Engagement Ring Shopping for the New Millennium

Few subjects generate as much controversy as the longstanding question, "How much should an engagement ring cost?" While I am confident that this article will not serve to end the controversy, it should at least start some meaningful dialogue surrounding the subject. I am sorry to have to report that few future blushing brides will have a massive flashcube of a diamond presented to her by a guy on one knee, or hidden in her dessert at a fancy restaurant, as Hollywood would have us to believe is the norm. I have learned from my own unofficial investigation that what women want and what men are willing to buy, are rarely, if ever, the same thing.

A friend of mine, Kelly (her name has been changed to protect the ungrateful), confirmed that the day that she got engaged did not jive with Hollywood's version either. Kelly and Derrick had been dating for several years when he got down on one knee and slipped a ¼ ct cluster of diamonoids on her finger. Kelly's ability to hide the disappointment she felt when she saw the ring was, she says, deserving of an Oscar! While she tried to convince herself that the ring really didn't matter, she knew that she couldn't go to work and show this eyesore to her co-workers. After several weeks, when Kelly was finally able to muster up the courage to debut her engagement ring, her co-workers were decidedly unimpressed, to say the least. Most were even able to hold their laughter until AFTER she walked away. One well-meaning co-worker offered these words of encouragement, "Well, you know, you start off small and build your way up". That is exactly what Kelly did. Now eight years and two upgrades later, she has the ring that she always wanted.