Are you as appalled as I am?

[Biciclista]

I too have always found those diamond ads offensive. That's probably why I made it very clear to my DH that he was to never buy me one. I think they're ugly and the labor that produces them is pretty brutal and offensive too.

On the other hand, we DID go to the foodbank last saturday for our joint birthday party and we each bagged over 1/2 ton of frozen carrots. THAT was fun.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I too have always found those diamond ads offensive. That's probably why I made it very clear to my DH that he was to never buy me one. I think they're ugly and the labor that produces them is pretty brutal and offensive too.

On the other hand, we DID go to the foodbank last saturday for our joint birthday party and we each bagged over 1/2 ton of frozen carrots. THAT was fun.

So you wound up with a lot of "carats" on your birthday anyway!

[solobiker]

I too have always found those diamond ads offensive. That's probably why I made it very clear to my DH that he was to never buy me one. I think they're ugly and the labor that produces them is pretty brutal and offensive too.

On the other hand, we DID go to the foodbank last saturday for our joint birthday party and we each bagged over 1/2 ton of frozen carrots. THAT was fun.

I completly agree with the whole diamond issue. Diamonds don't do anything for me. At my last job all the women had these HUGE diamond rings. One women even bragged that she would not marry her husband unless he spent at least $10,000.00 on her engagement ring. Yes, I wrote $10,000.00. To me that is just crazy.

[Flur]

I completly agree with the whole diamond issue. Diamonds don't do anything for me. At my last job all the women had these HUGE diamond rings. One women even bragged that she would not marry her husband unless he spent at least $10,000.00 on her engagement ring. Yes, I wrote $10,000.00. To me that is just crazy.

+1 on the diamond ads. I like diamonds, but I hate the way that women are encouraged to obsess about them. Having a lot of diamonds or large diamonds does not mean that you're more loved or that your relationship "is forever". That's up to you and your SO, and no amount of $$ spent on a ring can guarantee that.

[Eden]

I have an opal on my wedding ring, and the ring isn't fancy either - it was made by a jewelry student at our college. My husband and I got engaged when we were in college. I don't think we could even conceive of having $10,000 to spend at that time... even now I wouldn't want to have something that valuable on my person.... egad, what if I lost it.

[jobob]

I have an opal on my wedding ring, and the ring isn't fancy either

Yikes, just be careful with it - opals can be very fragile.

I would have liked an opal engagement ring but I worked in a lab at the time and with all the crud I got my hands into I would have had to take it off a lot, a sure way for me to lose it. So I opted for a small sapphire (almost as strong as a diamond) with miniscule diamond chips on either side. As rings go it was pretty inexpensive, but I really like it to this day.

[Aggie_Ama]

So I opted for a small sapphire (almost as strong as a diamond) with miniscule diamond chips on either side. As rings go it was pretty inexpensive, but I really like it to this day.

My husband never thought a sapphire could be an engagement ring. We saw someone with one and he was completely in love with the look. He said if he had only known he could do that I would have one instead. He doesn't get too excited about jewelry but he was completely taken by the sapphire engagement ring. He should have watched Friends I reckon.

[Irulan]

+1 on the diamond ads. I like diamonds, but I hate the way that women are encouraged to obsess about them. Having a lot of diamonds or large diamonds does not mean that you're more loved or that your relationship "is forever". That's up to you and your SO, and no amount of $$ spent on a ring can guarantee that.

Read The Heartless Stone by Tom Zollner. He goes into the whole marketing mega mindset behind the diamond ad campaigns and lots of other socio-political diamond stuff.

[Eden]

DeBeers (they control almost all of the diamond trade) is really scary! You can get diamonds from Canada that are not associated with DeBeers or any of the horrid things that most diamonds are involved in. I would guess its not entirely environmentally friendly getting them out, but they are at least they are providing good jobs to the native communities and are not associated with civil war, slavery, terrorism etc.

[Biciclista]

I completly agree with the whole diamond issue. Diamonds don't do anything for me. At my last job all the women had these HUGE diamond rings. One women even bragged that she would not marry her husband unless he spent at least $10,000.00 on her engagement ring. Yes, I wrote $10,000.00. To me that is just crazy.

wow, that's an indecent waste of money! And boy, wouldn't that guy be getting a bargain... She wouldn't marry him if he didn't come up with a 10K ring. um, a marriage made in heaven!

[Aggie_Ama]

I will not drop carats but my diamonds are mine and I like them. Bigger than what my mom had for 27 years but smaller than many people I know. There was no requirement on the size and this is actually my second ring but that is a long story. My first one was prettier overall and the diamonds were smaller, I still said yes. They were not even close to $10k though that is absurd for this little middle class baby. My now divorced friend had a $10k ring, it was hideous and huge but I just didn't agree with the styling. The man that came with it wasn't worth $10 let alone $10k. His excessive flaunting of money actually was one of the many reasons they are no longer together.

Any person who says they will not marry a man for less than $X has some really messed up priorities. My friend had a friend that said she would reject any guy who presented less than a flawless 2 carat diamond. She finally found someone to give her an insanely huge ring, I hope they are happy together. My diamonds have visible falws to me but you know it is kind of symbolic of me. I love them flaws and all, I tend to think that of my husband when he looks at me. But again those diamonds didn't make our marriage and they sure as heck don't strengthen it as a Debeers ad would like me to believe.

Off that soap box. By the way tongiht I saw 4 car company commercials: Hyundai, Acura, Lexus and BMW. All said a car is an excellent gift. MAybe I will buy DH a Matchbox car for his stocking as a joke. We can donate it to charity later.

[Jolt]

wow, that's an indecent waste of money! And boy, wouldn't that guy be getting a bargain... She wouldn't marry him if he didn't come up with a 10K ring. um, a marriage made in heaven!

Yeah...that is seriously ridiculous!! Some people just don't have their priorities straight... Personally I don't care much for the whole engagement ring thing in general; seems kind of wasteful to me and I've never been much into jewelry anyway. Same with the extravagant weddings; wouldn't it be smarter for couples to have a simple-but-still-nice wedding and use that money to get themselves started? That's what I'd like to do once I find that great guy...and he doesn't have to get me a fancy ring either!