How much should a man spend on an engagement ring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sad that in america people spend more on their cars than on their marriage

marriage = engagement ring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this, 1925? Both a man and woman should pay equally (we did).

OP here. This is interesting. If you are the woman, you knew when he was proposing? (Alternatively, if you are the man, your now wife knew you were proposing?) I'm just curious as to how that works. You split the ring half and half, but how/when is it given?

Honey, like you, my husband and I had a child before we got married. Yes, we went half/half on the ring because I knew exactly what I wanted. PLEASE stop acting as if the proposal is mysterious. You are already a family. You are having a conversation about getting married. There is no secret here, no suspense. Figure out what you want (e.g. stone, cut, metal) and start pricing.

I got the 16-stone ring from Tiffany's. It has increased in priced substantially. I think I got it for around six grand. We got our wedding bands from Cartier. I liked a beautiful, simple gold piece they had for $400. Yes, at Cartier. I bought the tri-color ring for him, and it came to around $1,000.

I did recon ahead of a shared visit. We each slapped down a credit card and left happy. Done. I think we went to Clyde's to celebrate (which makes me smile).

You have a child together, love. The proposal is over, and you already accepted. The ring and the ceremony are a punctuation mark to what you've already established----not a start point.

[Anonymous]

^^^^^^starting point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this, 1925? Both a man and woman should pay equally (we did).

OP here. This is interesting. If you are the woman, you knew when he was proposing? (Alternatively, if you are the man, your now wife knew you were proposing?) I'm just curious as to how that works. You split the ring half and half, but how/when is it given?

Honey, like you, my husband and I had a child before we got married. Yes, we went half/half on the ring because I knew exactly what I wanted. PLEASE stop acting as if the proposal is mysterious. You are already a family. You are having a conversation about getting married. There is no secret here, no suspense. Figure out what you want (e.g. stone, cut, metal) and start pricing.

I got the 16-stone ring from Tiffany's. It has increased in priced substantially. I think I got it for around six grand. We got our wedding bands from Cartier. I liked a beautiful, simple gold piece they had for $400. Yes, at Cartier. I bought the tri-color ring for him, and it came to around $1,000.

I did recon ahead of a shared visit. We each slapped down a credit card and left happy. Done. I think we went to Clyde's to celebrate (which makes me smile).

You have a child together, love. The proposal is over, and you already accepted. The ring and the ceremony are a punctuation mark to what you've already established----not a start point.

Good point. I do understand that our family dynamic is different. It's not like we are dating and he all of a sudden surprisingly pops the question and then we begin our lives together after marriage. We're past that in the sense of living together, shared finances, having a child, etc. So I do see where you are coming from. You're fancy with your Tiffany's and Cartier Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Please don't finance a ring. Buy what you can afford now. The worth of your ring has no bearing on the worth of your marriage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this, 1925? Both a man and woman should pay equally (we did).

You bought half of your own ring? Gross.

Do you not do joint finances? By the time it came time for engagement ring shopping, we definitely saw our finances as tied together.

No way would I pay for half my ring and I make way more than my fiance. I would be fine with a smaller ring and definetly wouldn't want him financing a ring because our finacnes would be joint. But, sorry, there is something still to be said for the man paying for the ring entirely.

"...but I demand equal rights for everything else."

[Anonymous]

Guy here, I went half with my now wife. I also didn't feel right making a large financial purchase in the 10s of thousands without consulting her, especially something she would wearing on her hand for the rest of her life.

[Anonymous]

We didn't do an engagement ring - just simple wedding bands. 10 years and two kids later we couldn't be happier. . You don't need an engagement ring and I preferred to spend the cash on travel and a down payment on a house. But to each their own.

[Anonymous]

If you want bling, get a CZ ring. No one will be able to tell the difference looking at your hand.

[Anonymous]

DH spent less than $500 on a ring. We could have afforded a little more (like $2-3k), but we both feel that the tradition is a little ridiculous. I just don't care about jewelry and I don't feel like the amount of money spent on something means my husband loves me more or somehow makes me more valuable.

We had a courthouse wedding. It was great and in addition to all the money we saved, my dad gave me the money he had saved for my wedding to do with it what I pleased - we put it toward savings and travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want bling, get a CZ ring. No one will be able to tell the difference looking at your hand.

Lol OP here. I thought it would be silly to do this. Can you really not tell the difference??? I feel like I'm being cheap but this isn't a bad idea, PP! Aren't they just a few hundred bucks? Lol

[Anonymous]

Our engagement and wedding rings were about $100 each. Why? Because I don't believe in money. I believe in love. We picked rings that were nice, we both liked and that we could pay for easily. Because we'd both rather spend our money going on a nice trip, out to eat etc. I find expensive rings extremely strange. I'd always be worried about losing it, having it stolen, damaging it etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this, 1925? Both a man and woman should pay equally (we did).

You bought half of your own ring? Gross.

Do you not do joint finances? By the time it came time for engagement ring shopping, we definitely saw our finances as tied together.

No way would I pay for half my ring and I make way more than my fiance. I would be fine with a smaller ring and definetly wouldn't want him financing a ring because our finacnes would be joint. But, sorry, there is something still to be said for the man paying for the ring entirely.

"...but I demand equal rights for everything else."

But why would I go half for a present for myself? That is silly. It is essentially a gift. An engagment ring is given by the man in consideration of the woman accepting the reqeust to marry. If the woman does not go through with the marrioage, the man can legally request that the ring that was given in consideration be given back. Why would I pay for half of that? If he is able to get it back if we don't marry. Even if one were to consider it a gift, why would I go half on a gift for me?

Would I force him to accept less of a birthday present because he earns less? Feminism has gone to far when you are not allowed to ask that a gift be given to you without you chipping in.

[Anonymous]

It cracks me up that I'm getting an ad for le bibelot rings on this page now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guy here, I went half with my now wife. I also didn't feel right making a large financial purchase in the 10s of thousands without consulting her, especially something she would wearing on her hand for the rest of her life.

LOL yeah I bet the "consultation" went like this:

Her: "I want that one."

You: "OK... I'll put it on the Visa."