Recently, a woman got engaged to her boyfriend. They had been dating for two years and decided that they couldn’t wait any longer. This woman said that she wasn’t even thinking about a ring. She just wanted to marry her best friend. But her boyfriend wouldn’t have it that way. According to the article I read, he scraped up just enough money to buy his sweetheart two rings from Pandora. The total cost was $130. While they were at the store working with a sales clerk to make this purchase, another clerk from the store came over to assist them and then made a comment about how pathetic it was that some men actually buy the set for an engagement ring.
This woman said she watched her fiancé’s face just fall to the ground in that moment. Apparently, he was already feeling bad that he couldn’t get her the pear-shaped diamond set that she had pinned to her Pinterest page. She realized this when he kept asking her repeatedly if she was happy with the rings and whether she was sure it was okay.
This woman apparently posted on social media that if her fiancé had gotten her a 25 cent ring out of the gumball machine, she still would have married him! She felt so bad that her fiancé was concerned that she wouldn’t want him anymore because he couldn’t afford a nicer ring. She shared her story on social media to remind everyone, “it’s not about the ring.”
It’s sad to think there may be a guy out there not pursuing the woman he loves because he can’t afford an expensive ring. Nowadays, I can imagine a man might not even want to propose because of the whole proposal ritual. You know the ones that get posted on social media and cost more money than the wedding? Not exactly true but there was one guy who purchased television commercial time and used it to propose to his fiancé during one of her favorite shows. He tried to raise enough money for a Super Bowl ad, but at 2.5 million dollars, he fell short. How is that sane? If he was extremely wealthy and could afford it, I’d say that’s his prerogative, but he was trying to raise money to do it. That’s insane.
Whatever happened to simply getting down on one knee and professing your love to the person you want to marry? While a ring is a nice symbol of commitment, it doesn’t have to be a certain number of carats to quantify a person’s love. Because if a couple starts out with that kind of extravagance, then there will always be the expectation of it. Then what if someone loses their job or kids are born and the money isn’t stretching as far. What if this love is now dependent on material things and there are fewer resources available to buy them? Do people feel less loved? I would venture to say that some would because of a pattern that has developed over the years.
This is not about pointing fingers that people who create a magical proposal or buy a huge ring, it’s about making sure people examine their hearts to make sure they would still love that person even if they weren’t able to purchase expensive items. It shouldn’t be about the ring. It’s about love. It’s not the material things, but rather pure and simple love that will help you win more often at home.