Cheap engagement ring? Would you be bothered?

[hacky]

This is pure curiosity as I've been thinking about this for a few weeks!

I’m not materialistic in any way, but at the same time I’d want something that is made to last and possibly be handed through generations. I have no knowledge of how much rings cost, but I wouldn’t want a ring that costs £100 and would go green in a few months compared to something £1000 that would withhold day to day wear without deteriorating. That would be my only issue compared to a person complaining that it’s not expensive enough for their taste.

Mine was the cheapest one on the High Street! I think it was from H. Samuel or Ratners or somewhere of that ilk. I didn't like it (it was cheap crap - I think the stylus on our record player probably had a better quality diamond than that ring! 🤣), but I wore it for the duration of the engagement. Never wore it again after we were married though.

Wise words.

These threads always make me laugh as there's such parsimonious posturing!

Like @YaWeeFurryBastard I was 28 when I met now dh & had a masters level education & a professional career with a decent salary at the time. He was similar.

He had a beautiful ring made for me & I adored it then & adore it now. We recently had it valued for upgrading insurance & it's more than double the insurance value.

We then had out wedding rings made by the same jeweller & some years later dh commissioned a very beautiful non traditional eternity ring which I wear on my right hand.

These 3 rings are of huge emotional, sentimental value to us both & they are absolutely beautiful rings.

We have a very happy solid marriage and are 21 years married this year.

I was not carried away by the lovely ring - I love him, I love our life together & I also love my rings - they're not mutually exclusive as some seem to think on here.

Anyway it really doesn't matter does it? Some people are not interested in jewelery and some are!

I chose my own and it was mid-priced (fortunately, as I set my heart on it the moment I saw it!). If DH had chosen for me I wouldn't have cared what it cost, only whether I liked it.

My engagement ring cost my husband nothing as it was given to him by his grandmother. I don't know what it's worth, but I honestly don't care because I love the style and the sentimental value.

No. We picked mine together and both spotted an unusual ring that we both liked - it's a dress ring with very tiny diamonds but far more me, and far more practical than the huge solitaires that were in fashion when we got engaged

Victorian garnet and pearl ring from a second hand shop. Cost a fiver!

Cost doesn't matter but I'd want to know its made of materials that actually last well.

Mine was £29 from Ratners! 9ct gold and a cubic zirconia. We had nothing when we got engaged, in fact dh was still a medical student when we got married. It's priceless to me!

I chose my own and he asked me in the shop if I was sure I didn’t want a bigger diamond. The answer was no, I wanted the ring I chose. It cost a mid three figure sum in 2000.

Mine was cheap and second hand but I chose it. I don't wear jewellery much and preferred money to be spent on house deposit etc.

Nah, we were final year uni students so a small single solitaire was perfect. We have since added a full eternity and a diamond and blue topaz when DS was born so I've plenty of sparkle!

I wouldn’t have wanted a cheap ring. Am I materialistic? Probably tbh. But my ring is the only diamond I own and I wear it everyday. Because I didn’t want a cheap ring and DH couldn’t afford what I wanted I just bought it myself. Doesn’t bother me he didn’t pay for it.

My engagement, wedding and eternity rings cost less than £1000 for all 3. So I’m sure a lot of people would see them as cheap, but I love them. Got engaged 14 years ago and married 13 years ago, and they’ve last well so far!

Mine cost £340 back in 1993. It was all my husband could afford and all that I wanted in a ring - I absolutely loved it!

That said, I've seen a ring that, were I to marry again, I would love,. It's approx. £3k

48 years married. We had bought a house, needed rentokil because of woodworm. Lifted every floor board, cleared out loft so they could spray the house. Then spent every week, sanding, undercoating, glossing. Then wallpaper, carpets throughout. Told DH skip the ring.

One day he asked me to meet him outside WH Smith. Next door was a jewellers. He took me in asked to see the rings. I fell in love with a vintage one , way cheaper but so beautiful. It was a third the price of the modern rings.

I've bought so much vintage jewellery over the decades since then.

The husband of a friend of mine proposed with a ring from a Christmas cracker. He later went with her to choose a "proper" ring but she loves the first one more in a way as it has such happy memories. They have been together for 28 years.

My ring was a couple of hundred pounds (and not a diamond) - we were both students and I couldn’t wear it at work anyway. I absolutely love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

That said, if we got engaged now instead of 10 years ago I probably would have something more expensive. We’re in a better financial position and I absolutely love jewellery. I love window shopping at jewellers, going to museum exhibits, saw Crazy Rich Asians twice at the cinema purely to get another look at the jewellery on a big screen. I’m not talking extreme money but we’d probably be closer to the 1000 mark. It’s hopefully going to be a piece of jewellery I’ll wear all my life and potentially pass it on so I’d want it to be special (which again, doesn’t necessarily mean expensive but I’d probably want an independent jeweller, maybe an unusual stone, maybe something antique or with some history to it which can mean a higher price point), to me it’s worth spending money in but that doesn’t mean that would be the right decision for somebody else.

I don’t think it’s how much you spend but the attitude and intent towards it and how it fits into the wider relationship. Does the amount somebody is willing to spend indicate that they’re a bit stingy/ungenerous (or the reverse, does it indicate somebody who is happy to get into debt to keep up appearances, doesn’t have a good grasp on their finances etc). Both of these would be off putting to me but because they’re likely to indicate wider issues in the relationship/misaligned priorities/uncomplimentary personalities rather than being as simple as spending x amount on a ring.

Mine was £25. It's exactly what I wanted design and colour wise and still looks brand new over 15 years later (just needs a polish every now and then - usually because I forget to take it off before swimming).

Get what you like/what means more to you rather than wondering if you are spending "enough" to make it count.

I wouldn't mind. My ring was quite expensive and I love it, but I'd have been happy with a cheaper one too.

My friends daughter a real princess insisted on a ring from a top jeweller in London 16k. Top location wedding 50k . Seven years.Two kids later she moans at him that they can't afford to move despite the fact that the in-laws gave them a house.She hasn't worked since her first pregnancy. Family shrug, she moans to a private therapist.

A grass woven ring, a cola top, it's the intention that counts

I was engaged at one point but never married as it didn’t work out. Neither of us had much
money so I never got a ring but it wouldn’t have made any difference whatever the cost.
OTOH, I think there’s something quite sweet about a young guy who loves a woman so
much that he will save for months or sell or pawn a treasured possession to buy her a ring even if it’s a relatively basis, low-priced one.
And, in terms of size, if you’re going to wear it all the time, you’ll regret something with enormous stones or an elaborate setting as it will keep catching, scratching or getting in the way.

Not sure I'd be bothered really, but I don't like wearing expensive jewellery, I prefer quirky and handmade by people on market stalls! I do have an engagement and a wedding ring but I've been married 20 years and never wear either. Not even sure where they are and have no idea what they cost!

I love jewelery in general. It's entirely personal. One person's cheap is another persons dream that they'd be delighted with.

First engagement I found one I loved but it was too expensive, and was given a budget so I had one made that was similar, that I always felt a bit meh about because it wasn't really what I wanted. Looking back I felt meh about the marriage too, we live and learn.

Second time around we chose one together, looked in the jewellers window and both pointed at the same one, went in, tried it on, it fit perfectly and I bloody love it every day. I contributed half the cost later that day because it felt a bit spendy, and that's what felt right for me.

It's 1940s, which means that the bang for the buck makes me giddy when I look at it, which I still do all the time, and I love it.