Does engagement ring matter ?

I found that having an engagement ring matters to me as it is a symbol that I love my OH and that I am committing to him. It's up to each person though obviously. The price....they say your OH should spend 1 and a half times their monthly wage I think?! But again that's up to each couple - I ended up going over budget so put some money towards it as it wasn't fair to ask OH to spend that much!

I don't think mine was cheap but it definatley wasn't 1&1/2 months wages! We couldn't afford to do that as we already had two children when we got engaged. I'd have killed him if he did! I'd be worrying about loosing it too! I do love my ring and he got me exactly what I wanted without me knowing!

Not sure what the price of the ring has to do with anything to do with a ceremony though?

I dont have one! Dont need a ring to know im planning the to marry my OH. Just need to look at my bank balance for that!!!

That said, I will have a seriously blinging wedding ring to make up for it!!!!

My ring didn't cost anything as it is my great aunt's old aquamarine and diamond engagement ring that I loved and which was passed down to me about two years ago but never wore as don't tend to wear a lot of jewellery.

When OH proposed, he asked what I wanted to do about a ring as I had always said I wasn't bothered about having one, and I remembered this ring and asked if OH was ok about using it, which he thankfully wasn't, as I know it goes against all tradition but as OH doesn't speak to his family no heirlooms would ever be passed down from their side! So all worked out well as I get to wear a stunning ring everyday that means something to me (and that we would never be able to afford in reality!) and he didn't have to spend a penny on it!

I know many will disagree but I personally think that any bride to be who expects or even allows her future husband to spend huge amounts of money on their engagement ring probably needs to questions both their priorities in life and their reasons for wanting to marry their OH in the first place!

I haven't got one. Badge of female opression blah blah. My wedding ring cost £20 off t'interweb and I suspect that will be in the back of a drawer within the year.

Who says romance is dead?

I got my ring 2 months after the proposal since when he asked me he was about to lose his job! Once he had a new one we went and picked the ring out together and I love it.

I find this question a bit odd. The only people who should care are you and your OH and if it does matter to you, you'll already know!

i rarely if ever wear jewellery so I wanted a really nice engagement ring... it had to be just right for me, because the reason I don't often wear jewellery is down to my fussiness. It had to be silver-coloured as I wanted a gold wedding ring (one of each colour you see) and he wanted to treat me... I say let him ?

It did cost a fair amount of money for us... probably about a month's salary for him... but I'm not ashamed because I LOVE MY RING and I'll be wearing it forever! When we saw it we both just knew it was the one and actually it cost less than he wanted to spend but it was just perfect.

In contrast, and unlike most people on here it seems, we spent very little on the wedding rings and they have no 'bling' whatsoever. Everyone is different!

The one I bought was about £250, in a sale, and as I paid with my Barclaycard I got a load of nectar points as the jewelers was enrolled in the reward scheme.

Our wedding rings between us cost £150 - more than enough for our needs, it's what they symbolise, not the value of them, that's important after all.

agree 100% MrMini has no money at all yet wanted to buy me an expensive ring as he thought something I wore forever should be of a good quality etc etc. I only found out how much it was once we insured it as he designed it himself ready for the proposal. The fact he choose it himself and I love it is the most important thing to me.

I think the only people it maters to is you and your OH

OH borrowed an old ring out of my jewellery box to use for the proposal. The next day we chose a ring together so it's a souvenir of Paris as well as the token of intent. It is sterling silver with heart shaped stones. Our wedding rings will be white gold and I'm choosing one to compliment my ER and that will also look fine by itself. wedding ring shopping is happening this time off.

Mine was the traditional 2 - 3 months salary but it was a complete surprise, he picked the ring himself and proposed to me while we were on holiday. In hindsight that money would have made a big dent in the wedding, but I love it because he picked it and was hardly about to ask him to return it. If i had picked my own it would probably have been about a third of the cost.

As with anything in life, the price of something is all relative to how much we earn.

£250 for one person would be the same % of their salary as someone who spent say £2000 on a ring.

I picked my ring and we spent an amount we could afford. Ok it may be more expensive than some but we could afford it and didn't ask anyone else to pay for it, I can't see the problem.

I have to be honest.. I was really lucky I had a 1.0 very good quality stone given to me by my Mum so all we had to pay for was the set.

It would have cost about £7K had we not!!!! I was a very lucky girl.

However had we not had this option I would have saved up together for a while and got a ring that I really wanted. We are both in our late 30's have good jobs and no children (one on the way now though.) so we could splash out on the ring and wedding.

I guess we had waited to get married later on in life and where able to have the wedding of our dreams and I have a great rock on my finger!!!!

Not all people are in our postion and I guess its what is important to each couple. We don't regret any money spent on our wedding.

WSS.

Whilst just over 1 months salary is a lot of money to us, OH wanted me to have something really special and wanted to buy me the nicest ring he could afford from a very prestigious jewellers. That was just his view. If I'd chosen it, I would have picked something from a cheaper shop and it would have been just as special to me. As it was, it was a surprise. My priorities are straight, I'm certainly not marrying him because he bought me an expensive ring - I'm marrying him because I love him. And if I even mentioned returning it for something else, he'd have been so hurt! I wouldn't have a clue how much it cost had it not been for his brother (who knew) telling me that "XXXX is a lot of money to spend on a ring" about 10 minutes after announcing our engagement! lol

I always love seeing peoples responses to this topic.

When we got engaged OH had worked his ass off away from home for 5 months straight, living on camp and spending about £100 a month on calling me and sending me flowers. When he came back, he would happily have spend the whole lot of his 5 months wages on my ring.

However, I didn't want him to. My Mom's ER cost in excess of £2k and as a result she doesn't wear . OH had already designed my ring, and was waiting for my size post proposal to order it, but I asked him to spend less than half of what he had been more than prepared to spend as I had an expectation that we would get married very soon, and so the 'extra' cash went into our savings.

Personally, while I find an ER is something amazingly special to receive, what means more is my WR when we both have one and it's a promise, something real and life changing rather than an intention to do something.