I'm having wedding ring inferiority issues.

Matt and I went camping with a bunch of friends from college and all the wives had these super cool custom designed rings. Really nifty unique old fashioned looking things. My ring is from Jared's. Next to theirs, my felt so ordinary and manufactured. I feel especially bad because I know that my hubby was looking for something more unique and vintage looking for me, but just couldn't find anything he really liked. (This was prior to the Hollywood induced vintage ring craze.) Somehow, it felt a little like my ring wasn't up to snuff with how awesome and creative my hubby really is and how unique our relationship is. He and I are no less eclectic or non-mainstream than the rest of them!

Now, I'm not planning on bothering Matt about this or asking for a new ring - anytime soon or ever, but I now feel like it's not such an awful thing when people contemplate upgrading. (Not speaking to Mrs. Redguard, just the concept in general.)

Thoughts? Lashings? Is it possible that one's rings could insufficiently reflect the relationship they represent?

Hmmph!

Well, my wife's friend got engaged a few weeks ago.

This friend of hers is as prissy as they come and she demands the best. I'm even surprised that she found a guy who was worthy of her.

Anyway, he got her a ring from "Tiffany's". She made sure that she made this known when telling people about her engagement. My eyes rolled... my stomach also churned because I felt like my surprise ring on the anniversary in September was going to be watered down by my wife seeing her friend's "Tiffany's" ring.

So this friend came over on the weekend to show off her ring. The ring was okay... it wasn't all that though. I guess that you can only afford "so much" with a ring from that store, and the guy is only human anyway. Not the son of a millionaire or anything.

Later, I asked my wife how she liked her friend's ring and she just shrugged and said it wasn't all that.

I'm still hoping that she likes that one that I'm giving her.

I understand the feelings of inadequacy. I'm running a webserver on a 500MHz computer that was just laying around in the garage. When I asked for tech support, all they said was that I needed a better computer. Other than that, they wouldn't talk to me.

Importance of rings? I wanted to get a 'wedding watch'. I hate jewelry. But, my wife went ahead and bought me a gold band with three small diamonds. I'm the only guy I know with stones in my wedding band. Sometimes I feel like I need to turn in my man card 'cuz of that.

Truth is, though, it's not the ring, but what the ring represents. During the great depressions, people would drop a nickel into a gumball machine hoping to get the plastic ring. They would find cigars with the band on them and take the band. Anything they could do in order to show the world that they loved this person.

The ring itself is not important. Keep in mind what the ring represents. That's your focus. Kinda like the treasures on earth versus the treasures in heaven.

well, since i can't upgrade my spouse, i will settle for upgrading my ring once in a while!!LOL :haha:

we were married young and in college still. so...that means we were BROKE! (not much has changed other than our age!!LOL) andy worked his booty off for a $250 ring set at K's Merchandise. When he gave it to me, he said that he couldn't afford the one that he knew I would really love, and that if i wanted to upgrade on our ten year he would be ok w/ that. so...that's what we did this year for valentines day. we also got andy a new band that i love....no diamonds like Clay though!..... :D

anyway, i will probably upgrade every ten years. my grandma has done that and has passed on the idea to all of us girls in the family. Clay is right....it's just a ring. but upgrading it every ten years is like a "reward" for sticking the marriage out in some ways :o) atleast, that's how i look at it. Andy upgrades his guitar every time i upgrade my ring....so we are both happy :) :thumbsup:

I don't think that the appearance or quality of the ring should be a reflection on the quality of the marriage. I mean seriously--look at those expensive hollywood rocks--those certainly don'treflect marital quality..I think we get all worried about our rings for superficial reasons. I know what you mean, though, about feeling rather small because your ring isn't as big or pretty as "hers"...

OK - we got two years to save up for upgrading her ring. Hmmm. How the heck am I supposed to do that with no income? :cry:

Oh, man. I wish I could get away with that! :violin: <-well, it's not a guitar, but it's strings just the same...

IMHO, no.

I would never want to upgrade my engagement ring. It represents the promise made when we were young, foolish, and in love.... B) ....seriously, it has a deep sentimental meaning to me and to replace it, for me, is like throwing that away. If it was good enough for me at the time, why isn't it now? I would never think to replace my wedding band, so why my engagement ring?

A replacement ring doesn't have the same meaning, to me....he wouldn't be giving this to me, asking me to promise to marry him & spend the rest of my life with him, it would just be another piece of jewelry....

.
.
preach it sista....

that's how i always felt before too. and i agree w/ this side of the coin as well. i think it just depends on how the couple sees the ring. for you, it obviously holds a lot of meaning. mine does too. i saved my original and plan to pass it down to one of my daughters one day. our relationship has been through the "ringer"(LOL) though, and the vows that once meant something were unfortunately broken by both of us. so when he gave me my new set, it came w/ new promises and new love. i look at it as a new beginning for our relationship.
if we can make it another ten years, then we'll do the same. our love just gets bigger and bigger, so why not the diamond?! :dunno: :rolf: just kidding.

i think it's a personal preference really. a ring is a ring to me. it's the VOW behind the ring that i hold on to now.

Stuff is stuff. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the word of God (Romans 12:2). God gave me this scripture in reference to my new bible study but I am constantly amazed at how handy it is in reference to just about EVERYTHING!

