I agree!! :) Thats sweet... I once told my boyfriend that all he had to do was tie a twistie around my finger and id be happy...LOLOL ;)

but in all seriousness you cant put a size or a price on love...

i think somwhere along the line the symbolism got lost, a ring is supposed to mean alot of things...but how much money you spent or how big it is...is not one of them...


as for the antique ring thing, look into those ring attachment things...cant rememeber the name for the life of me..use the family ring as a base ring and add on to it..that way you can "upgrade" without loosing the memories...or like Ginger said ...look into different settings..

:) I love looking at wedding rings..i cant wait til the day comes.. :)
until then ill keep daydreaming here at work

I would for sure wear it, for a variety of reasons:
1. I love antiques, so even if I don't like the style, I love the history behind it. I would prefer an antique, vintage or vintage style engagement/wedding ring anyway.

2. It means more, IMO, if a guy gives you something from his family (it's like a symbol of their complete acceptance and inclusion of you into their family) than if he rushes out to the nearest mall jeweler and picks up a ring. Since I'm a sentimental type, it would be that much more special to me.

3. If I really hated the ring, I would probably just wear the ring until the wedding, then wear only the wedding band (which I got to pick out, so I know I'll love it) after we were married, which is perfectly acceptable.

4. I could ask him to get me the ring I *really* like under the guise of a birthday or anniversary gift later on.

5. All my girlfriends would be so *envious* after I tell them the beautiful, romantic story behind *MY* engagement ring! :D

well, my 'friend' gave me a ring about a week ago. it's marquis cut diamonds with my birthstone as the centerpiece. this is kind of how i want my engagement ring to look only with emerald cut diamonds. however, this ring is big and it looks great on my finger. his parents gave him the money for it. and it's so shiny. . .it's the first thing that people notice.

i was kind of weary and asked him how many carats the diamonds were. he joked and said 'they're czs. . .you aren't worth THAT much to me.' however, my close guy friend looked at it and said, 'that ain't cubics, baby. it's sparkling.' so, i took it to a jeweler and he estimated it at a little less than 2 carats. i almost fell off my chair. of course, he told me that the ring(if pawned) would get me a nice stack of cash.

:rolleyes: hmmmm. . .i DO need a down payment for a car. . .:D

Okay, I am starting to realize that I am the most naive 36 year old that has ever resided on the planet Earth.

It never occured to me until I read some of your replies to this thread that people borrow money to buy engagement rings. I always thought that the ring is a symbol of where you are right now in your life and how you want to take your fiancee on the journey with you and all that Hallmark Cards stuff! No wonder people are getting such nice rings (not counting the poor quality or fake ones, but those people have much larger problems than debt!!!).

I wish those kids would realize that the last thing they need to do is to start their marriage in debt (whether it be to mom and dad, or the Visamonster)!

PS White_chocolate, your sparkly-sparkly sounds absolutely gorgeous! Your friend has good taste :) Just remember though, that there is a world of difference between a 2 carat stone and 2 carats tcw (total carat weight), so don't hit the dealership quite yet! ;)

I don't get it either... I'm perfectly happy with my 1/2 carat solitaire - brilliant cut, good color and clarity, and from Tiffany & Co :D Mr. aephi alum was a poor starving grad student at the time, and couldn't afford the Rock of Gibraltar - nor would I have wanted it - a big rock would look silly on me.

When I first got the ring, a few people told me "oh, when you have more money, you can get a big rock, and use your current diamond as one of the side stones." :rolleyes: If I did that, it wouldn't really be my engagement ring any more...

My opinion on a guy who feels he has to rain a massive diamond down on their lady, similar to 'that guy' who has the huge monster truck, with big ole mud-runnin tires and a confederate flag sticker on their rear window: small penis. (they are making up for it)

Do y'all remember "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" starring Debbie Reynolds? When Molly and hubby got married, the only "ring" available was a cigar ring. When they struck it rich, he turned the paper ring into a real one--it looked like the cigar ring but with jewels! Sounds like a pretty good upgrade to me!!!

I didn't get an engagement ring--I got pearls and a house. For our 10th anniversary, I got an anniversary ring. Don't know what's in store for our 20th!

A friend of mine lost the diamond out of her engagement ring and never got around to replacing it. She went to SteinMart and bought a very beautiful fake ring for about $15--I swear you'd never guess it wasn't real!!!

My ring is a 1 carat (ex-fiance) solitare. TIffany style setting but I don't know where it was purchased and I dont want to know. I did however have it appraised.

FYI
A really good website to get shiny, polished coal information from is Blue Nile:)

This is a link to the diamond education area: Cut, Clarity, etc... diamonds for dummies!

this thread got me thinking so i found one of those websites where you can design a ring, just to see how much my dream ring would cost. i picked a colorless solitare, .31 carats, brilliant cut, flaws you can barely see under a microscope, platinum 6 prong band, and it cost a little over $1,200. this cost even seems a little excessive to me when it comes to engagement rings, and i know that most people probably spend more than that. why can't you just use the money you could spend on the ring to save for a house or something?

There is a saying about size lol . . .

If the issue is in doubt, the size of the Rock could tip the balance of the scales in your favor :p

This is what I want, because it is a little strange, and would kinda fit me:

Diamond Ring

Actually,. i would never buy a stock ring, but I would want something similar to this to be designed for me.

(sorry for the snobbiness, but jewelry is the family business, so everyone has an original)

Oooh, lucky, lucky gal!!! I bet holidays when you were growing up were always nice and sparkly!!

See, I'm terribly reluctant to use my grandmother's engagement ring for mine. I want to keep it as a family piece, but set the diamond in a necklace to pass on to my daughter for her wedding day, whenever I get that far in life. But because we generally pass things along to daughters, it's hard to use as an engagement ring, unless the boy comes asking for permission and we say, "oh, here's the ring." The setting is rather unattractive on the piece, but the diamond is nice, so we're going to get it worked on now. My uncle offered to pay for it after her funeral so I would have a piece by which to remember my grandmother, as she gave the ring to my mother to pass on to her daughter when she married my father. It's old, from Portugal, and I'm really excited to have it out of all my cousins. (We're talking a huge Portugese family, so yeah, I do feel very special.)

All that being said, I'm 5'2 with a ring size of 5. Anything over .75 carats looks ridiculous on me, so my young man is quite relieved. I'm really only hoping for .4 or .5 carats at most. I love working with animals, especially horses, so huge, delicate rings are out of the question. Could you picture a barn goddess with a 3 carat rock on her hand? I can't! I'd rather have the money for the house, not spent on a rock and a wedding!

There are a lot of people around here with huge rocks. I guess when a small starter home goes for $500,000, spending $50,000 on a ring isn't a big deal. :eek:

I should be so lucky. :p

I've noticed this trend too!
 

At work the other day I had to actually bite my toungue when a girl was showing off her new ring. All I was thinking "It's so refreshing to see a smaller discolored diamond!".

So many people I know have rings that my mom would happily add to her "fabulous fakes" collection. But they're real! :eek: I think that even though most of the women I know who are getting engaged are not young women, their men must still be paying some serious finance charges. :rolleyes:

I'm a big girl with big hands, so something small will look silly on me. But I don't wan't anything bling blinging either!

If there was a SoCalBoy (:() any diamond better come from his family, Tiffany's or the local independent family owned jewelry store my dad and I are fans of. If it comes from a mall chain I'm gonna be way annoyed!