Its my ring...

[Chanlin]

This reminds me of the story a buddy of mine told when he got engaged. They went to get the ring and he of course was all about the real thing getting an expensive ring.

His SO wanted to get an emerald and had a specific color of green in mind. They couldn't find that color. They talked with the jeweler who immediately went over to another case (with the fake stones) and pulled out the exact color she wanted. To make a long story short the jeweler actually talked him out of buying the more expensive ring basically telling him to get what she wanted because its for an engagement ring and that is something that should be done right.

[sms001]

We bought a beautiful tanzanite ring for

Exactly what my wife wanted and got. They are quite beautiful and you can't beat the price. She picked the stone and my buddy Kenny and I schemed up the band, which he made. Such nice work I had him make her wedding band as well.

[GingerBiscuit]

With my 'engagement' ring, Jos got our friend who was training as a silversmith to make it, as I never wanted gold. He found a lab created black sapphire in a heart shape and got it set in a simple silver band.

I hate this idea that how much you spend and what metal and stones you use decide how much you love each other. I adore my cheap little ring with it's lab created stone and it's simple band because he went to so much effort for me.

[Jewels]

His SO wanted to get an emerald and had a specific color of green in mind. They couldn't find that color. They talked with the jeweler who immediately went over to another case (with the fake stones) and pulled out the exact color she wanted.

Just another bit of jewelry info to help people out:

A gem is only fake if it was made out of colored glass or plastic, or if it is marketed as a certain gem but is really colored quartz. Lab Created gems are made of the same materials as their natural conterparts, but are created in a lab and without imperfections. The only gems that should be lab created are sapphire, ruby and emerald. The semi precious stones (ie peridot, citrine, topaz etc) are already available in adundance, and therefore there is no need to create them. Personally, I like the lab created gems better. They have a more brillant color and really help keep the price of gems down.

If you do want a diamond, however, please be aware that some jewelers are now selling enhanced diamonds. These are stones that have been treated, either with fracture filling or heat treatments or lasar drilling. If you do buy an enhanced stone, and you bring it in for repair (sizing, retipping, etc) PLEASE let the jeweler know. Natural diamonds can take heat, enhanced diamonds can't. They could discolor or break under the flame.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

My wedding ring is a thick chunk of solid silver with some Celtic inspired scrolls of silver and gold inlaid in it. It was made by a good friend and therefore means quite a bit to me. My husband's is the same.

My engagement ring was passed down from my husband's mother. It's a family heirloom and there is no price to be placed on such a thing. It's priceless. And cost us nothing.

[Jewels]

When I first got married, I never got the engagement ring. He was getting ready to deploy to Iraq and actually proposed over the phone one night. I had to purchase our rings, and with the costs of eloping to NYC couldn't afford anything more then two simple white gold bands.

One night after I was married and he was over in the sandbox, I went out to the bar with one of my girlfriends. This smarmy guy comes up and starts hitting on me, and I turn him down saying that I was married. He starts to argue with me, saying that since I didn't have a diamond on my finger, that I was lying. Right. Then I mentioned that the husband was in the National Guard, and this creep starts going on about how he was a Marine and the Marines are better and blah blah blah.

Eventually the husband came home and I got a beautiful wedding set, with a pear cut diamond in the center. Now it sits in my purse as I try to sell it.

[AnqeiicDemise]

I love my wedding band.

Its a simple, 8mm silver band. YES, silver.

We bought the set for $30 bucks when we first came to scout Seattle from a merchant at Pike market.. we traded the rings, right then and there as an 'engagement' ring.. and re-exchanged them again on our wedding night.

I have to say, I never felt so naked as I did when our priestess took the rings away for that one night. I love my cheap little ring.

And as far as settleing goes: I don't like spending too much money oh me. I'm a simple girl. Getting a regular ring for an engagement ring will work just fine for me.

[XCashier]

An engagment or wedding ring can be whatever you want it to be.

