The Rock

What is it about engagement rings that make people so crazy? If you do a search on google, you'll see that there are thousands of sites dedicated to selling this one piece of jewelry. Amazing.

The wonderful thing about the UK is that people don't have the expectation that you are going to have a HUGE ROCK on your hand. The majority of people have a nice diamond and many people actually choose to have a different kind of stone as their engagement rings. And I think that is cool.

When you check out American sites though...bigger is better! Even the pics they put on the sites are shown as larger than they truly are...cause you wouldn't want to be seen as having one that is tiny, would you? And two months salary as a guide? Crazy!

I do have friends who seriously wanted more than a one carat diamond ring...irregardless of the cost or the fact that it might make more sense to save some of this cash for other things. Yes, I do realize that it's an important piece of jewelry for some...that you are going to be wearing it for the rest of your life...but have you ever tried to actually DO SOMETHING when you're wearing a big ol' honking ring? It's kinda tough.

What goes through my mind is the fact that I'm going to be sharing money with my new hubby...his money & my money will be melding in a lot of ways. So if he spends £5000+ on a ring, it takes away from money we could spend as a couple...say helping pay for a car or putting it toward our house downpayment. I just want something simple. Something that is an engagement ring...but a ring that I can wear for life, that won't get in the way & one that doesn't detract from our ability to pay for a really cool honeymoon (travel is more important to me than jewels).

So I'm hoping that when I go to the States and meet up with friends and family, that they don't grab my hand, take one look at my modest ring (that we'll be buying over there) and give me that look...you know the one...the one that say, oh, so he just didn't have the money to pay for a ring...or the, oh, your fiance is just too cheap to spend that much money. I HATE THAT! Cause marrying R isn't about getting a diamond...it's about our lives together. He's neither cheap nor poor - we just figure that there are more important things in life than carats!