The existence of ring shaming makes me very sad. I mean, I know that we live in a materialistic world, and I’ll be the first to confess that I can’t help but fawn over Tiffany’s princess-cut diamond, but it just seems totally insane to me to judge others by the size or cost of their ring.
The rock on your finger cannot support your marriage, nor does its size really reflect how much a man loves you or how long a relationship will last. You better believe I’ve seen a girl with a $40,000 engagement ring not even make it to the “I do” stage due to the foolish behavior of the groom.
My husband doesn’t have a lot, but neither of us do. We scrape and scrape to pay bills and put food in our bellies, but after almost 2 years of dating we decided that we couldn’t wait anymore, so we didn’t. I wasn’t even thinking about rings, I just wanted to marry my best friend, but he wouldn’t have it. He scraped up just enough money to buy me two matching rings from Pandora. Sterling silver and CZ to be exact. That’s what sits on my ring finger, and I am so in love with them.
But as we were buying my rings, another employee came over to assist the person selling them to us. ‘Y’all, can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings,’ she asked. How pitiful.” She said that, and I saw my future husband’s face flinch. He was already feeling guilty about not being able to purchase the pear-shaped set that clearly captured my heart and covered my Pinterest page. He repeatedly questioned me, “Are you sure you’ll be happy with these?” as he was already feeling defeated. Are you certain that this is ok?
He was furious at the thought that he wasn’t making me happy enough and that I wasn’t interested in getting married since my engagement and wedding rings weren’t expensive or showy enough.
That woman would have gotten the shaft from the old Ariel. ‘It isn’t the ring that matters, it is the passion that goes into buying one,’ mature Ariel stated. We purchased the rings and departed.
Y’all, if it had been a 25-cent gumball machine ring, I would have wed this dude. When did our country stoop so low to believe that the only way a guy can truly love a woman is if he spends $3,000 or more on her jewelry and declares his love in front of everyone with a showy ring? Although they are great, the sentiment is heartfelt, and I don’t want to minimize any of your experiences, when did it get to that point? Why do things that are material correspond to love?
My husband was terrified that I wouldn’t desire him since he couldn’t afford jewelry. He was worried that because he couldn’t afford the wedding set I wanted, my love for him would diminish. It is quite terrible that the world has turned out this way. Finally, we were unable to wait any longer, so we eloped. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I’d never wanted to share it with anybody else. Here I am, happily married in a courthouse, wearing a $130 ring set, with the love of my life by my side.
Story Written By; Kelsey Straeter
