Engagement bling madness

by cynthia yoo | June 6, 2008 at 08:20 pm | 3319 views | 75 comments

'Tis the season for love and marriage. And with it all its related traditions and madness.
A Globe and Mail piece highlighted some of the less romantic ideas belying engagement ring practices.

"Modern advertising and the ring are very much linked together," said Elizabeth Pleck, the co-author of Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding. "It used to be more optional rather than an absolute necessity."
But diamond engagement rings today are seemingly non-negotiable, with many men like Mr. Hine feeling pressure to shell out big bucks before taking to bended knee.

In their book, Ms. Pleck and her co-author, Cele Otnes, note that "the key to increasing the diamond trade was persuading the average man that buying a diamond engagement ring for his fiancée was both a necessity and a luxury and that the ring represented proof of his love."

The following men found out the hard way the difficulties of measuring one's love in karats.

In April, a blind British man named Bryan Monaghan was sentenced to life in prison for killing his fiancée after he discovered she was not wearing her engagement ring.

In March, a man named Lefkos Hajji put a $12,000 engagement ring in a helium balloon as part of his elaborate proposal plan, only to see it blown away by a gust of wind.

"She went absolutely mad," he said of his girlfriend. "Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring."

And in Pennsylvania recently, a man pleaded guilty to stealing a $47,700 ring so that he could propose to his girlfriend, who he admitted to his lawyer was "way out of his league."

Mr. Hine said he knows men who have similarly reached beyond their means under pressure to provide the perfect ring.

"I know people take out loans," he said. "I have a friend who was saving for a house for 10 years and he took 80 per cent of that and bought a ring with it."

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Jennings David L

at 22:06 on June 6th, 2008

good stuff:

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It is very good in a head shaking, I can't believe what some people will do, kind of way. Well done.

azzayindia

at 02:04 on June 7th, 2008

good stuff:

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.

sky_surfer74

at 05:41 on June 7th, 2008

nothing else matters

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jojobell

at 06:13 on June 7th, 2008

Great story Cynthia. Amazing what people will do in the name of love. But I find, in my line of work, there are people who go for a more non traditional ring.

Scott SM

at 09:43 on June 7th, 2008

Titanium rings from Boone Rings. You can pick out the design, width, metals, curvature, finish and size and he got ours done in two days.

Scott SM has contributed a photo to this story.

Scott SM

at 09:44 on June 7th, 2008

Oops I thought that was going on the photo not the comments. Sounds a bit like an ad that way when I was just trying to describe the photo. Anyway it is interesting how much people will spend.

Onkar

at 10:07 on June 7th, 2008

Tis diamond ring belongs to my niece and when I saw this, I could not stop taking a picture of it. A professional in still life and portraits, I love to shoot things and people from my point of view however crazy it may seem to others.

Onkar has contributed a photo to this story.

masaoms

at 10:07 on June 7th, 2008

Hi! I have made this Marriage rings for two young friends, Eli and Cristiano. They are lovely!!

masaoms has contributed a photo to this story.

masaoms

at 10:21 on June 7th, 2008

ups...they are made with silver and 24kt gold...i prefer to design special rings, i don't like typical wedding rings.

mettacara

at 10:50 on June 7th, 2008

I like your story. Good job.

cjs123

at 10:58 on June 7th, 2008

knitted sterling silver, gold and peridot heart ring.
copyright: parasol studio 2008. joy@parasolstudio.com

cjs123 has contributed a photo to this story.

Silver ArTiSt

at 11:02 on June 7th, 2008

I Do jewellery now for two years and I was commisioned by my son to make him this ring.

It is unusual to find a chunky ring like this photo.

It is a bit of a challenge, especially for a beginner, to cut a 2 to 3 mm thickness of silver or gold accurately I might add !

Silver ArTiSt has contributed a photo to this story.

lostdutchman

at 11:03 on June 7th, 2008

Not a real ring, but is from a desert plant. My nephew spotted these seed pods that, when dried, circle around and form a ring. I love the actual touch of gold on the edges. This wouldn't last as long as my wife's love for me, but I appreciated her thought at the time!

lostdutchman has contributed a photo to this story.

