Engagement ring

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r04DiE

300km a week through London on a road bike.
I'm surprised wedding and engagement rings are still worn in this day and age. They are a throwback to the times when a wife was the husband's property. Were I female I certainly would not wear either.
Yeah, but hang on - a bloke wears a wedding ring too.
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
I asked Mr Marmion to marry me after returning home from the pub on 2 March 1996. Although it may have been the early hours of 3 March by the time I asked. We bought the ring together on 3 March.
When did she have the op?
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
Sounds like I was the opposite of everyone here. I 'designed' my wife's ring after not being able to find anything I liked and crucially what I thought she would like. I bought the diamond on a business trip in South Africa with the help of a colleague. It is quite a small diamond, but on 'the 3 Cs' way of judging it is very high quality. I then had it all made up in the jewellery quarter in Brum.
 
A woman came running in the local pub holding a hand out, finger extended.

"Look what I've got. Look what I've got. It was £5000. And he's buying me a white Range Rover."


It will draw you further than dynamite will blow you.
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
Yeah, but hang on - a bloke wears a wedding ring too.

Blokes wearing wedding rings? Bit too American for me. Don't do jewelry.

Re the OPs question my advice is ask the girl what she wants. Getting one she doesn't like but feels obligated to wear is bad. Buying too cheap makes you seem a tight-arse yet spending too much when you'll doubtless want to buy a house together and so forth would seem stupidly extravegant.

There's a whole industry dedicated to selling stuff to engaged couples. Whe had a fairly big wedding, yet kept the cost within bounds by not getting carried away with friperies. Great venue, yes, great food (buffet), yes, lots of guests, but not much else and no photographer - as that tends to dominate the proceedings and turn an important emotional celebration into a glorified photo shoot - and saves a good bit of dosh. Another good hint is to marry in February - you can get a good discount by a bit of haggling ! Honeymoon on Skye was also not sold out for some reason.

My wife doesn't really bother with jewellry so she didn't want an engagement ring nor even a wedding ring and as a down to earth northern lass determined it was a waste of money. Somewhat to my suprise she did change her name, and I'd not suggested she should or shouldn't.

anyhow, my advice is ask, unless you're very sure of what she'd like
 
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r04DiE

300km a week through London on a road bike.
Blokes wearing wedding rings? Bit too American for me. Don't do jewelry.
Well, I don't know one married couple that use a 'woman only' wedding ring. Never have. I don't know that I'd call it jewellery in the common sense of the word, either, you know, glittery bling - I think its more symbolic and traditional than that for most people.
 
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vickster

Squire
My dad has never had a wedding ring, married 49 years, nor did my grandfather. My brother recently married does however, maybe a generational thing?
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
Go into a respectable jewelers (not an ultra high end one though ££), they will be able to advise as they're doing it all the time. Try to spend a decent amount if you can get interest free credit - I'd say price should be a couple weeks salary. You don't want to look like a tight arse, but then again don't go too extravagant otherwise she'll expect it :becool:

Re: style and size:, get something fairly classic and contemporary unless the woman receiving it has a particular quirk or taste. Tell the jeweler her height and weight, they will make a good guess, and if it doesn't fit can easily be exchanged. Bigger will be better than smaller, you want it to actually go on the finger when the deed is done, otherwise it will spoil the moment somewhat if it's too small!
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
Well, I don't know one married couple that use a 'woman only' wedding ring. Never have. I don't know that I'd call it jewellery in the common sense of the word, either, you know, glittery bling - I think its more symbolic and traitional than that for most people.

In my family, neither my Dad nor either grandfather ever wore a wedding ring. As an older child / adult I saw blokes were wearing them and assumed it to be a new thing. Thus my tradition was blokes tended not to wear them. I also saw some gory first aid slides of ring injuries, though lower risk now I am an office worker. Both grandfathers did physical labour type jobs - and didn't have much money to be fair. Neither grandmother nor my mother ever had engagment rings though did have wedding rings.

Strangely, after telling my father I was getting married, he was later very surprised when he discovered we were "engaged" saying he and my mother never got engaged. And there was me thinking that once you had decided to get married you were "engaged". In my Dad's world being "engaged" was an additional optional status between "going to get married" and "actually married"
 
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