An interesting read:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27371208
Basically De Beers during The Great Depression came up with the one to two month salary idea for rings since their sales were dropping.
An interesting read:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27371208
Basically De Beers during The Great Depression came up with the one to two month salary idea for rings since their sales were dropping.
It is something I've heard before... IMO, what matters is that both parties are happy with what the eventual choice.
If that means that you want to propose to someone who follows the 2 month salary rule, then I don't think explaining that it's all a big marketing con would help the situation much.
Saracen (16-05-2014)
That.
Trying to dictate what the cost of a wedding ring should be is, in my view, peurile, pathetic and totally, absolutely and utterly missing the point.
The point is the symbolism. What it stands for.
When I got married, two months of salary wasn't an option. And, what do unemployed people do? Two months of benefits? So they'll starve to death living in a carboard box under a railway bridge, but hey, nice ring!
My wife and I settled on a pleasant ring that we could afford. Years later, I suggested maybe visiting a diamond merchant and getting her the ring I'd have liked to have been able to afford when we got married. I'd just got back from a diamond cutter in Amsterdam and had seen a nice stone, good quality, about 1 carat, and about £60k, and it got me thinking. Oh boy, I won't make that mistake again. Getting between my mrs and her wedding ring is right up there in danger terms with getting between a lioness and her new-born cubs in the wild in Africa. Not a good idea.
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that it could have been a coke can ring-pull for all she cares, and that the ring she's got is the one she wants, and nothing, even if it had the Star of India (sapphire) in it, or if Her Maj Lizzie could be persuaded to part with the Koh-I-Nor (diamond) could replace her ring.
Simply put, her wedding ring is her wedding ring, and nothing else is. Cost doesn't come into it.
CAT-THE-FIFTH (16-05-2014),fuddam (18-05-2014),kalniel (16-05-2014),Output (16-05-2014)
Mrs wasabi's ring (just one - German thing) doesn't have a stone at all - just a blend of gold and platinum in a slightly unusual style. Hand-crafted and from independent shop so wasn't cheap, but is her style of thing. Buying a lump of rock just because it is the done thing is daft IMO.
Engagement ring, not wedding ring.
I agree with you that trying to dictate anything as a marketing ploy is indeed very very evil... But while I do believe it was still a genius concept and very well executed, it was also a rip-off of long-standing traditions anyway rather than something they invented:
I have Angeln heritage and I married into a Viking-descended family, so I spent a bit of time researching their wedding traditions...
In many Germanic and Scandinavian clans and tribes of Angeln, Saxons, Jutes, Norsemen, and all that, the potential Groom would always approach the Father of the Bride - Mainly to ask her hand in marriage (unless it was arranged by someone already), which some of us still follow today. But it was more like a business meeting, in which the Groom proves his suitability as a husband and his capability to provide for his wife, this last part usually being some show of wealth he has managed to acquire and was often a gift that was presented to the bride once the terms of the marriage and everything had been negotiated with the Dad. That gift seals the engagement and, for several different occasions, rings were popular choices for valuable and meaningful gifts.
In (relatively) modern times, the measure against one's wealth seems to have varied (you can be land-rich but cash-poor), so by taking something that stays up in value and scaling it against salary, it's the modern equivalent of the above, I guess.
Incidentally, I did the whole Norse thing myself, actually sitting down with my wife's father and explaining to him why I would make a good husband, how I could provide for her, even showing him the ring. He did wonder a bit what was going on, but almost broke into tears when I came to the crux and THE question!!
There are a couple of other gifts thusly given at weddings, such as the Morning Gift to the Bride and the Bride Price paid to Dad-In-Law. The Bride Price was usually fancy weapons and valuable livestock. My wife did get a morning gift, but while I had no livestock (and while Dad would have no use for six cows and a horse in the middle of Tunbridge Wells), I did present him with a newly hand-forged Norse sword!
Saracen (16-05-2014)
This is not to mention the other bits and piece:
1 - As per g8ina - 'A diamond is forever' - Nice way to make people hold onto their rings/diamonds to reduce the second-hand market.
2 - By dominating the market in general Debeers set prices others have to follow.
3 - By releasing only a portion of the diamonds they obtain each year Debeers, by reducing volume, also manage to keep the prices high.
It came as a surprise to me learn that sapphires are actually rarer than diamonds. You'd never tell by the price!
Mrs. Galant got a custom designed and engraved gold ring with a really nice sapphire I was able to obtain via a gemstone market in Arizona. Found it in another ring, got the jeweler who was making our ring to remove the sapphire, keep the original band and small side diamonds, and that value of those went into the ring. The size and quality of sapphire I could buy was far, far superior to that I could have had in a diamond for the same money. In the end, it was a far more impressive and beautiful ring.
As Saracen said, though, it depends on the lady. If she wants a diamond, that's that I guess.
The other issue that comes up is blood diamonds.
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Ttaskmaster (16-05-2014)
I suppose it might have sounded more than one way, but I didn't read anything into it. My Mrs doesn't draw much distinction, in the terms we're talking about, between the two rings. The wedding ring is, I assume, more important, but both are meaningful because of the symbolism, not as jewelry.
Mind you, she's not a jewelry display stand anyway. She's kinda de minimus in the jewelry department, preferring simple and clean designs, subtle, reserved and 'classy' rather than loud or brash. Much like she is, come to think of it. Reserved and classy, I mean.
Personally my wife told me to get a CZ instead of a real diamond... why people worry so much about an overpriced rock beats me
We found an antique (approx. 100 year old) white gold and platinum 5 stone ring when we got engaged. Take that De Beers!
One of the stones has a flaw and seems to be cracked now, need to get a replacement. Apparently old stones are pretty easy to get hold of and can be very inexpensive as the market seems to want new ultra clear shiny ones. I bet that is down to marketing by Big Diamond and people perceptions of what a diamond should be.
girls like one that excites them and reassures them. as long as it's more expensive than their other stuff!
A girl being fussy about a wedding ring price probably is not having fun in the rest of the relationship.
it partly all dates back to times when the engagement ring was security against being jilted and the social stigma it would bring. but yes, the de beers thing as has been said in previous threads, is a load of guff invented to drum up profits for a business at the average persons' expense.
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