Absolutely. You're the one who's going to wear it, not the jeweler.

One of my friends has a claddagh ring for her wedding band.

[myswtghst]

I've always felt very strongly about rings and flowers, in that I think it means worlds more if he knows what I like, rather than buying me something generic and overpriced. I do not like roses unless they're on the bush in my parent's front yard, and I'd prefer not to have a diamond, as chances are, I'd lose it.

Pearls are my birthstone, and I actually have a beautiful white gold ring with a tiny diamond and a black pearl on it that would be similar to what I'd want for an engagement ring, though anything a little off the beaten path would probably make me happy, so long as he doesn't spend more than he can afford.

[Pezzle]

-siiigh- I want a sapphire for my engagement/wedding ring soo bad. I think on plain old boring gold. Honestly, I don't like big rocks, I like well placed rocks.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My dream engagement ring would have been an opal center stone with a smaller ruby (my birthstone) on one side and a peridot (his birthstone) on the other.

Be careful with opals, though. I had an opal necklace that I accidentally wore in the shower a few times, and the stone broke apart. My mom had a new stone put in it but the coloring wasn't as pretty. I love opals, though. It's my birthstone. I have a ring with a small opal in a gold band that I got when I was 16.

He starts to argue with me, saying that since I didn't have a diamond on my finger, that I was lying.

Um, I know a few women who only wear a wedding band, and several more who do have diamond rings but don't always wear them.

My mom has a wedding set that has a diamond solitaire (the engagement ring) and a half-circlet of leaf-shaped stones that fits around it (from the wedding). Then she had them soldered together to make one ring. I'm sure I will inherit them someday but her fingers are much smaller than mine.

how my future fiance DID NOT LOVE ME if I did not get a diamond.

I can't wait to meet the guy who will show his love by proposing with something he knows I don't want. How romantic.

Frankly, I'd rather have a puppy.

[BlaqueKatt]

my engagement ring is my birthstone-garnet-which is traditiona

Diamonds became engagement stones around the end of the recession. Ernest Oppenheimer, who was in control of De Beers in the 1930s, was shutting down diamond mines to control supply and keep the price of diamonds high. He sent his son Harry to New York to meet with advertisers, because he realized that he couldn't have diamonds being bought up just by rich people. They needed something that would appeal to everyone.

Well, everyone has to get engaged. So they spent a million pounds a year (about $1.7 million) to establish the diamond engagement ring as a sacrament -- a spiritual thing. "Diamonds are forever." They invented that and advertised it at every high school at the time. They got Paramount Studios involved by having the female stars wearing diamonds and by creating diamonds films. Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" and such. That advertising campaign created the myth.

[Crazeyal]

someday, right?

How about a differant apporach?

[AnaKhouri]

My husband said he was laughed out of two jewelry stores because he asked for a sapphire engagement ring (which was what I wanted, and what I have). He bought the ring at the first place that didn't make fun of him. Also the jeweler started telling him about how he wanted to buy an old police car and paint it like the Blues Brothers car, and my husband decided he wanted his money to go to THIS guy.

I have never had anything but compliments on my ring, too. One of his friends' fiancees actually asked for a sapphire ring too after she saw mine.

Also people have traditionally assigned sapphires the meaning of 'fidelity' so I think it is perfectly appropriate for an engagement ring.

[fma_fanatic]

My engagement ring is a sapphire with diamonds on either side. We've been married 3 months now, but I still don't have a wedding ring because by the time I decided I wanted one, it was too late to get one and it sized in a hurry.

The store we got the ring at, as well as several other pieces of jewelery has special customer appreciation days and the manager likes us a lot (we're quite memorable). I've got my eye on a ring for my wedding band, so I'll be getting it then. That's next week. Heehee

It's going to be an alternating sapphire and diamond with white and yellow gold. No one has batted an eye about what I want. I don't like diamonds by themselves, but with sapphires, I'm happy with it.