Bride's Hunt for Lost Engagement Ring Goes Viral

Courtesy Megan Gardiner

When it comes to her diamond engagement ring, one bride-to-be in Mount Pleasant, Pa., is worried that a thief might have taken the "something borrowed" part of the old saying, "Something borrowed, something new, something old, something new," a little too literally.

Megan Gardiner, 26, believes her ring was stolen off the sink at the local bridal salon where she works part-time, when she briefly removed it to wash her hands.

"We're always extremely busy on Saturdays," Gardiner told ABCNews.com. "I was rushing around multi-tasking. I was measuring the tux party and started to feel a little sick. I went into the bathroom to cool off, splash my face with some water and I took my ring off to wash my hands.

"At work, I always put it in the same spot on the sink. I was in a hurry and I don't know if it's because I was sick or what, but I just forgot to put it back on."

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Within five minutes of leaving the bathroom, Gardiner noticed the ring was missing from her finger.

"Just habitually, I grabbed my ring finger to play with the ring and I realized it wasn't' there. My stomach just dropped," she explained. "But I knew where it was, so I flew back to the bathroom. I tried to open the bathroom and it was locked. It's a one-person bathroom. There was a woman in there. Whenever she came out, I asked if she had seen the engagement ring."

The woman was very apologetic and told Gardiner she hadn't seen the ring.

"My first thought was, 'Oh, my God, it went down the drain," said Gardiner. "She said she put her purse down, and I immediately thought it knocked it off and it went down the drain."

Courtesy Megan Gardiner

Gardiner and her coworkers immediately called the maintenance man, who dissembled the drain in an effort to recover the ring, but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found.

That's when Gardiner started to panic and realized she had to call her fiancé, Patrick Booley, 31, to break the news.

"He's not mad about it. He's upset that I don't have it and that someone took it," Gardiner explained.

"The first two days … I couldn't even talk to anyone about it. Every time I'd talk about it I'd start to get really anxious, then I started to get angry," she said. "I don't want to pay for another ring when I already have one."

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So Gardiner did what any social-media savvy bride would do. She turned to Facebook to put a plea out amongst her friends to help her track down the diamond.

"Late Monday night I said, 'Let's post something on Facebook.' People use it for pets and things all the time, so why not put my ring on there?"

Within 24 hours of Gardiner's posting a picture of the ring, along with a description of the events of the day, the link had been shared more than 800 times. As of now, it has been shared more than 2,000 times and is still growing.

"I am so touched and so happy that there are still people in the world that are willing to help and share it," said Gardiner. "It wasn't just a piece of jewelry. There is sentimental value in it. That ring meant more to me than anything else I've ever owned. I'm glad other people can understand that. There's a lot of emotion behind it."

Gardiner has no plans to replace the ring in the near future and says the security cameras at the bridal salon are currently being reviewed.

"It's really hard for me to point any fingers," she said. "It's only been a couple of days. It has to be somewhere."