Then there's always...Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. (Matt 6:21)

We are not made for this place. BUT we can still get caught up in the trappings of this world. It's understandable. And then at the end of the day, who cares? Really. A ring is a ring. And I'm speaking as a woman who got a three ring set (engagement and both our rings) the day he proposed, which he bought at a discount department store. Was it everything I'd hoped it would be? No where near. But then I was young and foolish and didn't know what I'd really need.

I am so ridiculously blessed. It's incredible. Are my blessings reflected in the size, cut, or style of my engagement ring? Nope. Because I don't think a jeweler could adequately capture them!

And you know what I've noticed over the years? Everyone who has a ring I'd envy, has a marriage I don't.

:amen:

.
.
preach it sista

I "upgraded" wifey's ring.....last year? Year before? I can't remember.

Like Chit-head, we were young - no cash - couldn't afford anything fancy. 2 years ago - we could. So I did. I see nuthin' wrong with it. She still has the origional ring.

No biggy.

.
.
preach it brotha....

Squat, you're such a yes man.

I think SKANK would fit him much better.

.
.
Wifey's told me that most EVERY night....


yes...Yes...YES....YYEESSSSSS!

Oh boy!

I think this statement could have been misunderstood. Squat's the one saying "Yes". But he left out the last part: "dear".

:haha:

My goodness you guys can derail a thread faster than the speed of light.

I just wanted to mention that another thing that precipitated my coming down with the dreaded ring disease was that I had to have the setting holding the main stone replaced because it had gotten too banged up. For a split second, I thought, 'But that's the ORIGINAL setting! That's the one it came with when Matt proposed!' Then I remembered that I had all the points retipped and a shank put in too. At this rate, most of the gold in the ring isn't going to be original in a few years anyway.

It's a just a material thing, right? Everyone would tell me that if I lost it somehow. So if it's just a THING, what's the big deal with changing it up some? It doesn't mean we love each other any less or that I appreciate him any less. I would have said yes without a ring.

This is just the nature of most women, I guess.

I was browsing through the women's section of "the site we will not mention" and they have an ongoing discussion comparing the sizes of the diamonds on their engagement rings.

I couldn't think of a more boring conversation. But apparently, it's extremely important. :)

Looks like squat had another wet dream. WAKE UP! IT WAS ONLY A DREAM!

.
.
OH IT WAS WET ALRIGHT...just NOT a dream....hehe

I know. Total snore fest, right?

BTW 'the site we will not mention' is very M. Night Shamylan's The Village. From now on we should call it, 'The site we do not speak of.'

What were the names of those beasts again? Maybe that could be an appropriate name for the site we do not speak of.

Did they have a name? I thought they were simply 'The ones we do not speak of.'

I haven't yet seen The Village. How about calling them the Nazgûl?

Please, please, do not waste your time watching The Village.

But I do like gracefaith's idea of naming that place, the site we do not speak of.


Seriously, they have a thread discussing diamond size and shape? See, that's exactly why I haven't even peaked in that forum for at least a year. No substance. I completely understand the need for fluff, everyone needs fluff. But...

yep....I think it's at LEAST 3 pages long...

.
.
It was an ok movie....worth seeing.

so how about if we make a thread three pages long that talks about how another thread talks about diamond sizes! :rolf:

sorry, i couldn't resist being a brat. :tease:

Really?

DH and I were both thinking that we wanted to leave the theater but didn't tell each other!

I think it wouldn't have been so bad if it were marketing properly. They made it out to be something that it wasn't. I mean, the concept was kinda cool. But I think the story fell a little flat.

I watched it on DVD, so I guess I wasn't so bothered with the quality of the film.

Actually, we've hit four pages...

Well as far as rings go I had started to design a ring for an Ex when we were still together I was going to have round diamond with two smaller round diamonds placed on a band so the seting looked like the Mickey mouse symbol.

I have several things that I wanted to do for Misty... couldn't aford a one, when I do I'll replace the ring I got her. The Ring (Blue topaz) is just a token ring, somethign to show off because her real engagement present were twin Scimitars.... Hey I'm astrange guy maried to a strange and magnificent gal.

Her favorite Fictional Character is Drizzt Do'Urden WoTC (the owner of the character) recently okayed replicas to be made of this Iconic Characters beloved twin Scimitars, Twinkle and Icing Death. I propsed with those, and gave her the ring so that she can have something to show off.

She's a little ticked that I had thought of the design for Michelle, and she doesnt think I tried to think of one or her... actually I was thinging about a Heart shape diamond with a tear drop on either side with the points facing "down the band" or maybe a Diamond heart with the teardrops being saphire if I can afford it someday since blue is her favorite color.... but I don't want to tell her the design I want to show it to her whne I present it.. when I can finally afford it....

wow....Raspy, that ring sounds GORGEOUS!! :thumbsup:

Huh, I liked 'The Village.' I thought the music was beautiful. It's probably my second favorite M.Night movie.


Anyhoo, back to the ring thing. I'm thinking on our 10th, I'll ask to have my ring really cleaned up and perfected. I really do like the style. I just think all the fixes and recaps and just time have made it look a little gimpy. Do you think that would be okay?

.
.
I didn't have fundage for anything special on the 10th anniversary....


Bought wifey an anniversary band on the 11th...with 11 small diamonds around the top....right around 5-6 Benjamins.


No fundage for the 15th....


We both forgot (yes SHE did too), our 16th this year....


doubt the 17-19th will be special....but I'm hoping for a cruise or alone-time vacation on the 20th.


Can't buy wifey ANY jewelery except rings....she loses earrings, bracelets and necklaces WAY to frequently.