.
“They were extremely helpful and able to get the ring out,” Berebitsky told the publication. “I personally could not watch as they pulled it up just for fear it was going to fall [back] down. But they were very calm and confident.”
The firefighters pulled the ring out in about five minutes.
“It was actually extremely sparkly,” Berebitsky said. “It’s like the sewer water cleaned it.”
News 5 Cleveland
News 5 Cleveland
The ring has since been dropped off at a jewelry store for resizing.
Berebitsky and Mack will wed in October 2025 after years of dating.
