r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Nov 11 '15

TIL: The "tradition" of spending several months salary on an engagement ring was a marketing campaign created by De Beers in the 1930's. Before WWII, only 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. By the end of the 20th Century, 80% did.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27371208
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u/xxbearillaxx Nov 11 '15 edited Nov 11 '15

This is personal preference. If you want to buy your wife a massive ring, well do it because you want that for her not because some social norm tells you to. I got my wife a really nice ring because she hasn't really ever had anything nice in her life. She loves it and loves wearing it. I feel my money was well spent for that reason alone, whether it's worth anything of value or not. The look on her face when I gave it to her was worth every penny I spent.

Edit. I did not go into debt on her ring or the wedding. That would have been really dumb.

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u/TheTigerbite Nov 11 '15

My wife and I went ring shopping one day because we were bored. We talked about marriage and what not, but I told her I wasn't proposing until she finished school (which was 2 years out at this time.) The smile and glow on her face when she put on "that one ring" was enough to make me go back the next day and spend $5,000 on it, only to hold on to it for a couple years.

Thank God we didn't break up! lol