Lindsey Bucklew

at 12:19 on June 7th, 2008

That's why I avoid real diamonds (as well as any stone that's too 'precious' for that matter). I think my boyfriend is relieved!

eponess

at 12:42 on June 7th, 2008

My ring, show in the slideshow, we got off of eBay. We bought the semi-mount and the stone seperately and saved a lot of money that way. For me it was not about bling but about finding something unique that was a good symbol of our commitment. I'm into antiques and my finace is a bit old-fashioned, so this one we thought was perfect. And we're both not into diamonds, so sapphire was a good choice because it's hard (I'm hard on my jewelry).

klynslis

at 17:53 on June 7th, 2008

Like my husband, my ring endures rather a lot.

He chose my ring on his own when we were engaged eight years ago, and he has since offered to "upgrade" it, but I'm perfectly content with this one.

klynslis has contributed a photo to this story.

Agenda893

at 19:19 on June 7th, 2008

After making her wait 5 years I knew I had to do something special. After countless hours of researching I found a great jeweler who designed and crafted the perfect ring.

Agenda893 has contributed a photo to this story.

ccmerino

at 19:34 on June 7th, 2008

About the Diamond ring on the front page of mine. The center stone was my grandmothers from Tiffany's in 1926. 9 of the adjacent diamonds were also hers. I had my jeweler design a new platinum setting because hers had worn 2 thin and I thought the saffires a nice offset. I also had him add 30 more to the nine adjacent. It was actually a 20th anniversary ring.It only cost me $800 since the ring was an heirloom. ~ccmerino

catch2205

at 20:10 on June 7th, 2008

I shot this photo with a 60mm macro lens. I placed the rings on the edge of a fountain in The Villages, FL. Please visit www.bdwphotography.com for more information.

catch2205 has contributed a photo to this story.

nikonoob

at 20:48 on June 7th, 2008

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itaychi

at 22:21 on June 7th, 2008

Our engagement rings are a product of love and a stupid "buy her an expensive diamond ring, get an ugly ring for yourself for free".

itaychi has contributed a photo to this story.

beyondtherockz

at 22:26 on June 7th, 2008

Thanks for inviting us via Flickr, ruopingshen, and for posting rings from our "Stars" collection - - all individually designed and created by hand. For more about what inspires us and the work we do, please visit beyondtherockZ.com

mjae69

at 23:26 on June 7th, 2008

We took our two dogs down to the beach for the first time to see how they liked the water and as I was sitting in waist deep water finally getting them brave enough to come in and get wet... he moved in with the video camera rolling (me thinking that he was recording the puppies first water romp)and popped the question...

The actual first words out of my mouth were - NO WAY! but not in the the bad way.. but in the totally schocked way!

So if you want to see the video - I uploaded it to youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGcKVDvO7SI

And NO - no dates or any further thoughts on any kinds of wedding plans have been made at this time.. lol So far the only restrictions I've given him are NO Elvis impersonators, and NO drive thru vegas weddings.. >:o) But other that that - everything is still wide open!

I hope everyone else had at least as half a good day today as I did!!!!

Love to all....

mjae69 has contributed a photo to this story.

angelamaphone

at 01:25 on June 8th, 2008

This ring was actually bought for me by my grandparents when I turned 10 - it's my birthstone, an Emerald, and a tiny diamond next to it in the "corner". Some pieces of jewelry, like this one and my wedding/engagement rings, mean more than most other things could!

angelamaphone has contributed a photo to this story.

catherineechandler

at 01:31 on June 8th, 2008

This ring is a relic ring, dedicated to my late Great Aunt Dodo. The center stone is an Amethyst, and the two side stones are small champagne diamonds. The sides of the ring are silver with a lace imprint from vintage lace I inherited from her. All settings are 14KY gold.

catherineechandler has contributed a photo to this story.

tobiah

at 02:57 on June 8th, 2008

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StimpyRah

at 03:23 on June 8th, 2008

Still looking good after 20 years of wear....

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Raingirl 77

at 03:24 on June 8th, 2008

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illoluv

at 03:29 on June 8th, 2008

The rings in my photo are actually "backwards" because of Swedish tradition. The plain white-gold band is actually the engagement ring, and when we were engaged my then fiancé wore a matching one (which he still wears). The white-gold diamond ring I chose later as the wedding ring. And in usual Swedish tradition, only the woman gets a ring at the wedding. I chose this ring because it was small and simple, and I knew I'd love it for the rest of my life.

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lutonian

at 03:42 on June 8th, 2008

Congratulations to Alex and Amy Masters who were happily married last weekend. I had the pleasure of covering the photographic shoot, so thanks to you both for this.

Go Large : farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2411911190_e2ce350818_b.jpg

lutonian has contributed a photo to this story.