'Bachelor' Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell Dish on Her 4.25-Carat Engagement Ring
— -- Last night, millions of viewers watched as Ben Higgins dropped to one knee and proposed to Lauren Bushnell on the season finale of "The Bachelor."
To cap off the moment, he presented her with a 4.25-carat engagement sparkler by Neil Lane -- the largest ring in franchise history.
Higgins told ABC News in a call today with reporters that he knew from the moment he saw the bauble that it would be perfect for his bride-to-be.
"I sat down with Neil Lane and had a couple ideas of what I wanted to pick out, and then he kind of asked about Lauren," Higgins recalled, adding that he told the jeweler that Bushnell stood out to him from the start. "He said, 'Which ring here catches your eye first?' and I looked down and that was the ring."
It was eye-catching for a reason: The art deco ring features a central radiant cut diamond surrounded by more than 240 round and baguette cut diamonds. Bushnell was "blown away" when she first saw it and said that she loves it even more because Higgins gave it to her on "the most special day of my life."
"I hadn't given much thought to the kind of ring I wanted but I can't stop looking at my finger," she gushed. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
She may be adding a wedding band to her left hand sooner rather than later. Though Bushnell said she and Higgins haven't given a lot of thought to wedding planning yet, she knows that she doesn't want to wait too long -- and that whenever it takes place, it'll be a party.
"All I know is that I want it to be a celebration with family and friends," she said. "Now that we're finally public and that’s off our shoulders I can start focusing more!"
