Nice to see this thread coming up again because I will be proposing to my girlfriend during our next vacations and I need to get a ring. I really want to get her a diamond but prices are a bit ridiculous and we're spending a good amount of money in the trip already. My brother told me that he got a crystal one that looks very similar to a diamond and is much less expensive, but I know my GF will be disappointed with that. Do you guys have a good recommendation?
If she is not a super traditional girl who wants a huge rock, maybe you could go with an alternative stone - something with a bit of color or not a traditional shape. If she is more traditional, RIP your wallet
I can't speak for all women, but things like these have always been very important to me - not so much the price of the ring, but the selection, making sure it's something lovely that fits her personality. Just putting some thought into it is so important. Sure, when you think about it rationally, it makes zero sense why a proposal with a diamond ring should be required, and knowing what the root of that tradition is sours it, but most of our traditions are nonsensical with weird or even unsavoury origin stories, and yet people care... about Christmas, in Christian countries. Mother's Day, in most Anglo countries. Serbian
slava. And I think a lot of women care about being proposed to, because it's a universal experience (so far) among the vast majority of married couples, and not having it makes you feel left out.
It always saddens me how me and my husband missed the boat on that - we got married so I could live abroad with him, when he suggested getting married he didn't think about proposing, and I didn't think about getting engaged either. In the ten months between agreeing to get married and getting married we spent about six weeks together due to being fairly long distance, and the last few visits, I can't lie, I kinda hoped that something more formal than "I think the best thing to do right now is for us to get married as soon as possible" would happen after all, ring or no ring. I intend to be married until death does us part, so it's a little sad we'll never have that moment. Having said that, it was sweet that afterward we went over to my mom's and he officially asked her if she wouldn't mind him whisking me away to the land of ice and snow
So like... diamonds are expensive, alternatives range from kinda cheap to kinda expensive, but the thought and the event is priceless imo.
If anyone reading this thread would like to know how to find out what their future wife would like, I have a lot of great tips! My best tip is to ask one of her best and most discrete female friends to start a conversation about wedding rings by showing her what she would like to wear, or asking all of her friends if they ever talked about that, because chances are, they have. Also, maybe she has a Pinterest board about the kind of wedding she would like, or an account on Etsy, and Facebook and Instagram display likes so nowadays, if she likes a ring or a jeweler or a style of jewelry you can figure it out just by having social networks.