What To Know
- Erin Napier shared the touching story of how Ben Napier saved money to buy her engagement ring.
- The Home Town stars, who now share two daughters, met in college and tied the knot in 2008
- Fans reacted to Erin’s post by sharing their similar romantic stories.
Long before they were a power couple on and off the small screen, Erin and Ben Napier were college sweethearts.
Erin took a trip down memory lane in a Wednesday, July 8, Instagram post, sharing the emotional story behind how Ben purchased her engagement ring. “It rained for two months, and so our basement flooded. Ben keeps a shoebox of things that were special to him as a boy down there,” she wrote. “Inside it are photos from high school, school and sports awards, colorful notes from girls who were cheering for him at the game, and this. ”
Erin’s post featured a photo of a “retail installment contract” signed by Ben in September 2007. “He had it all spread out on the stairs drying, and I felt a lump in my throat seeing the dollar amount for what he sacrificed and worked so hard to give me when he could barely afford gas for his truck senior year at Ole Miss,” she shared. “I didn’t expect it at all and would’ve married him with a dandelion tied around my finger.”
According to the contract, Ben paid $3,210 for the ring at the time. The ring was purchased in Erin’s hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. The post’s second slide featured a photo of the ring, which features a large diamond surrounded by a border of smaller jewels.
Fans gushed over the HGTV couple’s sweet memory in the post’s comments. “Such a sweetheart! My engagement ring back in 1971 was $500 and my sweet late husband wasn’t graduating from Pharmacy School until 1972,” one user recalled. “He worked full time while in school and paid off my ring in a few months.”
Sharing their own story, another fan wrote, “My sweet daddy married my mama in 1954. He kept the receipt for her wedding ring in his wallet until the day he passed, in 2022! It meant so much to him. I now have both of their wedding rings. I wear my mama’s ring as my own wedding ring since she passed, just 6 months after my daddy. Ben is sweet like my daddy was!”
Someone else shared, “So pretty! He put real thought into choosing your ring.” A different person posted, “Erin, It’s a beautiful ring given to you by a most beautiful man. I know that you cherish and treasure them both.” A separate commenter stated, “My husband spent months delivering pizzas during the height of the recession in 2009, he scrimped and saved for my ring. We celebrate 15 years married today.”
Erin and Ben met while studying at Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi, and both later transferred and graduated from the University of Mississippi. Ben popped the question in 2007. “11 years ago a boy who had saved all the money he could set aside for 3 years surprised me at @squarebooks with a diamond ring and a little leather bound book he made himself,” Erin captioned a September 2018 Instagram pic of the moment Ben got down on one knee. “Thanks for this life and this adventure, @scotsman.co.”
The couple tied the knot in 2008 and went on to welcome their two daughters, Helen and Mae, in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Erin and Ben have been HGTV mainstays since their debut series, Home Town, premiered in 2016. They have gone on to launch several spinoffs over the years, including Home Town Kickstart, Home Town Takeover, and most recently, Home Town: Inn This Together, which aired earlier this year.