Ring or No Ring?

I just had the opportunity to see THE most beautiful wedding engagement ever. I wish I could share the slideshow with the world, but since I don’t know the future bride and groom well, I won’t do so. The engagement was certainly an affair to remember. The groom rented out 10 rooms in the Ritz that were filled with gold-dipped roses, candles, rose petals, etc. The bride and groom-to-be went from room to room where each room held a different group of people who were special to them. They shared a memorable time together, prayed together and went on to the next room. The 10th room of course, is where he proposed. It was magnificent.

The groom-to-be obviously put a lot of money, time and effort into the affair. Saving up for a nice sized ring can often take plenty of time. But when I began to think about my baby boi, engagements, weddings and everything else that comes with it, I began to realize that rings are not that important to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been looking at engagement rings since I was five, but I’d rather not have a ring and get married in a reasonable amount of time than to wait years for the perfect ring. You never know what can happen from one day to the next. In a year from now, someone may not be here.

My mother didn’t get her diamond until her 25th wedding anniversary. I do feel like that it was time for her to get her dream ring, but I understand her not having a ring right away. There were living expenses, new babies, automobiles and necessities to care for. Ya know? There were more important things to take care of.

Believe me though, I fully understand those women who need at least a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ on their ring finger when getting engaged. I can see how that would be important to some, but for me, it’s just another material possession. I don’t really want to sound self-righteous and I’m not trying to make anyone who wants a 3 carat rock feel bad. In my perfect world, I would have the most stunning, platinum, 10 carat, diamond ring ever!! (Okay. Maybe not 10 carats but you know what I'm saying. lol.) But it’s just not that important to me. Especially not if it’s going to take years for my future fiancé to procure. I could be happily married for 5 years before getting that ring! I’d take happiness over platinum any day.

Ladies: If you knew your man was saving for a year for a ring, what would you tell him? Would you just let him be a man and complete his special presentation or would you say “Forget the ring! Let’s just get married!” ? How important is an engagement ring to you? How important is the proposal to you? Does he need to go all out? What if he wants to save up for an extended period of time for the perfect proposal? What would you say?

This reminds of Case’s video “Happily Ever After”. That too, was a beautiful engagement and nice thought. I tried to find the video, but had no luck. Sorry!