Ever since the fifteenth century when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave Mary of Burgundy a gold ring with diamonds, many brides have been obsessed with diamond rings. Not Ariel Desiree McRae from Nashville, Tennessee, though. According to Ariel, it really is the thought that counts. And while many of us probably agree with her, a rude Pandora employee shared a different opinion about the engagement ring that Ariel and her fiancé were buying. She called the couple’s $130 ring ‘pathetic.’

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

Incredibly hurt, Ariel didn’t want to make a scene. But when she came back home, she wrote a powerful Facebook post in which Ariel listed all of the things why that situation was so, so wrong. As of this article, over 108K people liked her thoughts and over 126K shared them.

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

“My husband doesn’t have a lot, neither of us does,” Ariel wrote. “We scrape and scrape to pay bills and put food in our bellies, but after almost 2 years of dating we decided that we couldn’t wait anymore, so we didn’t.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about rings, I just wanted to marry my best friend, but he wouldn’t have it. He scraped up just enough money to buy me two matching rings from Pandora. Sterling silver and CZ to be exact. That’s what sits on my ring finger, and I am so in love with them.”

Image credits: Phillip Pessar (not the actual photo)

“While we were purchasing my rings, however, another lady that was working there came over to help the lady selling them to us. She said, “Y’all can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings? How pathetic.” When she said that I watched my now husband’s face fall. He already felt bad because he couldn’t afford the pear-shaped set that so obviously had my heart and covered my Pinterest page. He already felt like a failure, asking me again and again “Are you sure you’ll be happy with these? Are you sure this is okay?” He was so upset at the idea of not making me happy enough and of me not wanting to marry him because my rings didn’t cost enough money or weren’t flashy enough.”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

“Old Ariel would have ripped that woman a new one. Mature Ariel said, ‘It isn’t the ring that matters, it is the love that goes into buying one that matters.’ We bought the rings and left.”

“Y’all I would have gotten married to this man if it had been a 25¢ gum balll machine ring,” she continued. “When did our nation fall so far to think the only way a man can truly love a woman is if he buys her $3,000+ jewelry and makes a public decree of his affection with a said flashy ring? Sure they are nice, sure the sentiment is wonderful and I’m not trying to cut down any of your experiences, but when did it come to all that? Why do material possessions equate love?”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

“My husband was so afraid of me not wanting him because he couldn’t afford a piece of jewelry. He was afraid that the love I have for him would pale because he couldn’t afford the wedding set I wanted. The world has made it this way and it is so sad.”

“But here I am though, Court-House married, $130 ring set, the love of my life by my side and happier than I could ever imagine.”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

After her post went viral, Ariel wrote an update to it. “This post keeps growing much to my surprise, and I’ve been asked a thousand times how we met. So here is the short version! My husband and I met online at the age of 20, talked on the phone (and I mean actually talked not text) for 6+ hours a day for two days. He then drove an hour out of his way to take me on a date. I wore a tacky Christmas sweater (if you think I am lying, ask him) We ate wings, had a burping contest, and drove around listening to music and singing. I fell in love with him on the first date.”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

“If he had asked me to marry him the first time we met, I probably would have said yes. To be honest, we had wanted to elope three months into dating, but decided to take some extra time to get established beforehand. Ultimately we couldn’t wait any longer.. so we eloped. I’ve never been this happy in my life and I couldn’t imagine spending it with anyone else ever.”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

Ariel’s story proves that a couple who have similar virtues and have their priorities straight are on the right track. However, buying an expensive engagement ring isn’t totally unreasonable in itself. For example, according to a paper by Lee Cronk and Bria Dunham from the Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers University, “Male income has the strongest effect on ring cost. Although this is not surprising in light of a general correlation between men’s incomes and the amounts they spend on consumer goods, it is still an important finding. While the cost of a ring might tell a woman little that she does not already know about a man’s income, the fit between a man’s overall spending habits and the cost of an engagement ring he offers might give a woman valuable information about his willingness to commit to the relationship and invest in her and her offspring.”

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

Image credits: Arii.Psalms56

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