"However, the researchers also found that spending less that $500 on an engagement ring is more likely to guarantee that your marriage will end in divorce." So, poverty has an effect on marriage? You don't say! It ain't necessarily about the ring. When my wife and I got married, we made a game out of seeing how cheap we could go and still have a nice wedding. We likely spent less than $500 on the whole wedding, rings included. We spent $25 to rent a small chapel. We spent about $25 for a Justice of the Peace. We spent about a hundred on rings (and they were nice rings, but we stopped wearing them years ago). Friends took photos, took care of music, did the reception, etc. We wore clothes we already had. Considering we've been together for over 30 years, I think we didn't do so badly.

The best advice in all of those responses was from Artneedsmorefloof (which is also an awesome handle). If only love was enough. It isn't - a long term relationship needs to be built on compatibility over a whole range of issues. Also, the YTAs are bonkers. Again.

"A wedding is not a marriage" - this is some pretty good advice, actually. Will remember it.

I've been taught to never ask a price of a gift, and for me engagement ring is no different. It's much more important to me that the ring would fit my style and taste (which means being quite simple and not flashy at all). I can't understand these huge extravacant weddings and can't understand these ridiculous ring demands either.

We got married without an engagement ring. I never needed one to be with man of my life. This is a ritual I will never understand 😉

All engagements rings are The Precioussss (regardless of the price) because they are given by someone in love... that woman is a moron.

In 1959, my parents chose to buy a dinette set for their first home instead of an engagement ring. It was a decision they agreed on together, just like hundreds of other major decisions they made for the next 42 years.

My only comment about rings is that they are good for removing fingers if they get caught on the wrong thing.

Saying the price of the ring represents how much he values her reminds me of trading livestock for a bride. "I offer 2 goats and a chicken" "No, she is worth 4 goats!"

I'll marry you!

i'd feel real safe walking around with 20 grand on my hand....

You dodged a big bullet. Let her go.

I never had and engagement ring, just a plain gold band, and my husband and I have been very happily married since 2001. A few years ago he asked me if I wanted a diamond ring to go with my wedding band. I said if HE felt he needed to, I would consider it a gift, but I was not going to insist on it, because our marriage is more important to me than a ring. I also knew we couldn’t afford it , and would rather have the bills paid and a nice nest egg in the bank instead of a rock on my finger. He hasn’t mentioned it since, though I know that once he can afford it he probably will buy one for me.

$2,400 wasn't enough? WTaF??? What is wrong with people? Wantwantwant & tantrumtantrumtantrum when they don't get what they want. We have toddlers in adult bodies. Mankind, as a species, is a joke. A very embarrassing one. Although we'll be nuked into extinction soon enough, the way things are going, so ... 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️

GoldBetty up there is more like golddigga. Never place monetary value on items as you will never be happy. Bullet dodged - imagine how much that wedding would have cost?!?!

First off, he's looking at this through a logical POV, rather than an emotional POV. But, that is often what men do. So, how does he overcome the emotional response of GF? That's a tough one. If their expectation on ring cost are so far apart, it seems like a bad match for future family economics.

If you want a $20,000 ring marry a millionaire who doesn't give a damn about money. Seriously, even $2,400 is, to me, outrageous. It's just a junk of carbon, dug out of the ground by people DeBeers treat as little more than slaves. DeBeers makes billions conning young impressionable American women that there is more meaning to spending more on a rock than there is. It's still just a rock, and without special skills and training, you can replace it with cut glass and nobody would know the difference. My engagement ring for my wife was a tree-stone sterling ring with three very dark matched amethysts in it. I got her this just a few weeks before we got married. The actual proposal had no ring, as I did it online. We lived 1800 miles from each other at the time. This May marks 26 years married. I spent $72 on the ring. Don't waste thousands on a lousy chunk of carbon. Find a stone either that she loves, or that has meaning within your relationship, no matter how cheap.

My ex fiance proposed with a $10k ring. I have no clue about carat, etc, I know nothing about that nor do I care a whit. He was so insistent that he knew me so well, but if he really knew me, he wouldn't have given me an incredibly expensive piece of jewelry to lose. (Didn't lose it, but only because I rarely wore it for the 8 years we lasted after). Yes, he had the $10k but it depleted his savings. Meanwhile, my number one stress day to day? Money. Im not going to tool around wearing a 10k ring when I can't afford my next student loan payment. What an imbecile.

My father couldn't afford an engagement ring so my mother never had one. They were married for 56 years when he died. I took my mom's 18 karat gold ring (after she died), a ring with diamond chips I got from my aunt for my conformation (only 9 karat gold - you can get those here) and had them melted together to make a new ring to remind me of them both. Probably they wouldn't be worth more than about three thousand rand (around $200) but the new ring is priceless to me.

