Interesting reading this :D
I fully understand where Hunter's coming from, but I'm more in tune with nfe/etc myself :lol:
I have experience of buying two engagement rings, neither of which cost nearly as much as one month's salary. In both cases, we were already engaged before the ring was even thought of. But although "a ring" was very secondary in our considerations, it was still very high on the agenda the minute the deal was done. Also, in both cases, it was a joint shopping trip where the lady in question chose the ring she wanted. I was prepared to go to one month's salary even though that would have left me in debt in those days, but both ladies chose extremely modest items from the options that we looked at and that I was indicating were achievable.
Both ladies regarded the wedding ring as more important, and spare cash/funds for other things as more important than having an expensive version of either. Luckily for me, this all matches my views on the subject :lol:
In the case of the current Mrs R, we've bought far more expensive jewelry since. Just because she's nice, she saw something that made her go "ooo!" and the funds were available. But even then, we've never spent more than half of one-month's salary on a single item (actually, the same applies to guitars/etc - we've never spent more than a half a month's salary on any musical instrument!)
However, I know at least one woman (friend of Mrs R) who expected a "one-month's-salary" jobbie from her new fiance at a bare minimum!! I don't know for certain, but I suspect that this would have amounted to a £3K ring. Now, she might have been joking, but we didn't think so, she sounded pretty serious, even when challenged. We assume that he did what was expected of him, because we think he probably has the same expectations of engagement rings. We can't quite see how they come to those expectations, maybe it's just tradition, but those are their expectations, and good luck to them... But we still think Mrs R's ring is nicer!
I reckon it's pretty much horses for courses. If you've picked the right girl (and she's picked the right boy) she's going to love whatever you do. Good luck to you both, hope the moment is every bit as romantic as you both hope it will be :D