Yes, I would rather have a lab grown stone rather having a diamond from conflict areas

I have been married 25 years now and never even had an engagement ring. Personally, I think they are a big waste of money. However, I also think most weddings are a big waste of money as I would rather spend that on an excellent honeymoon and/or down payment on a house.

I would be too scared to wear the 2k ring already, bumping, scratching or losing it.

My husband proposed with a 60 dollar silver ring with some black stones. We don't have wedding bands even now and our marriage cost 80 dollars. Our marriage will last unlike the shallow f***s like the woman here.

If my partner proposed to me with a 2400€ ring (which we could afford), I’d ask him if he was nuts. This is WAY too much money just to be wearing it on a finger and I’d be afraid of losing it all the time. Also, its value would in no way reflect the quality of our relationship. I seriously don’t understand all the fuss about engagements or spending a huge sum on a wedding. Imagine all the nice things you could use that money for? Down payment on a house for example. Who is really profiting from the whole process? Hint: it’s not you. It’s the wedding industry. Slap the label „wedding“ onto something and the price doubles or triples. It’s ridiculous. I don’t need all that expensive s**t to know I love my partner and we belong together. If you tie the quality of your relationship to things like money or how much money was spent on a ring, you’re doing it wrong! I would’ve dumped her, too.

The ones defending that wh*re are unhinged. Exactly what do they offer of equal value? Oh right... NOTHING. Its one sided and perverse. That wh*re deserves to be alone. Full stop.

In my country there is no tradition of an engagement ring. My wedding ring cost 60 Euros. I chose it because of colour of the gold matching another heirloom. I have thought of upgrading but in the end theres no point.

been married for 24 years and his proposal was: why don't we just get married? my response: sure. no ring, no wedding, still don't have a ring, totally happy. :) love is worth more than any material thing.

When I was at uni, one of the guys in my year was engaged and about to marry. His family was well off, but not exceedingly rich. The fiancee expected them to go all in on the wedding, a super expensive gown, arriving to the place on a helicopter, that sort of stuff. When he told me about it, despite us not being overly close, it was clear he wasn't comfortable with her expectations. I told him he shouldn't marry her if that was her position on the matter, but he said his parents could afford it and he had strong feelings for her. They divorced in less than two years... after his parents spent a small fortune on the wedding.

Demanding a certain value is ... eugh. I think ... feel... whatever, the proposer and proposee are setting up a statement with that ring (let's call it a physical symbol). He put a lot of $$ into it, and from the looks of it, thought as well, about her and their future, so "I think of what you'd like, and I'm thinking of our future", and she slapped him in the face with, well, "I base the value of our relationship in $$ only." I mean, it's not like she said "I don't want a diamond" and then he got one anyhow because "Tradition!" - then that'd be more "What I think and want is more important than your thoughts and wants. Deal with it." and he'd be TA.

They should've gone ring shopping together. Giving her what YOU think she deserves is controlling behavior. We chose my ring together. Over the years, we've chosen bigger & better rings. Patience is the path, but together.

Whatever happened to couples choosing the ring together?

If my boyfriend proposed to me with a 2400$ ring I probably would stop to rethink the relationship. At this point he should know I don't care about things but experiences and time together, and when it comes to jewellery I like cheap finds from flea markets. If he got me a diamond ring it would suggest he doesn't know me at all... Or got brainwashed into thinking that's what he has to do.

I did not give my wife an engagement ring at all. We've been married for 32 years now. If I had spent $20,000 on a ring she would have thrown me, and the ring, out the window. What a fvcking waste of money. As that person said, unless it's the One Ring To Rule Them All, it ain't worth $20,000.

Prior to my proposing, I had purchased a ring for about $2800 from Daniels that we both picked out. I proposed at Machu Picchu about eight months later and by that time I had bought another ring for $35,000. It was much more and had a very large clear diamond. When I brought it out the proposal, she stopped in her tracks and said oh no where is my ring!? Despite everything she loves that original ring for the romantic times more than the extremely large diamond ring that I got her. Her values align with mine and it makes my day every time I see her with the less costly ring on. Which is 90% of the time.

& isn't that the most ridiculous "expert" statement ever - a ring in the $500 range..... is more likely GUARANTEE that ..... end in divorce

2k on a ring is already mental, it's a ring

I'll never understand wanting a ring that expensive. I would never feel comfortable wearing it. What if I some how lost it? Or someone saw it and recognized it's value and I got robbed. Nope not for me. My only wish was for an emerald. Didn't even need to be natural, lab grown are just as pretty. Just not a diamond they are over rated

My engagement ring cost £5. She's pathetic, greedy and an absolute Moron. He escaped big time there.

God. What a shallow ladie. This guy truly dodged a bullet.

$20K on a ring?!?! I mean the 2K one would be locked away tight. I'd be too afraid to ruin it or something.

Thats why engagement exists, to make sure marriage is your best option. Clearly these folks aren't compatible. I hope if he wants to marry in the future, he trades up.